This event led Ms. Stockham to write her post, in which she posits the following three rules:

Rule #1 – We screw up; customers, brands, retailers. We all have our blind spots, but it is in how we recover that customers remember and react to.

Rule #2 – The customer is always right. Yes your mileage may vary but in the end, the customer is always right or rue the day you tell them otherwise.

Rule #3 – Social media is your best friend and your biggest adversary, when in doubt, see Rule #1 and #2.

No refund for dying man? That's NOT the Spirit!

1. Accommodating one customer will severely inconvenience others. This actually happened to me. A few years ago, my family and I showed up at the airport check-in counter for a flight to the Dominican Republic one minute – one minute! – after the doors closed. The airline would not accommodate us (or anyone else on line) by putting us on that flight. The background is that the night before we had been hit by a disastrous ice storm. Our usual half hour trip to the airport took 2-1/2 hours and we passed countless accidents and abandoned cars on the way.

   The airline explained that if they held the flight it would lose its place in the de-icing queue and takeoff would be delayed by up to three hours. In addition, the airline put us on a flight to a different part of the island (waiving change fees) that took off only an hour later. And while it took us all day to traverse the DR – it’s a big place! – we believed we were treated very fairly. Here’s what the airline did right:

   • They explained the situation neutrally, without making the situation “us vs. them”.
   • They had the facts on their side. We could just imagine being “those people” responsible for a planeload of passengers spending hours sitting on a cold plane instead of a warm beach. No need to rub our noses in it, and they didn’t.
   • They tried to find a solution. The counter staff sent out a radio call for staff familiar with the DR. They got us on the next flight and gave us detailed directions to our original destination. Insisting on change fees would have left a bad taste but they waived them without being asked. In short, the airline successfully balanced our interests against those of a large number of other customers
2. The customer has an agenda. The customer is angry that the company is unionized – or non-union. Sells products made in Israel – or has taken them off the shelves. The list of potential grievances is endless, and the ability of aggrieved customers to reach an audience is growing daily. What to do?
   
   • Take the customer, and the issue, seriously. The customer might be factually mistaken, and might be willing to share correct information, especially if he/she has already shared content that is misleading or untrue. If the customer is factually correct, it is a good idea to engage to the point of taking the complaint seriously. There is no need to agree with the customer’s position, but there is no need to treat him/her as a wingnut, either.
   • Promise consideration, not change. In most cases, it is reasonable to forward claims from advocates to the appropriate person in management, and it is therefore truthful to tell the consumer that that is what you will do. It’s probably true that management is open to feedback from customers on almost any subject, and if so, say so. If the issue is one like Chick-fil-A’s “Closed on Sundays” policy, which is well-known and immutable, it’s only fair to politely inform the customer that, although you respect his/her position, the company’s policy is not likely to change. The best that can be hoped for is that delicate handling defuses the customer’s hostility before he/she reaches the keyboard.
3. The customer wants a benefit that hasn’t been earned. This is something that can give businesses fits. A free bottle of wine, an upgraded rental car, a pass to an airline lounge – these are just a few of the soft benefits that companies use to reward loyal customers. When the benefit is conferred right in front of a less deserving customer, feelings can be hurt and demands can be made. Here are some suggestions:
   
   • Always have access to customer profiles in real time. A customer who is one visit away from earning the benefit he wants probably should get it. The first time customer … not so much. It’s easier to deny a request for a benefit (politely, please!) if you know the facts and they are on your side.
   • Explain the rules. Even if eligibility for soft rewards is somewhat discretionary, explain to the customer what it takes to qualify. A customer who understands your expectations, and knows how to meet them, is less likely to go away angry.
   • Consider half a loaf. It’s important to determine whether this is a customer you want to retain, and it’s sometimes difficult to make these judgments on the fly. Associates should always feel free to bring in a supervisor without fear of an adverse evaluation. You don’t want to incentivize bad behavior, but if this is a customer you want to keep, and the request was made politely, consider trying to meet the customer part way. A free dessert instead of the wine, perhaps?

Is the customer always right, when he/she has ready access to social media? Let us know in the comments.

via Maxim34874 (Creative Commons)

And with few exceptions, I don’t really remember the ads. I remember Matthew Broderick for Honda, a spot I really dislike (Ferris grew up to drive a Honda?) despite its 14 million YouTube views. I remember the Fiat Abarth spot, because it shows that good execution can sometimes overcome a predictable strategy. I remember a couple of others, including the user-created Chevy spot. But mostly, I remember the game.

And isn’t that how it should be?

via Kevin Moore (Creative Commons)

It’s also easy to redirect content, so a link, image or other content that is found on Twitter can be shared out on Facebook (and vice versa). This can be especially valuable for Zavee merchants, because Zavee shoppers now can share merchant-related content on Social Media even more easily than before. So merchants that sees a good review or recommendation can increase its reach by putting that content in their own Social Media stream. Merchants also can push news announcements published on Zavee to their Facebook and Twitter streams. That gets their own content noticed by even more potential customers.

Social Media can’t be fully automated, any more than any other marketing tool. But these two apps (and others mentioned in the Mashable post) can make the time devoted to Social Media time well spent.

