The golden rule for communications /PR/ customer service / anything related in this day and age has got to be: “Treat your customers with respect. They have brains.” Simple thought, really, if you bother to think about it, but something I see lacking in many companies.
The latest in this trend has got to be AirAsia. See this post by KY. To avoid bad publicity, all AirAsia would have to do is act with a little intelligence and not let two people, who purchased their tickets together, with the same credit card (I’m told), checked in at the same time – be seated in different rows! What’s worse is the cool, calm, collected “No” the customer service lady gives when asked if they could be seated together. Seating, apparently, is randomised.
Oh, there’s more. For RM 25 a person, you could select “Hot Seats” and then you can sit together.
Given the facts, what do you, my dear thinking reader, make of AirAsia’s intents?
Let me be very clear, AirAsia isn’t the only company treating their customers this way. Too many other companies are. And it isn’t one department’s fault all the time either. Sometimes its a business decision. Sometimes, it’s over-marketing. Sometimes, it’s customer service treating you like an idiot (“Sir, could you please reset your modem?”).
The truth is, customers aren’t brain-dead. In fact, the most attractive customers, that fabled PEMB group that every client briefs you as the target audience, are savvy, thinking individuals.
They’ll see through a thinly-veiled ploy to make more money. At the same time, they’ll respect you giving them deep, honest, factual and frank answers and explanations. It’s not like this is an overnight trend (well, I guess it is given education and literacy rates are much higher than 50 years back), but the big point is that today, just about every dissatisfied customer has a megaphone.
That’s what social media is. Make the mistake of insulting their intelligence and they’ll post on blogs. Grumble on forums. And tell all their friends on Facebook about your company’s boo-boo. It just takes that one spark of influence to get the ball rolling down the hill.
In short, if you’re planning on making a business decision, embark on a new marketing campaign or something of that sort today, please give a thought about what your customers might think of it. Don’t delude yourself that your customers don’t think (enough).
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