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Angry Customers Take Matters Into Own Hands
Erica Falkner, Marketing Manager
March 31, 2008
How inconsistency breeds customer vigilantes
Creating a successful brand doesn’t just happen by accident. It takes time, dedication and, above all, consistency. Imagine a customer visits your website and finds it friendly and informative, but calls your helpline only to be greeted by a rude and uncooperative service representative. How do you think this experience will shape their perception of your company? Gone are the days when a customer’s only recourse was to write a complaint letter to corporate headquarters. Today, customers are fighting back and taking to the Internet and airwaves to voice their grievances.
Large companies with multiple customer touchpoints are often guilty of not consistently delivering on their brand promises. There are several websites and blogs dedicated to crucifying some of the most prominent players by highlighting customer vigilantes. Take Mona Shaw who made national headlines when, fed up by unfulfilled promises and poor customer service, took a hammer to her local Comcast office and began smashing phones and keyboards. Or Michael Whitford who posted a video of himself smashing his Apple computer after the company failed to honor his warranty. One of the most blatant and well-known examples of poor customer service and inconsistent messaging happened to former AOL customer Vincent Ferrari, who recorded his conversation while trying to cancel his service.
While extreme, these stories are startling reminders of how poor a job some companies do at delivering on their brand promises. They also showcase the lengths some customers are willing to go to a vent their frustrations to the world. These sites are viewed by millions and companies are taking notice. Case in point, days after Michael Whitford posted his video on www.consumerist.com, Apple sent him a new laptop.
The main question companies need to ask themselves is how they want to be perceived. The key to building a successful brand is to consistently present yourself in the way you want people to think and feel about you and then deliver on the promises you make. If you aren’t able or prepared to deliver “fast” and “easy” service or cancelation, don’t promise it. After all nothing upsets customers more than when a company doesn’t deliver on their promises and if your company fails to do so you’ll likely find yourself staring in the next customer vigilante video.
Erica Falkner is a Marketing Manager at Vox, Inc., a customer experience research and consulting firm. Contact her through the feedback form on our Contact Us page. Copyright 2008 Vox, Inc. All rights reserved.
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