I’ve
avoided it long enough. I’m jumping in (cannon ball style). I’ll either sink or
swim at this open, honest, be transparent to the world blogging
experience. So here goes…
From Low Grade (LG) to Likeable Guy (LG).
It's all in the delivery.
Let me share
first about an example of social media that literally left me in tears. Tears from laughter. How LG responded to a friend’s witty complaint about a broken
oven was truly original.
When Ryan
posted a rap… yes, I said it was a witty complaint… the response from LG was equally
as amusing as the complaint. It
showed two things about the brand.
They care enough to listen and not just use a canned response on every
complaint posted. And they carry their innovative brand personality into the social
space.
As Dave Kerpen explains in Likeable Social Media, “If you respond quickly and authentically, with an apology and a solution, you can avoid any damage to your reputation” (p. 84).
The interaction with LG resulted in foe becoming fan!
In looking at LG today, it’s obvious that they field a lot of complaints. Almost all of them start with addressing the consumer by name and offering to take more details offline and to work with the consumer to find a solution. They don’t delete posts and seem to be responding quickly to all posts, both good and bad.
Long delays may lead to cancelled flights!
British Airways learns a lesson in timeliness.
British Airways on the other hand learned a very valuable lesson back in 2013 about providing a quick response to customer complaints. Rhian Harris first posted the article on Econsultancy followed by David Moth at Econsultancy sharing the situation in an article on top social media fails in 2013. Ouch!
Eight hours after the complaint was posted, British Airways finally provided a response to the customer. Their reasoning for their lack of timeliness was that the post was done after regular business hours. Fail! Social media is 24/7. Especially if your business runs 24/7.
The customer not only tweeted about his experience, he also paid to promote a tweet that resulted in 76,000 users viewing the complaint. Wow! Failure to respond quickly really escalated the situation. So though there was not a lack of honesty or failure to be transparent, it does have 76,000 potential customers (not counting those that saw it in the media) asking themselves if British Airways is going to lose their luggage.
Due to the specific situation and that the airline did eventually take care of the matter, rebuilding trust could likely be obtained by simply being dedicated to providing timely responses. By showing dedication in the social hemisphere, British Airways can leverage that engagement to build loyalty with travelers. And from the interaction viewed on Twitter today, British Airways is doing just that!
Harris, R. (2013, September 5). Are you heading for a social customer
service fail? Retrieved February 5, 2015, from
https://econsultancy.com/blog/63352-are-you-heading-for-a-social-customer-service-fail
Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your
customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on
facebook (& other social networks). New York: McGraw-Hill.Moth, D. (2013, November 29). The top 16 social media fails of 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2015, from https://econsultancy.com/blog/63901-the-top-16-social-media-fails-of-2013
Hi Mandy,
ReplyDeleteThose are two great examples of both sides of the social media management spectrum. The fact that LG kept all of the customer's critical (albeit entertaining) comments public shows real transparency and confidence in it's own brand's customer support to satisfy the poster and publicly make the resolution known.
That British Airways example is a startling reminder to social media marketers of how crucial it is to monitor 24/7. I don't know how I've never foreseen the potential of angry consumers to pay to promote a complaint tweet. It's so simple yet so sinister if carried out correctly. This reminds me of hashtag highjacking (more on that here: http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/08/what-is-hashtag-hijacking-2.html). I can't remember the specifics but I do recall once seeing an organization pay to promote tweets hijacking a hashtag of an opposing organization. It says a lot that I had not seen the original organization's tweets, but only the paid ones of the company tweeting in opposition for them. It's crazy how much of a war zone Twitter can be between companies and consumers.
Great point, Brenna. Hashtag hijacking can create a huge problem in and of itself. The #McDstories hashtag failure is the one that quickly comes to mind when I think of someone hashtag hijacking. If you come across more about the organizations you mention in your post, I would love to read more about it! That’s a pretty bold move to go head to head with an opposing organization on Twitter. If you attempt that, you better know you’ll come out the winner.
