when your brand needs a little Twinkle
by dj davisson, Senior Content Strategist
recently, social media helped rebuild my faith in a perceived free-falling brand. i love to cook, and i do—a lot. i have a preferred brand of appliances (KitchenAid) that fills my kitchen. over time, i’ve purchased a few products that have, well, not met expectations (i.e., pooped out before their time). but the company replaced them with apologies and provided the kind of brand experience that instills faith and rewards loyalty.
when a pricey, new countertop appliance malfunctioned after only a few uses, i contacted KitchenAid via phone. a customer service rep told me a replacement would arrive in 7 to 10 business days; it didn’t. i called back. an extremely unpleasant, belligerent customer support supervisor told me “if you don’t like the proposed resolution (a refurbished unit to ship as soon as all the parts become available—take it or leave it) you can write a [snail-mail] letter to corporate headquarters.” i immediately searched for the company’s Facebook page, where i discovered a bit of brand Twinkle. (Twinkle: dissolves silver, copper and brass tarnish. as a childhood chore, i used it to polish my parent’s copper-bottomed cookware.)
while serving as a source of product information and a springboard to interesting articles, recipes and community building, the KitchenAid Facebook page also provides a venue for customers to share less-than-stellar experiences. shortly after expressing my concerns, i received a phone call and an e-mail from Cheryl, a KitchenAid social media team member. my issue moved quickly through investigation to resolution, and Cheryl kept me informed and feeling like a valued customer. in the end, she restored my faith in the brand.
Read more.