In case you’re not monitoring your Twitter feed, we had a little run-in last week. I know you had some Twitter issues not so long ago. I thought that by now you’d have gotten together and improved your social media efforts. But I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

My blender exploded. And not in a subtle way. Here I was, mid-smoothie, and the plastic piece that sits between the base and the top (which I now know is called the “Coupler”) burst into a million tiny pieces. So much for breakfast.

So I tweeted this picture to the person running your Twitter account:

And you did something right. You responded.

But you did something wrong too. First off, the person running your account basically told me my blender was old. Sure, the blender was getting on in years, but it’s KitchenAid. It’s meant to last a lifetime. Did I fall for branding that doesn’t uphold those standards?

I’m glad you’re sorry to see it happened. I’m sorry, too! I wanted my smoothie. But your concern just seems like a canned response.

Second, the person running the account tweeted me a link to buy the part. Upon further research, the part costs almost $10 with shipping. If our agency were advising KitchenAid, I would say, without hesitation: “BUY THE PART. Send it to her. Knock her socks off and make her fall in love with KitchenAid all over again.”

Imagine if the scenario had played out differently…

And then, a week later, I get the part in the mail.

You know what I would do? I’d write a blog post about amazing customer service. I’d pitch it to PR Daily. I’d tweet to and about @KitchenAidUSA

All for the cost of $10, shipping included.

We, as those responsible for the customer experience, need to rethink the little things. Because in social media, the little things are the BIG things. You might think, So we lost one customer, what’s the big deal? But when you lose one customer on social media it is a big deal. That interaction was public. Anyone can see. Anyone deciding to buy a blender. You may have lost them as well. Plus, followers have influence. If I tweet (or a-hem, blog) about the experience, you could lose many more customers than just one. You see, KitchenAid, a tiny bit of love can go a long, long way. Especially, when smoothies are involved.

How customer service and relationships impact a business

Dear KitchenAid: A Letter & A Lesson

Regular

If you read our post from last week, you know that KitchenAid disappointed me with a couple of lackluster Twitter responses to my dramatic blender explosion.

But what you DON’T know is that something ridiculously amazing happened.

We got a delivery to the office the very next day, and it was a fabulous, brand-spanking-new blender. (HOORAY!)

Agency friend and follower, @brianna_land, read our post. And, while she thanked me for the lesson in “good/bad PR,” she also gave me an idea for a part-two lesson. KitchenAid, you could learn a thing or two from this Whimseybox COO.

PAY ATTENTION
Brianna follows our blog, and she’s a friend of ours on social media. From time to time, she interacts with us, and (apparently) reads our posts. This time, she clearly read all the way to the end and saw my note. “P.S. Somebody send me a blender!” And while I was mostly joking, she decided to take it to heart and sent me a surprise the following day.

TAKE NOTE OF DETAILS
If you saw the photo of the blender shrapnel I posted last week, you may have noticed that my old (to use a KitchenAid-induced adjective) blender was red. And, wouldn’t you know it, so was the one that Brianna sent. Details are important, especially when those details keep your kitchen color-coordinated.

ACT FAST
When we received the package the very next day, I expected it to be an Amazon shipment of books we ordered for the office. Never did I imagine someone would actually send me a blender –– much less send one immediately. The timeliness of the action made it even better.

SURPRISE THEM
Things that are unexpected are memorable and talked about. This is a repeated mantra in our office. And what Brianna did was completely unexpected. I immediately took to Twitter to start a conversation with her, and we’re meeting later this week to grab drinks and talk collaboration. Surprise evokes emotion, and emotion evokes action. Never underestimate the positive impact an unexpected gesture can create –– especially when it comes to your customers.

While much of this seems basic, it’s amazing how infrequently this advice is followed. Social media isn’t that different from the IRL world. It might seem easy to shrug off an interaction made over social media. (KitchenAid, I’m looking at you.) But more and more the lines between life online and offline are blurring. We have to treat online interactions with the same care and consideration we use in real life. We appreciate thoughtful, kind, creative people in real life, so we appreciate thoughtful, kind, creative social media accounts.

A Blended Lesson: Part II of the KitchenAid Episode

Keeping social media as creative and personal as our real life