This article is a reprint of Wise Bread’s contribution to OPEN Forum from American Express — where small business owners can get advice from experts and share tips with each other.

Photo: dnberty

Customers are your business’s lifeblood. Without them, you don’t have a business at all. But woo them carefully with devotion, and your business sales can skyrocket.

You heard me right: If you want to build higher rates of retention, boost customer loyalty, and increase referrals and sales, all you need to do is charm the people who buy from you with a little low-cost, personal attention. Who doesn’t love being romanced?

Want to know how to create those warm, fuzzy feelings? Use these five easy tips and make your customers love you so they keep coming back for more:

Tell the World They’re Special

What do you do when you love someone? You want to tell the world how special that person is to you.

So tell the world about your customers and how special they are to you by giving them some spotlight attention. Display glowing testimonials proudly on your website. Write a blog post and mention kind words a client told you. Write a case study or success story. Talk about how much your customer’s life has changed since discovering your business.

By putting your customers in the spotlight and telling the world about them, you create a win-win. You help their business get some free exposure to new clients, and you show your prospective customers that your business creates positive results.

Take this tip one step further: Write a blog post about a recent project or sale. Talk about how much you enjoyed getting to know your customer and mention what you liked — friendly attitude, pleasant manners, or even a great smile. This definitely creates warm fuzzies for anyone!

Thank Them – And Mean It

Here’s an easy way to bring a smile to anyone’s face: Thank them for being customers in a way that shows you really appreciate having them.

It takes mere seconds to send a customer a personal thank you note for having trusted your business to provide them with what they want. Send a quick email a week or two after the purchase, or even better, mail them an old-fashioned handwritten note. People love getting these — really.

Double-whammy your thank you note by giving a little gift. Tuck a coupon into the envelope or offer your customers a 5% discount on their next purchase. Just a small gift to say thanks can go a long way towards showing customers you’re glad to have them.

Remember Them So They Remember You

Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes — which means that dropping contact with your customers can result in them forgetting your business exists. Or worse, showing that you don’t care.

That’s why staying in touch with customers over the months or even years can help retain their patronage for a long time to come. They never forget you — and they might even think fondly of you. 

Don’t just stay in touch; get personal about it. Take note of details that your customers share with you either while making a purchase or in conversation. Note their birth dates. Mark down the name of their pets. Jot down that your client had a big golf tournament coming up.

Then use that information to show you were paying attention to your customers. Mention Rover in an email. Mail a happy birthday card. Ask how the tournament turned out on your next call. Your clients will love you for it.

Treat Them with Responsive Respect

There’s nothing worse than being put on hold and hearing a tinny recording say, “Your call is important to us.” (It’s even worse if you have to wait 20 minutes for a live person to actually back that up.)

So when customers get in touch with you — no matter who they are, no matter why they’re contacting you — respect them, and respond to them.

This is so easy to do, and responding to people in a personal way is actually so rare in the world of business that it pleasantly surprises people when it happens. Doing so can build huge loyalty and fond thoughts in the minds of your customers so they remember you for a long, long time.

So ditch the canned responses. Answer people who get in touch via social media platforms. Reply to emails, and do so personally if you can. The phone rings? Pick it up — don’t let the call fall into some robotic system. It may take extra time from your day, but it’s worth every minute — and it comes back to you in ways that’ll make YOU love your customers!

Also, be personable when you talk with customers and prospects. Show them you’re a genuinely great individual who is interested in them by being approachable, friendly, and pleasant. Your customers will get the chance to know you, like you and appreciate you and your business even more for who you are.

Check In On Them, Just Because

“Hey Heather, I was thinking about you today and just wanted to drop you a note to say hi — no particular reason. Hope things are well!”

There you go, how easy was that? Sending your customers an out-of-the-blue email like that can be a great way to show them you value them as people, that you care about them and that you like them for who they are — enough to send them that quick thought. Warm fuzzy feelings? You bet!

Business-wise, an unexpected “How are you?” email opens up the lines of communication. You might find your customer replying, “I’ve been meaning to get in touch — glad you wrote!” and secure a new sale. You might just end up having a great conversation (which gives you extra notes about your client you can jot down and use in future communications).

Customers will enjoy the no-obligation, no-pitch contact, too. A “just saying hi” makes everyone feel better. That’ll make it a lot easier for customers to remember you when it’s time for the next purchase.

