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\n\t\tOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\t<\/p>\n
I remember sitting on the floor of our condo, surrounded by boxes, writing notes to people I had never met. We had just shipped some of our first orders. No systems. No automation. No playbook. Just a belief that if someone trusted us enough to try what we were building, the least we could do was acknowledge it.<\/p>\n
So we started including Polaroids and handwritten notes in every first-time order. It was slow. It was messy. It made no sense from a traditional efficiency standpoint. And it ended up becoming one of the most important things we did. Not because it directly drove short-term results. Because it built a connection \u2014\u00a0and connection is what gives a business a chance to matter.<\/p>\n
Early on, I thought the objective was simple. Grow fast. Be efficient. Figure out how to do more with less. That\u2019s what most advice reinforces. And it\u2019s not wrong \u2014 it\u2019s incomplete. Because if you optimize too early for scale, you risk removing the very thing that makes people care in the first place. Connection is not efficient. It takes time. It takes intention. And it\u2019s difficult to measure.<\/p>\n
Which is exactly why most companies deprioritize it.<\/p>\n
What started as something small became something much bigger over time. Our mother joined the business and took ownership of this experience. She has personally handwritten close to a million Polaroid notes to our customers. Not as a campaign. Not as a short-term activation. As a consistent part of how we show up. Over time, she even built a team around it to help continue the effort. Today, we still do it.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t take photos every single day the way we did in the very beginning. We run photo shoots, plan ahead and then those photos are paired with handwritten notes that go out to customers. It\u2019s not the most efficient system. But it\u2019s intentional. And that small touch continues to make a meaningful difference. Not because of the format. Because of what it represents. Someone took the time.<\/p>\n
When someone receives something personal, something clearly created with effort, it changes how they experience your brand. It shifts the interaction from transactional to human. They don\u2019t just see a product. They feel like there are real people behind it. That feeling is difficult to replicate \u2014\u00a0and it\u2019s even harder to replace once it exists.<\/p>\n
Looking back, those Polaroids were never about the photo. They were about signaling something simple: \u201cWe see you.\u201d In a world where most interactions are optimized for speed, that signal stands out.<\/p>\n
As soon as something starts working, the instinct is to optimize it. Automate responses. Standardize communication. Remove friction. That instinct makes sense. But here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned over time: If you remove all the friction, you often remove the feeling. And the feeling is what people remember. Not the speed. Not the system. Not the process. The experience.<\/p>\n
At some point, I stopped asking: \u201cHow do we scale this?\u201d And started asking: \u201cWhere do we stay human<\/a>, even as we grow?\u201d That question forced us to be more intentional. Not about doing everything manually. But about protecting the moments that actually matter. Because not everything should be optimized \u2014\u00a0some things should be preserved.<\/p>\n We\u2019re moving into a world where automation<\/a> is becoming the default. Responses can be generated instantly. Experiences can be streamlined end-to-end. Communication can be scaled without human involvement. That creates efficiency. But it also creates sameness.<\/p>\n So the opportunity is not just to move faster \u2014 it\u2019s to know where to slow down. Because the more predictable interactions become, the more people notice what feels real.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to do everything manually, but you do need to be deliberate about where you invest human effort. Here\u2019s what I would suggest:<\/p>\n 1. Identify one moment that defines your customer experience<\/strong> 2. Add effort where it\u2019s visible<\/strong> 3. Stay in direct contact with your customers<\/strong> 4. Don\u2019t remove everything that feels inefficient<\/strong> 5. Protect the intention, not the exact tacticWhy this matters even more today<\/h2>\n
How to apply this without slowing down your business<\/h2>\n
<\/strong>Choose a single point in your journey where you can create a meaningful interaction.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>People can feel when something required time and intention.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Even at scale, find ways to maintain proximity.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Some of the highest-impact actions won\u2019t make sense on paper.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>It\u2019s not about Polaroids specifically. It\u2019s about creating moments that make people feel acknowledged.<\/p>\nThe advantage many people overlook<\/h2>\n