Some of these key features are:

• One button sharing of merchants, offers, causes, news, reviews and member profiles to Facebook, Twitter and email. Even site visitors who haven’t joined Zavee yet can take advantage of this feature.
• A new activity stream called Shop & Share, which uses a timeline format to show members’ recommendations of merchants, offers, news, reviews … pretty much anything they can find on Zavee. These recommendations automatically link to the subject matter (such as a review or an offer) and are visible in both the shopper’s and merchant’s Shop & Share stream.
• Seamless social sharing for members. Zavee shoppers can now connect their Zavee account to their Facebook and Twitter account, so their recommendations and reviews will automatically be posted.
• One step signup for shoppers. Our previous signup process was extremely safe, but very cumbersome. We figured out how to simplify the process without adding security risks.

The social sharing features are great for shoppers. Shoppers can use the Shop & Share stream to learn what other shoppers have to say – and they can recommend the comments and suggestions they find the most valuable. That’s the essence of social shopping and, with Zavee’s cash back offers, the essence of social loyalty, too. By sharing with their friends and followers on social media, they can make Zavee more useful to themselves and more attractive to their non-Zavee friends.

Social sharing also helps merchants. Merchants have always been able to create news announcements that they can post to Facebook and Twitter, but the new Shop & Share activity stream makes these announcements easier for shoppers to find. Now, shoppers who recommend news items (or other content, such as offers, that relates to merchants) on their Facebook and Twitter feeds greatly increase the audience for merchant-related content. Adding social media integration simply makes the Zavee network bigger!

There are a host of smaller improvements, too. Shopper profiles ask for less information and are easier to fill out (if you’re already a Zavee shopper, just click to edit your Zavee profile and scroll down to enable social sharing). Privacy settings are simpler, too. It’s easier to see which offers are new, hot, featured, or about to expire. And we’ve made it easier for merchants to add photos – they can even use a different photo for each offer.

And there’s more to come!

We hope you will spend some time on our new and improved site. If you haven’t joined Zavee yet, it’s easier than ever (just click here). And if you have any questions or feedback, we hope you will let us know.

Happy holidays from your friends at Zavee!

Consumers were more likely to be loyal to brands that gave them more control over the shopping experience: “Being able to choose home delivery; choosing how to interact with a company (which communication channel); controlling the frequency of those interactions; and having a say in the company’s development of products and services.”

Social Sharing (via Elmo H. Love, Creative Commons)

The survey report focuses primarily on the use of social media as a communications channel between the brand and the consumer – a cooler but less measurable version of email. Viewed that way, it’s easy to conclude that social media doesn’t offer much as an engagement vehicle. But the potential of social media lies in so much more than its use as yet another top-down channel in which brands say a lot but don’t listen much.

One of the most fundamental recent changes in consumer attitudes and behavior is the decline of the brand as authority figure and the increased consumer preference to be in control – something reflected in the Pitney Bowes survey itself. But another aspect of this paradigm appears to have been ignored: Consumers who formerly relied on the brand as authority now are more inclined to rely on each other.

The online retail space is full of brands that facilitate interactions among consumers, not just between the brand and consumers. Kaboodle is a women’s clothing site that invites consumers to “Shop and share your style with friends.” Users share their style tips and can in turn be followed by other consumers. Kaboodle’s merchants rely on these interactions in making selection and stocking decisions. ModCloth has a similar social shopping model, including a “Be the Buyer” tool that lets users directly affect the merchandise that is carried.

Both of these sites facilitate consumer control, but the social context adds a dimension that arguably makes the relationship stickier. According to one customer: “I love Kaboodle because now I have people from all over the country (who used to be complete strangers) as shopping buddies! This is my new favorite way to shop.” Note, too, that most of the social interactions take place on these companies’ respective sites, not on social media platforms, although the ModCloth page on Facebook has almost 375,000 likes.

The Zavee takeaway:

• Social can build engagement and loyalty, provided it’s used creatively. It isn’t just another form of email.
• The genius of social media is that it puts consumers in charge – and lets them learn from and help each other.
• Social sharing is a paradigm, not a technology. It isn’t limited to Facebook and Twitter and might best be implemented on your own site.

On second thought, there are better ways to raise awareness of the importance of local commerce and persuade consumers to spend more at local businesses this season. Shift Your Shopping is an umbrella site that provides a great deal of information about the impact of local business on the nation’s economy. Spend some time on the site and you can’t help but be impressed by local business as an economic driver. In addition, there are several organizations that support small business in the community. Take a look at their sites and consider making them part of your own community.

Black Friday (via lululemon athletica, creative commons)

Best wishes from Zavee for a prosperous holiday season.

Then I started using the early Macs in film school and I was completely hooked. It was easy and fun to use as a word processor but what made me a Mac guy for life was an editing workstation called the Avid Media Composer. It was so sophisticated the software wasn’t for sale by itself. It only could be purchased pre-installed – and only on a Mac.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011, via apple.com

I was a student, not an experienced editor, when I first encountered the Avid. I couldn’t have added much to a conversation about how to improve it.