It all comes down to a very simple sentiment: People like to buy from people, not from faceless businesses who don’t care. So show that you do, and woo your customers carefully for a devoted relationship they’ll adore!

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This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

Hamilton Chan is CEO and Founder of Paperlinks. With the free Paperlinks iPhone app, featured previously by Apple as the #1 New & Noteworthy app, consumers can scan and view QR code content with a native app experience. Paperlinks also provides a powerful Content Management System for managing campaigns.

Observing QR code adoption by mainstream America is sometimes like watching Charlie Brown set up to kick a football: The moment always seems so promising, but in the end, the effort comes up empty.

Jimmy Fallon’s recent QR code moment and New York City’s QR-linked building permits are two more notches on the belt of early adopters. But were these just blips or an indicator of things to come? Will QR codes ever become part of everyday life or be relegated to “only-in-Japan” status?

I believe the answer is yes, QR codes are coming to an advertisement or object near you, and sooner than you may think. Here are the reasons why, along with suggestions on how advertisers can catalyze this movement by making QR code campaigns as useful and rewarding as possible.

Why QR Codes Make Sense

As I had mentioned in a previous article, hyperlinks are now making their natural migration from desktop monitors to objects in the real world. We no longer need to be tethered to a desktop computer in order to use the internet to interact with the world around us. When you see something that you want information about, you no longer have to make a mental note to look it up later on Google. You can simply point your smartphone at the object and obtain the desired information without typing or speaking. In essence, the QR code has become the shortest distance between curiosity and information retrieval.

The beauty of QR codes is that they are an open-source and freely licensed standard. They cost nothing additional to add to printed materials and can be scanned by free readers on all smartphones and even some feature phones.

Old habits die hard, so it will take some time for people to get used to engaging the real world with their phone, but the unique look of a QR code, a strong call to action, and valuable rewards will help further their surging popularity. The ability to measure click-through rates on real world items, while capturing temporal, geographic and demographic data will make QR codes a favorite among advertisers.

Meanwhile, here is what businesses, institutions and individuals can do to make QR codes an effective part of their marketing arsenal.

1. Optimize for Mobile

Advertisers who embed desktop URLs in a QR code are missing the point of real-to-mobile interactivity. People interact with their mobile devices with significantly shorter attention spans than they do on their desktops. Once a QR code is scanned, the resulting view should be thumb-interactive, easy to read, and purpose-driven.

2. There Must Be A Payoff

A QR code is like a scratch-off card — people have to apply some effort to engage, so the payoff better be worth it. Content emanating from a QR code needs to be useful or an easy redemption of an exclusive reward.

The use of QR codes on the Jimmy Fallon show was moderately effective in that the QR code led to a mobile-friendly music video featuring Tyler, the Creator, who was performing that night. However, viewers were already watching the band perform on TV. Did they need to see it on their phone at that moment as well? What if, upon scanning the QR code, a page was displayed asking viewers to download the artist’s single for a 50% off flash sale, with single-click purchasing ability through iTunes or Amazon MP3?

Other QR code applications, such as HBO’s recent campaign for Boardwalk Empire this past September, have gone further by offering exclusive content and rewards for those willing to scan. In this case, the QR code connected to a password to enter a themed “speakeasy” event. Even Starbucks is on board with a QR-linked mobile payment system that, with a quick scan, serves up convenience along with your morning coffee.

3. Be Patient and Stick With It

Given our late adopter culture, tech trends should be expected to take a while here in the U.S. CDs were popular in Asia long before they made a dent in America. The same was true of DVDs, mobile phones, and now QR codes. Given this predisposition, the only way forward for any new technology is to be relentless in providing inherent value and easy uptake. By experimenting with QR codes early, advertisers can become adept at engaging with users on a mobile basis, so that when QR codes do hit the mainstream, they will be ready.

The Tipping Point

If the volume of inquiries at my own company is any indication, it appears to me that QR codes are very steadily percolating up into the mainstream. I think there will come a day when URLs will be replaced by QRLs. Just as consumers were wary of e-commerce in the mid-’90s, so too are they now taking their first inevitable baby steps towards m-commerce.

