We all know that the customer is always right. Or rather, believe themselves to always be right. And for you, the business owner, it doesn’t matter. Through the use of social media people have created empires and just as quickly destroyed them. Here is an example of a social media campaign gone awry and the correct use of a social media tool to address concerns. I offer these two up as mini case studies on actions for you to take in the future should you wish to avoid burning Rome.
Enter Franklin Goose an Eco-Friendly-Green-As-You-Can-Get Family Store. They developed a campaign to encourage customers to post reviews. For every review posted the customer received 5 dollars in store credit. They failed to put any limitations on this campaign. As they stated in their blog post they had over 50,000 reviews. Great Win right? Not so much.
The following day they wrote another post offering an extra 20% in credit if customers decided to bank what they already had. Citing the huge number of reviews and orders that was overwhelming.
Apparently some days later they called the whole thing off. They canceled all issued store credits and canceled pending orders that had used store credit. To pour salt on the wound they offered a one time 40% off coupon. Good job. If you want to read more about this Social Media Fail Sheposts has all the good stuff.
So what did they do wrong?
1. They did not limit their campaign – Always place limitations on your campaign. This ensures that you can fulfill on your promise and consequently have a happy customer.
2. They were not straight with their customers- I’m not saying this could have been avoided however, I am sure the constant changing of what they said they were going to do did not help. If your customer always feels you are going to change what you said you would do, why would they buy from you?
3. No responsibility They never said ” We did not do what we said we would and we are sorry. We get that you expect more from a company of our caliber and are working hard to earn your trust again.” Without accepting responsibility it leaves their customers feeling like they don’t care.
4. Am I missing anything? What would you have done?
Enter Lululemon an I’m-Going-To-Look-Sexy-In-This-Functional-Sports-Wear-Company. On many of their negative reviews they have a company representative respond. Here’s an example:
Hey tooky,
Thanks for sharing your feedback with us and posting your review. That’s great feedback for our designers to hear and I will pass on that you would love an XS made in these for people who wear size 2 and 4 in our product. I’m sorry to hear the lace is not wearing well. This doesn’t reflect the quality of product we strive to create. I suggest taking it into your local store and discussing it with an educator.
This comes out as a Social Media Win as it does many things right.
1. They accept responsibility By accepting responsibility (which does not mean you are making it your fault) you are able to hear the customers concerns and address them in such a way as they feel heard.
2.Quick responses- By showing your customer that you are listening and care about what they have to say they will come back.
3. In public- Duh! By addressing these concerns in public you let other would be customers know that you care and respond quickly to issues. This inspires confidence. When customers are confident they spend. When they spend you win.
4. Am I missing anything? What would you have done?
Let me know of any Social Media Wins and Fails in the comments section. It always interesting to hear and I would definitely write some more about them.