But Steve Jobs’ greatest insight was that he didn’t need to spend much time asking users what they wanted. Instead, he observed and listened to users in the real world and drew brilliant, transformative inferences about what users really needed – even if they didn’t know it yet. He recognized that consumers are often motivated to satisfy their short term needs. They have no reason to look over the horizon and imagine tomorrow’s needs or the products that would address them.

But Steve Jobs had every reason to look over the horizon, because that’s where he was most at home. He had his share of setbacks, but in most of what he imagined – easy-to-use interfaces; small, content-oriented devices; even long-form animation – he was more than vindicated.

The Zavee takeaway:

• Don’t rely on your customers to provide vision for your company or imagination for your products. Listening to your customers is no substitute for listening to yourself.
• Be true to yourself and your vision. It’s no guarantee of success but you’ll feel better about yourself along the way.
• Do what you love. Love what you do. Life is short.

I’ve blogged before about airline service, mostly because as a frequent traveler I see a lot of it. But I also write about airline service because I believe it holds lessons for every business.

Airlines frequently disappoint or frustrate their customers, often for reasons that are beyond the control of front-line employees. Flight attendants and gate agents can’t predict weather delays or overbooked flights and they can’t do much about charges for checked bags and onboard food.

Creative Commons via popculturegeek.com

1. (Flight attendant) Please help us fit as many carry-ons as possible into the overhead bins by stowing them with their wheels out. We hope you understand if we run out of room and have to gate check your bag. There will be no checked baggage fees if we do have to check your bag.
2. (Flight attendant) Carry-ons must be stowed wheels-out. I am going to come through the cabin and if I find any bags improperly stowed I will take them off the plane and gate check them.
3. (Gate agent) Please do not give me a hard time if I tell you I have to gate check your bag.

The first example is probably what most employers expect from their associates. The other two, not so much. Unless airlines are uniquely tone-deaf, they probably wouldn’t find condescension and rudeness acceptable, either. The lesson for airlines – and every business that cares about its customers – is to do a better job training associates in the fine art of conveying bad news.

Associate training should focus intensively on likely scenarios where “customer satisfaction” won’t mean giving customers what they want. Associates need to understand that sometimes the best way to satisfy customers is to treat them with respect, be transparent about the source of the problem and be proactive about minimizing its impact. That can make the difference between acceptance and resentment, good will and bad.

It seemed to me that the two hostile airline employees never got that message. Perhaps they thought they were “protecting” the company or perhaps they were um, winging it, but they clearly were not calling on an appropriate set of skills. My take on the flight attendant who got it right was that she was relying on solid training when she: explained the situation clearly, enlisted the customers’ assistance, asked for understanding and communicated a countervailing benefit.

This example shows how important it is to monitor how associates handle customer interactions. Airlines and other large companies should spend the money for mystery shoppers if they can’t provide dedicated personnel. Smaller businesses should at least solicit feedback, whether in person, by email or by using social media. And just asking for customer input can improve customer perceptions.

The Zavee takeaway:

• Businesses will inevitably frustrate or disappoint a customer from time to time. It’s vital to prepare associates for these situations so they can provide as good an experience as possible under the circumstances. They should never be taken by surprise.
• Effectively communicating bad news to customers isn’t an art, but it is a skill. It needs to be part of every associate’s training and performance review.
• Failure to monitor how associates interact with customers should be unacceptable in every business. In a small business it can be fatal.

One of the most interesting factoids is that 60% of respondents intend to use the social web and networking tools to derive ROI from loyalty programs. If so, that would be a significant change from how the loyalty industry’s historically slow adoption of technology.

Enjoy!

Instead of relying on scouting notes, which are inherently subjective and qualitative, managers, coaches and players can look at opponents’ statistical tendencies – and video clips that back up the stats. Citing the Rays‘ Joe Maddon, Stark calls this the “second great renaissance” in baseball, the first being Branch Rickey‘s pioneering use of statistics from the 1920s on.

Marc Falardeau via Creative Commons

The theme of Stark’s column, obviously, is that knowledge is power. Many smaller businesses operate like the baseball teams of twenty years ago, knowing intuitively that more data would help them perform better but believing that experience and intuition can fill the gap. But like baseball teams that are slow to embrace statistics and technology, the difference in achievement is there for all to see.

Savvy marketers, of every size, know that there is no substitute for data. Judgment is important, and no business – or ball club – should be run by robots, but merchants need to have the most in-depth understanding possible of who their customers are, what they are doing, and what they want. Some if this information is difficult to obtain, but some is there for the taking.

For example, Zavee lets merchants see every purchase by a Zavee shopper, observe trends, and even determine which Zavee offers are working better than others. This is the kind of information that lets merchants segment their customers and market separately to each segment. It lets merchants test and evaluate marketing plans. And it helps merchants determine the return on their marketing investment. It even works on an iPad.

The Zavee takeaway:

• The only businesses too small to use data are the ones that want to stay small.
• Some information is difficult or expensive to find, so obtain what you can afford and use it creatively (Hint: Zavee can help).
• Do what baseball does and decentralize information – let colleagues help collect, analyze and use information to grow the business.