Good or Bad, Words Spreads Fast on the Web
It’s no secret that blogs have given people an unprecedented voice in terms of sharing stories of corporate blunders. Anyone who has been online for any length of time has seen their fair share of posts about bad customer service experiences or arrogant CEO’s. Thankfully, there are also plenty of examples of great service. Stories of the company employee that went the extra mile can actually spread pretty fast as well. Mack Collier covers both ends of the spectrum today in a post about how companies deal with their online reputations.
Mack points to a couple of posts by people who have had bad experiences flying Spirit Airlines. One of those unhappy customers and his wife ended up missing a concert due to numerous flight delays. When he took the time to email Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza about his frustrations, Baldanza made the massive blunder of not only responding with all the arrogance of a typical big-shot CEO, but also of accidentally including the customer in his reply.
His response?
Mack writes:
If that didn’t spell enough potential trouble for Spirit Airlines, the actions of another of their employees fueled the fire.
Mack continues:
Interestingly, one of the original blog posts complaining about Spirit Airlines poor customer service now ranks second on a Google search for the airlines name. Incidentally, the name of the post (and the title of the search result) is “Do Not Fly Spirit Airlines.”
How many people do you think will spot that title under the official corporate site and NOT take a moment to click on it?
On the happier side of things, Mack also posts a quick reminder of the “I Heart Zappos” post made by a customer earlier this summer. The story has been making the rounds through marketing blogs over the last week or so and serves as one of the best examples of GOOD (and perhaps unintentional) small business marketing I’ve seen in awhile.
The quick background…a woman buys shoes for her mother from Zappos.com. The shoes don’t fit, she needs to return them, but her mother passes away and the shoes are a forgotten item on a to do list because she hasn’t had time to take them to the post office.
Yesterday, when I came home from town, a florist delivery man was just leaving. It was a beautiful arrangement in a basket with white lilies and roses and carnations. Big and lush and fragrant. I opened the card, and it was from Zappos. I burst into tears. I’m a sucker for kindness, and if that isn’t one of the nicest things I’ve ever had happen to me, I don’t know what is.
The story has been spreading across the web at lightening speed giving mom and pop shop Zappos more press than they could have ever afforded to buy themselves.
Was this a marketing ploy? Perhaps, but somehow I doubt it. What this strikes me as is a genuine reflection of kindness from a company staffed by humans instead of automated systems.
There’s a benefit to being small. Small businesses are flexible and they are personal. When you have a human being making a decision…a human being who can walk down the hall into the CEO’s office and say “here’s what I’d like to do”…you have an advantage.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Sometimes the best viral marketing and social media marketing campaigns are the ones that take off because you treat a customer well and they let the world know. Perhaps a little less time and energy spent trying to force people to talk about you and a little more time and energy spent taking care of those who already love you would be a good course of action.
What’s really interesting about these two situations are the comments. Take a few moments to scan the comments on the Spirit Airlines post. Notice the pattern of hostility? This company has clearly screwed up with more than just a single customer. Now go and scan through the comments on the I Heart Zappos post. Notice the warmth, the passion and the motivation? Zappos treatment of this woman may have been above and beyond, but it appears to be the attitude with which they face all customer interactions.
Building links, getting your business Dugg, generating buzz…each of these things can help your business succeed. But sometimes, small businesses need to remind themselves that the best way to have these things happen is to treat people very, very well.
Jennifer Laycock is the Editor of Search Engine Guide, the Social Media Faculty Chair for MarketMotive and offers small business social media strategy & consulting. Jennifer enjoys the challenge of finding unique and creative ways to connect with consumers without spending a fortune in marketing dollars. Though she now prefers to work with small businesses, Jennifer’s clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children.
Help-i am so frustrated with my phone calls to Spirit. They are all routed to India and good luck with that. I have been on the phone for 2 days now. Within that time, i have been hung up on numerous times and noone can seem to help me. One person told me something and then their was no record of what that person promised. I called the corporate phone number and who did i get again? INDIA-great.
Please help with some information.
I can not believe Spirit Airlines. How can a company treat customers this way. I have spent three days trying to change a flight with them and all I get is you need to do it on the internet. I tried but the site has problems with doing the modify ticket. Guess why if you do it on the internet it cost $80.00 and if you call them they will charge you $90.00 plus new price of a ticket. So the so called cheap ticket cost you $200.00 more dollars. Wow the customers of the world should know what a rip off. I will tell everyone I know and continue to post at everysite and call the consumer department.
When building our business, we had a multitude of choices for shoes affiliate programs to use. Looked at all the obvious Better Business Bureau ratings and Googled customer service. stories. Single handedly, that one Zappos story is what we hinged our whole business decision on regarding Zappos. Any company that offers 24/7 customer service and would go out of their way to send flowers in that situation obviously has a long term perspective and understands the best advertising is good word-of-mouth. We do not regret that decision and wish more companies understood that concept and modeled themselves after that story. Great article and thanks for confirming what we already knew!
Terry
Owner, Trendy Shoes Shop
Read by small business people, our newsletter delivers a digest of articles from the top search engine marketing experts. You will learn about:
Our newsletter is the perfect way to stay up to date with all of the latest trends, events and techniques in using search engines to grow your business and make more sales. Subscribe here. Your email address will NOT be given to third parties.
FreeFind Site Search Engine – FreeFind adds a “search this site” feature to your website, making your site easier to use. FreeFind also gives you reports showing what your visitors are searching for, enabling you to improve your site. FreeFind’s advanced site search engine and automatic site map technology can be added to your website for free.
Buy UPC Codes
Get your products listed online!
Search marketing information for small business owners.
Fetching the best small business news.
A friendly place to share small business ideas and knowledge.
Small business support through education, resources and community
The directory of the best small business sites and tools.
Copyright © 1998 – 2018 Search Engine Guide All Rights Reserved. Privacy
Research & References of Good or Bad, Words Spreads Fast on the Web|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments