Coffee on Judy: How Judy's Book is Quietly Making Friends

Today a Web site bought me a cup of coffee. That's a good Web site.

Judy's Book is a site for information sharing about local businesses and activities. It's got a lot of competition in a field with a bunch of aggressive newcomers. So what is Judy's Book doing to differentiate itself? It's treating its reviewers like they were customers.

This morning I walked down to Bauhaus Coffee in Seattle where Sidney and Sarah from Judy's Book are handing out free coffee vouchers to old and new members of Judy's Book. After I introduced myself, picked up my coffee, and sat down to do some work, Sidney came over to ask what I thought about the Web site and how it could be improved.

That's really cool because it means that Judy's Book is starting a conversation with it's members. Suddenly they aren't just a Web site, they're people.

Right now I'm reading BuzzMarketing, and it sounds like Judy's Book is taking a page right out of this book. Judy's Book has a human face for me now. That's a huge differentiator from the competition. Now what I want to see is a Judy's Book blog where I can keep up with what's happening with their service as they grow.

Update: So I just talked to Sidney again, and she tells me that Judy's Book is in fact in the process of setting up a blog - more when I hear it.

Update 2: Judy's blog has launched, you can find it here!