In my COMM 388 class – Design Strategies for Business Innovation, we are working with Lululemon on various projects within the company. One really cool aspect of the class is we are regularly visited by Lululemon employees from various functions within the business.
The day that Lululemon’s founder, Chip Wilson, made a statement regarding the size of some women and them not being able to wear the brand’s clothes, we were lucky enough to have the head of Lululemon’s social media come in and speak with us. She outlined the various measures the company was taking to try remedy the situation and maintain loyalty with their guests.
I thought it would be neat to take some of her advice as well as what I have learned thus far in COMM 464 – E-Marketing and use a few real examples of criticism and analyze them through the social media triage model.
EXAMPLE #1
“Dear lululemon,
I had heard such good things about lulu that I was thinking of moving away.from my favorite workout gear company. However after hearing the very judgmental comments made by Chip to try and defend poor quality I guess I’m going to stick with my current brand. It doesn’t pill I had to look up what that meant and it isn’t so sheer that its see through. I’m kinda bummed really because you guys have so many color options but I can’t afford to spend 100 dollars on poor quality and then get told its my fault when I do have a perfectly good quality brand just not a wide array of color options.
Sincerely
The customer that never was”
This comment is negative. Moving forward through the triage chart, this person is not a customer but is a dedicated complainer. The facts are not all correct and I would suggest gently clarifying that the quality of Lululemon pants is high by outlining the release of their latest fabric called Full-On Luon.
EXAMPLE #2
“I just have to jump in here as a 28 year old guy weighing about 220 I routinely wear leggings from your competitors ( GAP Nike UA) under my jeans to keep warm as I work outside. When the spirit moves me I’ll wear just them. I wear a L of XL XL is a little loose and the L works better. Despite the fact they were designed for girls they hide my (Bulge) and are not in the least see through. Remind me not to buy your pants I might end up showing “too Much.”
This comment is negative. Again, moving forward through the triage chart, this person is not a customer and I would classify this post as a comedian want-to-be. Therefore I would suggest not replying to this comment.