I believe the tipping moment will occur as a result of a major media event, such as QR codes serving as an alternative to texting in your American Idol vote or QR codes being used regularly by a major retail brand such as Costco or McDonald’s. Those advertising icons are also pragmatic and they, along with us, will be watching for that magical moment of impact.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

– HOW TO: Grow Your Sales and Revenue Using 2D Codes
– 2D Codes: The 10 Commandments for Marketers
– How The iPad Is Helping Businesses Go Green
– HOW TO: Jump-Start Your Career by Becoming an Online Influencer
– 4 Small Business Mobile Predictions for 2011

Image courtesy of Flickr, Projeto Sticker Map

Foursquare, the location-based mobile game startup that pioneered the checkin, will introduce version 3.0 Tuesday evening. The new release turns on the power of every checkin accumulated over the course of its two-year history and transforms that data into recommendations.

“Our theme internally has always been that every checkin counts,” says co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley, who speaks of version 3.0 as the materialization of that philosophy.

New Recommendation Engine

The Foursquare user will immediately begin to see the value of the checkin in the new Explore tab. The Explore tab, which sits where the Tips tab once was, now serves as the meat of the application. Here, users can query for recommendations or dive into food, coffee, nightlife, shops and arts and entertainment recommendations served up by Foursquare and ranked by what’s most interesting to the user.

Crowley explains that recommendations are similar to Amazon or Netflix recommendations, but made for the real world. He compares the recommendation engine to a recycling center that makes old data new again. “We’re recycling data; so [the engine] spits back things that are tailored to what you’re doing.”

Let us know what you think.

Finally!

Most of us who watched Knight Rider as a kid expected that by 2011 we would be driving sleek, self-aware cars like KITT — cars that would take us seamlessly from A to B while cracking witty one-liners.

 

Though that future has not yet come to pass, things are starting to get exciting in the in-car technology space. Connected cars are hitting the consumer market in a price bracket that makes them a realistic option for many. One prediction sees “near saturation” in the U.S. market in as little as four years’ time.

“In terms of connected cars, we see the growth to be significant,” says Mark C. Boyadjis, a senior automotive analyst for IHS iSuppli. “Our forecasts for OEM Monitored, Telematics-enabled vehicles in 2010 sit at 4.5 million sales, with a heavy part of that coming from the U.S. and Western Europe, whereas this industry grows to 22.7 million by 2015.

“In 2015, however, there will be a much larger portion coming from China, Brazil, and Russia, as well as near saturation in developed markets like the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan.”

So what can we expect from these connected cars? We’ve spoken to a major motoring manufacturer, a futurist, an automotive analyst and other industry experts to find out.

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1. Your Car as Your Credit Card

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You may currently enjoy contactless payment at tolls via a smart card, but in the future we will see such cashless transactions extended to other areas of motoring, such as parking charges and fuel payments via embedded tech in your car.

Skymeter is one company developing products in this area. Its Financial GPS solution could offer wide-ranging changes to the way we pay for our driving.

“With Financial GPS, consumers can get one bill at the end of the month for every car-related cost: their parking, their insurance, their lease, their roads, even full repairs coverage,” saysKamal Hassan, CEO of Skymeter Corp.

“Everything would be paid automatically per minute or per mile, based on your actual driving and parking. Drivers could then control their costs. Not driving for a week would save you money on your lease, your insurance and even your municipal tax bill.”

We asked Hassan how far off such solutions are for the average consumer. “I believe we are two to three years away from seeing consumer cars with embedded Financial GPS units. GPS navigation units like Garmin started as aftermarket devices then moved into the car. Financial GPS will follow the same path.”

BMW meanwhile is working on a smart car key that, as well as controlling some in-car electronic functions, could be used for contactless payment. Just a prototype at this stage, BMW envisions your car key as your credit card as early as next year.

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2. Your Garage as a Docking Station

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Wi-Fi technology is the breakthrough addition to the connected car platform that’s going to make all the difference. While Bluetooth is great for in-car communications and streaming music, it’s cellular and Internet connectivity that truly puts the “connected” in connected car.

Ford has recently enhanced its Microsoft SYNC-based MyTouch system with Wi-Fi, meaning cars with the tech, such as the 2012 Ford Focus, can be turned into mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.

We spoke to Jason Johnson, product development engineer at Ford, about why this is such a major development and what we can look forward to in the future. “We’re envisioning, for example, a web browser in the car for when you’re parked,” Johnson revealed, as well as the potential for easier platform updates.

“With Wi-Fi, imagine your parking garage is a docking station for your car, so overnight your car wakes up, SYNC wakes up and it grabs the latest software update via the Wi-Fi,” says Johnson. “So that’s the beauty of the connected car. Just like all your other mobile devices can get updated on the fly, why shouldn’t your car also be able to be updated that way?”

