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Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

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Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#101

Post by PopAlongKid »

spaghettiToy wrote: post #45
waselighis wrote: post #34

Fucking marketers just want to destroy all sincerity in the world.

Every time I read more about marketing (for my business) it enrages me more. I basically don't use twitter, but I find myself on the platform in rants about how exploitive and manipulative some people are willing to be. There is one company that targets vunerable people with their relatively affordable Veblen goods to make them feel socially insecure if they buy an Android instead. It's so obvious when you read about…

TIL what a Veblen good is.

"Apple products are classified as Veblen products, because most often users choose them, guided by the big name of the brand and believing that the possession of this technology will increase their status in society."

https://lkrvk.com/the-veblen-effect-how-price-increases-affe...

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#102

Post by gregsadetsky »

wallawe wrote: post #94
gregsadetsky wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it working / were you making money? Automated handwritten notes companies seem like they render text using a handwritten font and then potentially pass it off (via API) to a “print anything and ship it” company — is that an accurate statement? Is there a clear advantage to building and maintaining the hardware / plotting pen portion? i.e. isn’t that something you could do by randomizing font parameters? Also, it…

I replied to parent, but we built the company that shows up #3 for that query (at least on my browser) - handwrite.io. I felt that there would be a massive audience for the API so worked on building that out in the early stages while my cofounder built the hardware. It's a super costly process, requires a lot of human touchpoints even when you've automated a lot of the machinery (e.g. sealing and stamping cards). The…

Thanks a lot for sharing, really interesting.

I edited my comment so you may not have seen my additional question: why build out hardware vs. outsource the printing / mailing?

i.e. with enough randomness in the font/text/letter generation, was it still obvious to tell what was “handwritten” by a plotter vs printed?

And re: margins, you could have raised prices but that would have made you not competitive?

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#104

Post by the_af »

ekianjo wrote: post #86
sweetheart wrote: post #10

Being kind is fine and all, but my one gripe with it is that it doesn’t make me any money. Glad to see the dark days of being nice without any ROI are ending.

Being kind is a cultural trait that we have been selected for, over generations, to increase our chances of survival and also ROI. There is nothing gratuitous about it once you understand where humans come from.

Yet many humans still choose to be unkind, rude or obnoxious.

So I'll pick the kind ones, regardless.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#105

Post by bluGill »

oxfordmale wrote: post #60
waselighis wrote: post #34

Fucking marketers just want to destroy all sincerity in the world.

In a few months, the headline will be: Handwritten thank you notes no longer increase sales

That depends on if they are handwritten, or some font that looks sort of like handwritten. At least until/unless AI can write thank yous that pass the Turing test. Right now the effort vs reward of a thank you is not worth it for most sales, and people can pick out computer generated thank yous.

Even then, Wal*Mart will never send you a thank you note - the cost of postage alone is too high. However car salesmen have long ago figured out it is worth writing a thank you - it only takes a few repeat customers to make the time and postage worth it.

That said, if you are a small business a handwritten thank you is good advice. Very few small business run a many customers with a low profit business model (only retail), and as such you are probably in one area where a handwritten thank you will help.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#106

Post by maest »

PopAlongKid wrote: post #101
spaghettiToy wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I read more about marketing (for my business) it enrages me more. I basically don't use twitter, but I find myself on the platform in rants about how exploitive and manipulative some people are willing to be. There is one company that targets vunerable people with their relatively affordable Veblen goods to make them feel socially insecure if they buy an Android instead. It's so obvious when you read about…

TIL what a Veblen good is. "Apple products are classified as Veblen products, because most often users choose them, guided by the big name of the brand and believing that the possession of this technology will increase their status in society." https://lkrvk.com/the-veblen-effect-how-price-increases-affe...

The other way I think about Veblen goods is that when you're purchasing an e.g. Balenciaga shirt, you're paying for 2 things:

1. the shirt

2. you're giving money to Balenciaga to go out there and tell people how great owners of Balenciaga shirts are. You're paying them to do some marketing on your behalf, in a way.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#107

Post by csours »

I get "handwritten" letters asking to buy my house. I've looked at quite a few with a magnifying glass. All of them have been printed so far, except one was signed with a ballpoint pen! I was actually quite excited to find that someone had gone to the trouble of setting up a robosigner, but I didn't think anyone else would find it as exciting as me.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#108

Post by Kon-Peki »

reaperducer wrote: post #61
bombcar wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume that meant hand written. “Dearest Kon-Peki, thank you for purchasing the hydraulic wall crusher 9000. I think you will find this one will last slightly longer than the 8000, but as always, I am ready to sell you the newest model of this one were to suffer the ignominy so many do.” (It’s probably jewelry but it often amuses me that small businesses will spend millions on equipment with a phone call and some g…

Yes. Foiled by autocorrect.

Thanks :)

I wasn't sure if there was a term of art that I was missing :)

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#109

Post by the_af »

fortran77 wrote: post #98

Well, if this is provable and significant, here's an idea for a YC startup -- handwritten than you notes as as service (HTYNAAS)! Perhaps a pen plotter can write them, and some AI net can give it the human touch.

For the love of all that is human and sacred, please no!
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