I can still recall my consumer behavior prof going on and on again about the importance of customer service and product experience, because through WOM anything can go viral. Just check out the video below:
This is a protest song wrote by Dave Carroll after his disastrous experience with United Airlines in 2008. Dave’s expensive guitar was damaged due to the improper transportation handled by the baggage carrier personnel. After he filed his complain and claim for compensation, the airline blamed the fault onto him and was indifferent towards his situation. Emotionally exhausted by the useless effort, Dave wrote ” United Breaks Guitar” as a way of expressing his complains. The video went online in 2009 and had a massive hit of 150,000 views within one day. The viral effect of the video immediate caught public’s attention and resulted as an embarrassment for the airline. United was then forced to act promptly to mitigate the situation.
The airline did not foresee the consequences of neglecting customer complains and overlooked the power of an individual voice. Dave did not expect to have such enormous impact in the public and the fame he gained from speaking up for himself. It is doubtful that United’s apology is sincere and would be appreciated by the public. Maintaining a good customer relationship is not only about luring your customers into buying/using your product by emphasizing on the gains, but also act consistently before/after the purchase (aka good customer service!) After the incident, United’s stock price fell drastically , maybe firms should learn from this mishandled incident. Once a problem is encountered, firms should act promptly to find the cause within first (rather than blaming the outsiders), apologize if the blame is internal, or clarify if the problem is caused by a third party; alleviate the intensity by either providing a compensation or merely give a gesture of offering something will be fully appreciated by the costumers!
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