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ReplyDeleteHi Mandy,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Thanks for sharing your friend's comical interaction with LG. It's a great example of how great customer service and transparency can turn a foe into a fan. It also shows the importance of what Kemper refers to as developing one's "social personality" as well as "responding in your brand's voice" (Kemper, 2011). I've seen a number of other humorous interactions between consumers and businesses that all had pretty happy endings. Does being humorous with your complaint actually benefit you as the customer/consumer? Researchers at The University of Colorado and Texas A & M actually looked into this and the results were sort of surprising. One of the parts of the study looked at complaints on Facebook. They found that, "people who made humorous complaints were often intending to entertain (57%) rather than warn others (6%), according to the study. While many more non-humorous complaints were intended as warnings (27%), with only 8% seeking to entertain their Facebook pals with their misery." (Morran, 2015). They also asked a group of people to write both humorous and non-humorous complaint letters, which were then shown to a panel of professionals who were asked to decide which complaint letters they would identify as priorities. In the end, "only 40% of subjects chose the funny complaint as the one that took priority." (Morran). So, perhaps one is better off voicing their complaint humorously via social media but not so much in a personal letter. For me, if a company responded in the manner that LG did in the example you provided, I'd feel a more personal attachment to the brand and be more likely to promote them to friends and family despite an initial issue with one of their products or services. Having a sense of humor goes a long way (with me anyway). Cheers!
Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on facebook (& other social networks). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Morran, C. (2015, January 21). Do Funny Consumer Complaints Lead To Better Results Or Just Hurt Your Case? Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://consumerist.com/2015/01/21/do-funny-consumer-complaints-lead-to-better-results-or-just-hurt-your-case/
Thanks for the comment. I think the example of LG is in line with the article you mentioned. The research found that humor may not always result in resolution for the complainer, but it is away of getting attention (Morran, 2015). Today, with so many ways to voice a complaint, maybe getting an organization’s attention is truly the hardest part.
ReplyDeleteMorran, C. (2015, January 21). Do Funny Consumer Complaints Lead To Better Results Or Just Hurt Your Case? Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://consumerist.com/2015/01/21/do-funny-consumer-complaints-lead-to-better-results-or-just-hurt-your-case/
Hi Mandy,
ReplyDeleteWow, what a great example with LG! Personally, I haven't dealt much with LG's customer service, or its products for that matter, but it seems like your friend ran into someone who handled the situation in the best possible way. Keeping the situation lighthearted from the beginning is a great way to get a frustrated customer back to liking your company - so long as the problem gets addressed.
British Airways definitely had a bit of a gaffe and learned a tough lesson when the customer was so frustrated that they paid for their bad experience to be put on blast to tens of thousands of viewers. Kerpen mentions the importance of responding quickly and publicly to complaints, and that it shows the social media world that the company cares about its customers and wants to remedy any problems as soon as possible (Kerpen, 2011, Ch. 6). My only criticism would be to show the initial customer tweet/complaint in the British Airways example. Either way, good examples, Mandy!
Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on facebook (& other social networks). New York: McGraw-Hill.
I agree, Jeff. I should have posted the original tweet. I actually got lost in the trail. You can find the promoted tweet at http://mashable.com/2013/09/02/man-promoted-tweet-british-airways/
DeleteBut to get the full effect, go to the customer's Twitter feed and go to September 2, 2013. It's great reading.
Hi Mandy,
ReplyDeleteWhat excellent examples of great and poor transparency with LG and British Airways. I really enjoyed actually seeing the examples of conversation back and forth, which was especially powerful in bringing the LG example to life. What we may not know from social media though, is if the British Airways example actually resulted in a loss in business for the airlines giant? I can see how 76,000 people may make a dent in the airlines business, but it's probably something that is seen over time as opposed to an immediate impact on the business. This type of poor response and lack of listening to the consumer 24/7 can result in causing your "customers and prospects to turn to your competitors, those who are listening and will respond to customers needs" (Kerpen, 2011, p. 18). These days, companies like British Airways have to be extremely careful as to not alienate their customers, especially given the number of competitors in a cluttered category like airlines.
Great post Mandy!
Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on facebook (& other social networks). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hi, Allie. You're right. We can't tell how much, if any, business was lost by this incident. But it was certainly attention getting!
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