Ferns and petals sure did forget to wish many on Valentines Day. Many Internet portals failed to deliver gifts ordered by people online for their loved ones, this valentine. Obviously these portals had a sudden rush of orders for the 14th of February and had to work over time to live up to the promise but its all about CRM.
My flatmate Tanu in Bangalore distraught by the fact she was not with her boyfriend on valentines decided to surprise him by sending him flowers and chocolates. So she placed her order with Ferns and petals thinking, they are a good and trusted online portal (hmm I wonder why).
The flowers and chocolates don’t reach her boyfriend on the 14th Feb but on the 15th.
Well what was the point anyway, her boyfriend opens the door on 15th morning and a chirpy delivery boy goes ‘Happy Valentines Day Sir’…someone please tell him it was yesterday.
When Tanu frantically calls to check on the 14th why the order was not delivered she is faced with a rude customer care executive in the e-commerce division who bluntly tells her – ‘Sorry mam we are over booked’.
‘Then put it on your website that you are overbooked and stop taking orders’ retorts Tanu to a dead line and they further more refuse to pick up any of her calls despite trying over a zillion times.
In most management and communication schools students are put through grueling hours of classes on Customer Relationship Management (CRM). They are taught- how customer is the king of any organization and how crucial it is for any company to not only make a customer but to also keep him.
In a world where customers are becoming demanding, competition is getting more intense marketers have to invest huge sums of money to keep his consumers hooked on to his brand. It is only suicidal for any organization to loose their customers. Loosing one Tanu could be a loss of 10 new potential consumers for ferns and petals, because not only will she bad mouth them (hey she has all the reasons to – Late delivery, Rude support staff, no apologies, etc.) but she would also ensure that none of her associates ever use their service either. Negative buzz spreads faster anyway and it only gains momentum on the way.
Well Ferns and petals could have done the following to stop this disaster:
1. They could have Clearly specified on their website that they are over booked and they are extremely sorry to Tanu and her likes that they are unable to take in more orders.
2. Send an apology to her.
3. Apologised to Tanu’s boyfriend as well.
4. OR EVEN BETTER COULD HAVE GIVEN THEM PREMIERE MOVIE TICKETS TO ONE OF YASH RAJ FILMS AT PVR (GOLD CLASS) WITH MERCEDES BENZ PICKUP.
Well I sincerely do hope they are atleast better equipped with disaster management, let me warn them an angry customer is one of the worst disasters to happen (don’t forget the movie tickets it could help) and if they are not, boy I don’t know what they are thinking.
Cheers
Dhivya
5 comments:
I guess Tanu should start FernsNpetalsSucks.com and let people know about it :)
Funny how you look at the event from a very 'corporate' point of view... But I suppose you're right.
These things are also bound to happen, I guess; and even if we do tend to crib about sloppy service, it's not uncommon (as a customer) to forget about what's happened and move on. After all, who has the patience to pursue something as trivial as this?
Customer relationship management, in my view, is more about producing happy customers rather than minimizing the unhappy ones. But heck, I'm not the one with business degree, and so, I'm in no position to judge.
Nice post. Do keep writing !
P.S - I've blogrolled you, so guess I can stay updated too!
i can only wish u
this val ?
i can possibly wish u dis val ?
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