A Simple Thank You Note

The card stood out in the mail. The envelope was hand-addressed to me. No printer was used to print out my name and address; the envelope was handwritten in pen.

When was the last time you received a letter with a handwritten address?

And my name was spelled correctly. You wouldn’t believe how special that makes me feel.

My last name is hyphenated and is usually misspelled. Many people shorten my name (which I never use). And this card managed to spell both my first and last name correctly.

What a delight! I couldn’t wait to open the envelope.

The Back Story

Last week I read a tweet from Buffer announcing their lastest post, Podcasting for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Getting Started With Podcasts. I thought the post was really helpful, covering overcoming your fear about podcasts, equipment you’ll need, recording, and recommendations for podcasts to learn from.

Overall, a very good post and a resource worth bookmarking. I read a lot of posts about podcasts every month and this was one of the better ones for people wanting to get started.

However, I noticed one thing was missing. So I tweeted back to Buffer and asked:

@buffer Thanks! Good info. Will you add info about including transcript? Podcast can be indexed (good SEO) & ppl w/disabilities can access

— Deborah Edwards-Oñoro (@redcrew) June 18, 2014

And quickly received a reply from Nicole at Buffer

@redcrew Good catch there Deborah! I've passed that along to our Content Crafters. 🙂 Thank you! -Nicole

— Buffer (@buffer) June 18, 2014

Within minutes I received another reply from Nicole:

@redcrew We really appreciate that! The post is updated now. 🙂 -Nicole

— Buffer (@buffer) June 18, 2014

Based on my tweet, Buffer updated their podcasting tutorial with information about transcripts, highlighting how transcripts are good for search engine optimization and accessibility. I was so impressed, and told them.

Nicole took one more step. She sent me a lovely handwritten card, thanking me for being a part of the community and included some great Buffer stickers for me.

How cool is that?

Am I a happy Buffer customer? You bet!

It’s the small things.

We hear that all the time in our everyday life and work.

Those small acts of kindness:

• Holding a door open for someone with their hands full
• Reaching the product on the top shelf in the grocery store for a shopper who can’t reach it, or in my case
• Listening to your customer, taking action, and sending a handwritten card

are the courtesies that create wonderful memories and make a big difference in our relationships.