Knowing about my customers

What is the difference from having a storefront and having an on-line business?

Having a storefront offers you the opportunity to see your customer, hear thier stories, get a sense of who they are and what they are about.

When you have an on-line store, it makes it much harder to know who your customers are. They come in the form of a name and a IP address. They supply you with an address and some form of payment, but you never really get to know who they are.

Do the business owners care who thier customers are? I mean more then demographics that tell us women between the ages of such and such make more impluse purchases then men. Do they want to know the stories behind why people buy what they buy? Or is it just another order, and more money in thier pocket?

Me, I want to know my customers. I love it when a customer actually sends an e-mail and asks a question. It opens the door for me to learn more about them. More about why they are interested in what they are looking at. What in thier life has lead them to find my store?

Over the last year, I have met so many people and I love having the opportunity to speak with them about why they have come looking for me. The stories they tell are heartbreaking at times, and I want to reach out to them and tell them it will be o.k. Other times the stories are great tales of survival and love!

Each and every customer that I have had the opportunity to speak with, has touched a piece of me. Left an impression on my soul. I can only hope that with the work I do, they are also feeling the affect of how someone cares about thier story, some cares about them.

I am honored to have the customers I have. I am honored to have met the people I have.

Someday, I would love to have a storefront where I could see my customers and hear thier stories from thier mouths rather then reading about them in e-mail. Until then, I look forward to reading the next e-mail where someone needs hope, someone needs love and someone needs faith. I'll be there to give it.

Until then.... LIVESTRONG!