The letter first congratulated me on my eighteenth birthday that took place at the end of June, then informed me that, because of my new legal status, the initially waved fees and minimum balance requirements would now apply to my account. Also mailed with the letter were a long list of various account fees, an information sheet about my savings account’s rules, and a new signature card that needed signed & returned, along with a postage paid envelope to return it.

Digging through that information sheet, I found the minimum balance requirement: a $4.00 per month fee if the balance ever falls below $300. The sheet also presented my interest rate, and I took a minute to calculate my potential interest based on my current and predicted activity.

Let’s think about the average recipient of this letter for a minute: a young adult preparing for, or in the process of, making the transition from high school to college, likely with a part-time job in town and an account balance anywhere from the lower three digits to a moderate four-digit number. Some majority of these accounts are likely hovering in that $300 ballpark, but the requirement & fee wasn’t clearly highlighted and could be easily missed. So, by far, the first thought from this student after reading simply that letter has got to be, “How does this apply to me?”

So many companies fail to put themselves in their customer’s shoes to improve experiences like these. Pretend you’re the one receiving this letter in a situation like I described, and think about what a positive experience would be. For me, I would be impressed with a phone call with a friendly voice on the other end, telling me exactly what to expect:

Congratulations on reaching this important milestone of your life. We’re sending you some information this week about a few new rules that apply to your account. We have been waiving a few fees on your account to help you build your savings, but now that your account has matured these fees will now apply. You need to hold a minimum balance of three hundred dollars at all times, or a four dollar management fee will be charged for that month. Based on your recent account activity, [some statement about how this will really affect me]. Also, if you continue to keep your account around its current balance, you’ll earn $xx in interest at the end of this year. Please sign and return the form included with this information to verify you understand the new rules.

This is how customer service should be. In one two-minute phone call I now know exactly what to expect going forward – in my case, nothing different at all – and, depending on how much I’m saving or will be saving, what my interest payment could be. When the letter arrives I’ll look over the paperwork, file it in my banking folder, and send back the signature card. Done. And since I’m probably looking to build credit, why not offer some help getting started with that?

Imagine being on the opposite end of every experience your company offers. Little things like this are what can transform a good company into a great one, but can only be created by looking at the problem from both sides. Young adults in search of an anchor for their savings are looking for a bank that makes them feel welcome, and that clearly has the best interests in their financial success. One quick phone call just as these kids are making that decision sure seems like a great way to make that introduction.

I’m disappointed to be leaving; we had a great vision for WPCoder and had filled several notebook pages full of notes & plans. Our developers are a very fine group of people to work with and, despite working remotely, I’m so proud of the tremendous help they gave me and the mutual respect we had for each other. Our clients are just as spectacular and I had the opportunity to form a number of great relationships, which is my favorite part about running any business. Thank you all for a great three years – it’s been a blast. Michael Castilla will be taking over & assuming all management duties, and I wish him & WPCoder all the best.

I’m not without work, though – quite the opposite, actually. I’m extremely excited to announce that I will be joining the fine designers at Fixel, a job that will allow me to push & grow my development skills by building more applications & tools for the web in addition to the front-end development and WordPress theming that has filled most of my portfolio to this point. I’ll also continue to build & run RennoReady, a relatively un-announced, non-web startup of mine that’s still learning how to walk in my own town, but will soon be growing. There are plans in the works for another possible venture, but I may wait until my new schedule settles down and I get back into the school routine once again before adding anything else to my agenda.

I love WPCoder and will miss all the great people I had the opportunity to work with during my time there, but at the same time it’s hard to ignore the feeling that this could be the best thing I could do for my career at this point, and I feel extremely lucky to be able to leave one job and immediately start another. I’ll continue to blog here, now that I have a little more time to pursue my goal of “more writing!”, and hopefully there will be something fun & exciting for me to announce a few months from now.

To me, encouragement is one of the most motivational forces one could receive, and I’m heading into this new period of my career with more energy & optimism than ever. So to those who have and continue to support me, thank you so much – I can’t wait to see where things go from here.

Dan