You don’t need to be the size of an Office Depot to benefit from their marketing knowledge. The company’s e-commerce director recently shared some great advice in an interview with MarketingSherpa.com. Rather nice of him, I think.

You certainly don’t have to be as big as Office Depot to try some of the strategies he suggests. For example, collecting data on your customer’s buying behaviors is a good way to find out what they expect from your store. It can be as simple as asking for their email addresses so you can send them a questionnaire. They can complete it online and, once you receive it, you can email them a discount coupon or an invitation to a special sale. As I’ve mentioned before, sites such as SurveyMonkey.com can help you gather this data at very affordable prices.

Another easy feedback-gathering method is follow-up phone calls. I always like it when I get such a call from an auto-repair shop or medical group. It tells me they care about my experience with them, good, bad or in between. Have you ever made follow-up calls to your customers? I’ll bet they would appreciate it. I’ll also bet that the smaller your business, the more they’ll be impressed that you called.

Office Depot also realizes that customers who get treated right in their stores are more likely to place orders on OfficeDepot.com. They even show customers how to change their computer settings for a better shopping experience online, then give them a printout of instructions. “The offline experience complements the virtual one,” the e-commerce director says.

The article is full of good ideas, so I suggest you read it. Let the ideas sink in, as I’ve done. My staff will have their marching orders soon.