What happens when companies get it wrong with their customers?

They create detractors from their brands. That is those people who are more motivated to tell all of their friends and family members just how rubbish your brand is, over and over and over again. People never seem to become complacent when complaining, or run out of steam. Weirdly, we’re three times more likely to complain than we are to celebrate. A great experience is expected and it is not to be celebrated (delightful exceptional experiences are to be celebrated, but that’s another blog another time). Detractors and poor customer experiences create CEO’s worst nightmares, disgruntled p’d off (ex)customers who’s sole mission in life becomes to destroy their brand.

And with social media, it’s very scary just how easily and quickly that can happen. One tempting juicy stand out online moan on twitter plus one clever/bored journalist and you’ve got yourself an all out PR hate campaign to back pedal your way out of. If only you’d got it right first time.

I’ll be writing more on how to avoid these situations but in the meantime here is a very creative complaint letter written to a company who continued to get it wrong, and wrong and wrong again. Lets pray your brand never receives a letter like this. Read more →