Although this OTA update concept is exciting for the entertainment and navigational aspects of cars, looking further into the future, just imagine how much more convenient it would be to fix software-based technical issues remotely via an update, rather than the current logistical nightmare a recall brings.

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3. Voice Controls for Your Car

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The connected car, typically with a touchscreen console, has one major flaw — it’s potentially dangerous to interact with while driving. The answer to this is voice control, in which you speak commands to the system.

Ford has employed voice recognition into its connected car platform and we asked Johnson about it.

“Voice control is now starting to become the primary interface in the car because it allows you to keep your hands on the wheel, your eyes on the road and focus on the task of driving. Instead of picking up your iPhone and browsing through the music, you can just say ‘play artist,’ ‘play genre,’ ” Johnson explains.

But how capable is the voice recognition technology? Do you have to memorize a ton of unnatural commands? Ford’s system can currently understand 10,000 words — an impressive vocabulary for a car.

“What you’ll see from Ford is that we want to make device integration easier to use with voice control, and over time you’ll be able to have more of a natural conversation with the system,” says Johnson. “Over time you’ll be able to say ‘Hey SYNC I wanna listen to some jazz.’ ”

We also spoke to Nuance, the company that powers the voice recognition in Ford’s systems about what the future holds in this area.

“The connected car is the present and future. In the near future, drivers will be able to dictate messages or web searches from the convenience of their car — and the system will respond accurately,” Fátima Vital, senior marketing manager of automotive speech for Nuance told us.

“This functionality isn’t just for a select few either. More and more car manufacturers regard speech recognition is an indispensable feature. A J.D. Powers report shows that drivers with a speech-enabled navigation system record the most satisfaction with their cars. Hence the reason it is now available across a whole range of vehicle segments, from luxury cars to the smallest mass market vehicles. By 2020, expect the majority of the vehicles to have in-build speech recognition.”

And voice control is going to be important for convincing consumers about the safety of driving cars with such advanced dashboards. Garry Golden, lead futurist with NYC-basedFutureThink predicts this is one hurdle manufacturers could face.

“We will certainly be more social inside our cars and services such as OnStar and SYNC might serve as a buffer between friends, family and businesses. But as move towards a future where cars can command our attention as much as our cell phones, I expect to see a growing cultural backlash around this notion of distracted driving and inattentive drivers.”

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4. Apps to Control Your Car

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Currently a fledgling market, controlling certain functionality of your car via your cell phone will soon be commonplace for new car owners.

BMW, Ford, GM and Volvo have already dipped their toes into the water as far as companion apps for your car go, with some more advanced options offering the ability to remotely unlock the car, start the car and sound the horn, all from a distance. The number of such apps is expected to grow significantly over the next few years.

“From the consumer’s point of view, the connected vehicle will be largely accessible via the computer and smartphone. Application integration is growing vastly as OEMs put their daily relevance in the pocket of their buyers. OEMs are making apps for owners manuals, telematics remote controls, new location-based information, plus integrating those existing entertainment apps like iheartradio, radiotime, Slacker, and Pandora,” says IHS iSuppli automotive analyst Boyadji.

While the current crop of apps work on the driver activating the controls, Golden sees the future of this area in proximity-based sensors and related automation.

“Most operations inside the vehicle are being brought onto the web and will be controllable by secured devices. But the real innovations will be those automated systems based on machine-to-machine interfaces that eliminate the need for human commands,” Golden explains.

“As you walk towards the car, your phone will adjust temperature, turn on the music and unlock the door as you step closer.”

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Conclusion

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As the engineering specifications of rival car models get more and more in line with each other, we’re sure that consumers will be increasingly likely to take into account the car’s connected platforms before making purchasing decisions.

Each manufacturer needs to push to make its platform the leading option for the connected consumer, because as Johnson demonstrates, each manufacturer’s system will be exclusive to the brand, and in competition with its rivals.

“The unique thing about SYNC is that it’s a Ford creation, what makes SYNC is SYNC,” says Johnson. “It’s just not something you could go to another parts supplier and say ‘Hey, give me SYNC.’ ”

In the same way that consumers develop preferences for computer or cell phone operating systems, always sticking to iOS or Android, for example, we think as consumers get used to in-car connectivity platforms, they will want to stick to the same platform with future purchases.

