Dear KitchenAid: A Letter & A Lesson
Dear KitchenAid,
We’re breaking up.
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 I waited.
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.