COMMENTS
That's awesome that they proactively reached out with the generous freebie. I think sometimes we forget that a really important aspect of this experience was that you made your voice heard to get the flight attendant to take notice. I'm not sure if you spoke up on your own, or if they asked you how your flight was, but businesses especially need to be aware that creating an open environment for customer feedback will allow them to learn about issues faster and allow them to respond more promptly. This creates a more enjoyable experience all around.
When you get a nice gift that you're not expecting and there wasn't a problem, that's where I get really warm and fuzzy.
As a corporate gifting consultant, I help companies maximize their gifting potential. Whether my clients are thanking, following up with, or apologizing to a client, an actual gift (no matter how small) and a heartfelt note make a world of difference. Your clients are humans who understand and appreciate sincere expressions of thoughtfulness.
At RedPig Gifts, we have also seen tremendous results through maintaining hand-written correspondence with clients, with or without a physical gift. Maintaining contact throughout the year in this manner has the power to transform business contacts into meaningful professional relationships... one generic fruit basket each holiday season just doesn't cut it.
In this case, American Airlines absolutely did the right thing! American Airlines understands what clients respond to: a sincere note (in this case, an apology) and a meaningful gift. Kudos to AA.
To me, the simple act of a straight-forward apology is gift enough. That's a sad statement, but true for me. In an age where service is all but dead for the majority, I appreciate the humanity and empathy of AA owning up to their mistakes and actually apologizing for it, especially after the fact, giving it some weight.
Great product/service creates loyal clients/customers, but when you own up to your mistakes and try to make amends, you can actually create evangelists, as this posting itself would suggest.
Very well done by American Airlines. Owning your mistakes is key.
At redpig gifts, the majority of our business is built around client appreciation and nurturing. There are many ways this can be done, be it a handwritten note or a gift. When one of our clients needs to make nice, we assess the situation and suggest a gifting response strategy.
It is amazing how an apology and a wrapped gift can bring peace.
You know, I actually experienced the same sort of thing from JetBlue. One of my flights was delayed several hours due to a blizzard, and needless to say, I was furious to be getting in so late. Very shortly thereafter--only a few days, and during the busy Christmas season no less!--they emailed me a $50 electronic voucher for future travel, and a sincere apology. That, if nothing else, sealed me as a loyal customer of JetBlue. I honestly don't fly any other airline if I can possibly avoid it. It's a great practice to know that they're willing to compensate you for your inconvenience in an industry where the standard is apathy.
Hi Mike,
I feel that they almost got it right but not quite. Allow me to explain.
In the first paragraph they say how they are sorry, but not to you. They are sorry that they heard something from the flight attendants. It appears as though they are saying sorry to you however they are not.
The actual apology to you comes in the second paragraph, and what do we find? "as a tangible apology"... mmmm, this is still not a direct "Sorry to Mike" and "apologise", or "regret" are never as powerful or indeed as authentic as "im sorry".
They are better than some, that's for sure, however they can still raise the bar that bit higher.
Only 3 things that any Company needs to do:
1. Say "I'm sorry" directly to the customer in the opening sentence.
2. Say why/how they screwed up.
3. Say what they are going to do to put it right or ask you what you would like to put it right.
And thats it....
Mike Ashworth
Marketing Coach and Consultant
Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, UK
Hi Mike-
I had a good experience with Southwest airlines, which I blogged about a while back ago: http://blog.batchblue.com/?p=77
I think exceptional customer service should always be the norm, but for the airline industry especially, it is crucial. It costs very little to the airlines to give away miles; what it saves in reputation and gains in word-of-mouth is invaluable.
Part of "delighting the customer" is the unexpected; it's rare that something expected delights us. Hats off to AA.
Thank you Mike for a great, real-world post.
Out company
www.gThankYou.com helps companies delight employees and customers. We offer gThankYou™ Gift Certificates which are exchanged for a free gift at any supermarket. Holiday Turkeys are our first offering; more will come shortly. Stay tuned!
Thanks everyone for the comments. Great perspectives and thoughts.
@Mike Ashworth - Funny that whe i read their note again... you might be right.
think exceptional customer service should always be the norm, but for the airline industry especially, it is crucial. It costs very little to the airlines to give away miles; what it saves in reputation and gains in word-of-mouth is invaluable.
I actually had the same thing happen to me on my flight from Beijing to San Francisco. I flew United and upon leaving the plane, they gave everyone an apology card. You had to log into their website and United gave different options. You could choose between miles, a 10% discount on your next United flight, etc. I wasn't too disappointed with not being able to have in flight entertainment, so for me, this wasn't necessary. But I can see how it helps them retain customers if they were upset by the mishap.
Whether the information provided herein is useful or not shall be decided by the specific outcome after putting into use in real world practice.
Customer satisfaction is the lifeblood of any business. Without customer satisfaction, there is 'no business'.
I received the same letter last week. However, I would have loved the problem to have just been the entertainment not working. We were delayed a whole day because of mechanical failure of one of their planes. It took 6 hours to receive the part and fix the problem. We were then flown to Dallas to spend the night, then booked us on 2 additional flights (via a different airline) the next day to get us to our destination. We were late (duh), missed most of my brother's wedding. Awful! What did they give us... 7,000 bonus miles. Big whoop!
It occurred to me why the airlines are financially in trouble. They had to put 200+ families up in hotels that night and pay other airlines to fly their customers to their ultimate destinations. There went all their profit and then some... just because they can't keep up with the maintenance. This is happening everyday, everywhere, whether it be a mechanical issue or flight delays and missed connections. You would never run a business like this in the real world.
Back to free miles... does nothing for me because who wants to fly on a plane that has mechanical problems whether it be the engine (in our case) or the entertainment equipment. It just plain SCARY that the planes (that fly you up in the sky 25,000 feet up in the air where you can drop at any moment) aren't maintained and the airlines (specifically AA here) are just waiting to fix problems as the arise. NO thanks!