Word of meow-th (1/2)

February 2009

What would you believe more – an ad boasting exceptional customer service, or a personal account from a friend who has used that service? Resonates consultant Alice gave this some thought recently when the RSPCA’s customer service failed to meet her expectations.

According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, word of mouth marketing is “giving people a reason to talk about your products and services, and making it easier for that conversation to take place”. It isn’t just free; it’s often the most powerful form of promotion there is. It works because we know the people providing the reference so we believe and trust that what they are saying is true.

Negative word of mouth

But not all word of mouth works in your favour. It can also cause significant damage to a brand, undermining the hard work you put into your campaigns.

It was positive word of mouth that led Alice to the RSPCA when she chose to adopt a cat. “The organisation works hard and does a lot to generate positive recommendations,” she says. “It was only after I had fallen in love with a cat named Poppy at the rescue centre that things started to fall apart.”

“The missing ingredient was customer service. And it is this alone that makes me want to tell people about my experience and strongly recommend that anyone thinking about getting an animal looks elsewhere.”

Getting it wrong

“After reserving Poppy we called the RSPCA every day for updates and each time were greeted with a bad attitude. When we finally managed to book a home visit we were called an hour beforehand to cancel, meaning that we had to postpone Poppy’s operation to be neutered. When we finally had our home check, the visitor was rude, uninterested and treated it as a simple box-checking exercise. Then, in her report to the shelter, she stated that we lived on a busy main road and didn’t plan to move for six months – neither was true, but her saying so meant we would have to keep Poppy permanently indoors.”

“We have had to fight and struggle to bring Poppy home. We felt as if they were suspicious of us, especially when we were told we will have to endure regular home visits to check that Poppy is happy with us. At no point has this been an easy or enjoyable experience.”

Getting it right

There is no point in promoting the good things about your product or service if the customer experience doesn’t live up to the promise. There is nearly always a substitute for what you have to offer, and failure to live up to your customers’ expectations generates negative word of mouth, damaging your reputation.

In all fairness, the RSPCA happens to do a lot of things right to facilitate positive word of mouth. In part two of this article, we’ll take a look at some of the ways in which it ensures positive recommendations.

Read part two

 

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