July 6, 2007 Comments
In the past week, I've made several mentions of the fear many companies have of joining the conversation with their customers online. The biggest concern? That people might say bad things about them. In fact, it's not uncommon to see companies cowering in fear as they wait for bad publicity to go away. What these companies miss is that sometimes, in the world of online reputation management and viral marketing, a major screw up can actually serve you quite well. Or rather it can if you take the proper steps to fix that major screw up. Just ask the folks at JetBlue.
Earlier this year, JetBlue was suffering major backlash over cancelled flights and customer service issues. In fact, YouTube was swarming with consumer generated videos of angry customers that had been forced to sit on tarmacs or in airport lounges for hours waiting for flights that would never take off.
In an impressive admission of guilt, JetBlue CEO David Neeleman released a public video that not only apologized for the companies failures, but also outlined 7 and 30 day plans for beefing up their customer service systems. He also announced a new "customer bill of rights" that clearly outlined airline policy for delayed and cancelled flights including exact voucher amounts that are determined by the length of flight delays.
Basically, they didn't just pay lip service to their error to try to appease angry customers, they actually changed their policies to make things better.
It's a move that's paying off.
There's a post over at the Church of the Customer Blog this week that talks about the customer service problems many airlines are facing right now.
Our summer of airline discontent shows few airlines respecting customers' time. My 2 p.m American Airlines flight out of La Guardia last week was canceled because of weather. By 4 p.m., all remaining American flights for the day were sold out. Standby lists grew to more than 100 people per flight. The American gate agents at La Guardia were so frazzled they simply stopped speaking to customers. Their frustration turned into anger, as they berated customers via the public address system to call the company's 800 number. I and thousands of other people did, simultaneously: the hold time was 118 minutes.
To reclaim the money from my unused American ticket, I visited the company's website. Finding Jimmy Hoffa is easier than finding refund information on aa.com. The site made no mention of the system-wide flight delays and cancellations that had affected thousands of travelers. That was another 30 minutes wasted by simply looking for information on American's website. The respect thing, again.
For grins, I checked JetBlue's website. Immediately, the company demonstrated its understanding of its dual roles as transportation provider and information provider: A prominent link at the top of the front page mentioned the storms that were causing everyone havoc. Clicking the link led you to a page that made it easy to apply for a refund or credit immediately. Ahhh, respect!
Rather than waste any more time with an obviously unprepared American, I booked a flight on JetBlue that left the next morning.
Who would have ever imagine just four months ago that JetBlue would soon be viewed as the airline that "gets it" when it comes to respecting customers?
Sure, the growing pains hurt, but it was the proper response to a very bad situation that has now positioned JetBlue as a leader in customer service response. It is JetBlue that customers will point to while exclaiming "why can't you treat me like that?"
Sometimes messing up is a good thing.
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