When I found myself awake at 3 am the other night, I decided to check a few things off the old ‘to do’ list. I emailed an optometrist to book an eye appointment, sent a note to a florist to see about a bouquet for a friend’s birthday, and put in an order at a local deli for an upcoming event. Check, check, and check … oops, not so fast.

That was 15 days ago. Not one of the three emails was answered. Eyes are checked and new glasses ordered from somewhere else, the birthday celebrated, and the event has come and gone.

And each of these three businesses have lost a loyal customer – who will be sure to tell two friends, who will tell two friends and so on and so on – because they couldn’t be bothered to answer an email.

Over the last two weeks, with this blog in mind, I’ve been experimenting with contacting service providers and retailers via email, phone, social media and annoying website contact forms.

It seems most still favour the phone but with the odd toe-dipping into Twitter of all places. To this I say, ‘Please remember who your target audience is.’

I’d suggest the primary consumer these days are the moms and dads trying to keep up with life. Too busy during regular business hours, they are making appointments, sourcing dog food, and tracking down a 50^th anniversary cake for their parents upcoming party while sitting in the rain at a soccer tournament on the weekend.

With no time during the week to call 15 bouncy castle providers for their kids birthday, they google and send off emails at the swim meet or while watching Friday night movies with the family. They certainly don’t have time to figure out your twitter handle and tweet you. Most of them don’t even know how. (Note: Only 25% of urban adults are on Twitter.)

So of course keep answering the phone and keep up with social media, but remember to check your inbox a few times a day. Make it easy on the people who want to give you their hard earned dollars. You never know … they may tell two friends.

With gratitude,