Social Media has opened two way communication between shopper and business since its onset giving marketers the opportunity to mitigate complaints of dissatisfied shoppers, or in Samsung’s case, the opportunity to fail to do so.
When Richard Wygand, an owner of the Samsung Galaxy S4, posted a video regarding his phone’s catching on fire as proof of his phone malfunctioning, Samsung agreed to replace the phone but demanded certain terms and conditions, one of them including the removal of the damaging video on YouTube. Richard was more than unhappy with Samsung’s attempt of silencing him and subsequently exposed Samsung’s poor customer service in a second video .
The video, now having garnered over a million views, is another case study that reinforces the analogy that social media has become a magnifying glass on the actions of brands.
However, the most interesting aspect of the story comes from the opportunity that competitors have when others fail. When your competitor fails to mitigate or acknowledge a complaint, your own brand or retailer, at that moment, has an opportunity to reach out and win over that disgruntled customer and the larger social sphere. Nokia recognized this and offered Richard a Nokia Lumia, garnering positive publicity in the process.
Have you considered aquiring shoppers when other competitors fail to provide proper customer service?