This means that the car company that gets it right at this early stage is set to benefit greatly. As Golden says, “If the battle of the 20th century was Ford versus General Motors, the next century might be Ford SYNC vs. GM OnStar.”

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

If the Internet has a quaint pastime, selling stuff on eBay is probably it. Before a thriving e-commerce sprouted a handful of platforms on which anyone can sell anything to anyone else, there was a slightly thrilling novelty to participating in the online auction. “Yes,” we told our friends, “I sold it on the internet.”

Some of the mystery and magic may have been lost over the last 15 years, but the easy selling platform remains. Up to 100 individual listings per month are free on eBay, but many people go beyond that — the site’s 90-million-person community now buys enough (about $1,900 worth of goods every second) to support many full-time businesses. If you’re thinking about setting up a storefront on eBay, here are eight pieces of advice to keep in mind.

1. Ask Yourself if eBay is Right For Your Business

U.S. President Barack Obama is paying a visit to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbuerg and a roster of other technology executives during a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area this week.

On Thursday, February 17, Obama is slated to sit down with Zuckerberg and other tech CEOs at a private dinner during his overnight trip to the West Coast. President Obama will not be making any public appearances in the San Francisco area.

According to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, “The focus of the discussion is innovation and job creation, and these are representatives of businesses… who know a lot about private sector job growth.”

While innovation, one of the key talking points from the President’s recent State of the Union address, is to be the main topic of discussion, “Obviously other topics could come up,” said Carney.

For security reasons, neither the White House nor Facebook representatives can confirm any other details, but a full roster of attendees will be released soon.

Social media has played a big part in Obama’s presidency, and it has also played a huge role in international politics recently. We’re interested to learn what may come of the President’s meeting with San Francisco’s technology leaders, and we’ll report more about that meeting as details emerge.

WOW! This is going to be interesting.

The Sony Ericsson booth at Mobile World Congress is much like any other at the week-long event in Barcelona: neon lighting, shag carpeting and racks of phones on large plastic stands. But most of the phones are looking distinctly unloved. Just one of their brethren is getting all the attention — the Xperia Play, informally (and more appropriately) known as the PlayStation Phone.

The Xperia Play is an Android phone where the slide-out keyboard has been replaced by slide-out PlayStation controls for easy gaming. Yesterday, Sony announced the Xperia Play would be available sometime this spring worldwide; in the U.S. it will be carried on Verizon. Some 50 games, many of them classics from the PlayStation One, will be ready at launch, according to Sony Ericcson. You’ll be able to buy them through a virtual PlayStation store, accessed via the Android Marketplace.

I had the opportunity to take the Xperia Play for a test run, and I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable I found it. I’ve owned several PlayStations in my lifetime, but I’ve never been much of a fan of the platform. I had zero interest in the PSP, the pricey portable gaming platform that has been losing out to the more innovative (and cheaper) Nintendo DS. Neither seemed like devices I had room to carry around. I’m not alone: In December, a report by research firm Interpret showed a significant rise in smartphone gaming and a decline in PSP/DS use.

But the Xperia Play isn’t merely a PSP with phone functionality added on. It has been redesigned from the ground up. On the surface, it looks and acts like a respectable, regular touchscreen phone running Android 2.3, or Gingerbread. It wouldn’t immediately tip your boss off to your status as a gamer. Wait until the boss goes out of the room, however, and you can slide out the panel with the game buttons. This has triggers on the back, and a pair of touchpads that act as joysticks.

I found the touchpads actually easier to handle than joysticks or the D-pad (arrow keys). Moreover, I was surprised to learn, the screen itself remains touch-sensitive when in game mode. This means that games for the Xperia will have more kinds of input at their disposal than a Sony PSP, a Nintendo DS or an iPhone. For that matter it has more potential inputs than a PlayStation3, or any other console.

Of course, whether all those inputs are used in games depends on game developers. Only a few of the launch games I sampled — which included FIFA 10, Asphalt 6 and Bruce Lee — were optimized for the touchpad joysticks. Then again, it took iPhone game developers a while to catch on to all the possibilities inherent in that device, and now you’d be hard-pressed to find an iPhone game that doesn’t use the accelerometer. The Xperia Play designers deliberately left out an accelerometer, convinced that gamers don’t want to swoop their phone around the room while playing. Perhaps that was one input too many.

Who do you think will use this the most?