Sometimes, because of unforeseen circumstances, things can go horribly, horribly wrong for a company.
Over the past day (since June 15, 7pm PST), Intuit has been dealing with their own unforeseeable crisis when they experienced a major outage that has left customers unable to log into online software websites like QuickBooks Online, Quicken Online, and others. The result is some very unhappy customers (right).
While Intuit PR managers (left) jump onto Twitter and make blog posts to reassure customers, other businesses see an opportunity to capitalize on the situation. A Twitter search for #Intuit reveals a number of competitors, tweeting messages about the reliability of their own products.
While Intuit has apologized, many customers are not satisfied with the brief explanation that Intuit has given for the sites being down. Ironically, the most recent blog post before the service update talks about the importance of transparency when dealing with a crisis.
4 Rules for Resolving a Social Media Crisis
1. Practice what you preach. If you tout the importance of transparency, then make sure that you can be transparent during a crisis, too. For example, at HubSpot, we use trust.hubspot.com to show our portals and report on downtimes.
2. Respond fast, respond often. You’re only hurting yourself if you wait too long before releasing information, and when you finally do speak up there isn’t a lot of substance to what you’re saying. Give frequent updates, even if the update is just “no new information”.
3. Apologize for the right thing. Make sure you aren’t alienating your customers further with your apology. They may be more upset if they feel like you are not addressing how the error impacted their livelihood.
4) Make amends. Try to find a way you can make it up to your customers. They are the backbone of your business, so it's in your best interest to keep them happy.
We hope to see the issues for Intuit resolved quickly and will watch for further developments and important marketing takeaways. Every business has points of crisis, and businesses that can manage the crisis well prove themselves to be leaders and improve customer retention.
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mondex1 8:31 PM on June 16, 2010
I agree, companies should walk their talk. Respond fast is another aspect that needs to be look after. But some companies are into automation that they forgot to put a personal touch. A lot of people are pissed off with automated responses. and lastly being honest and transparent to your customers will give you an edge amongst others since you are building your credibility through trust and honestly.
Stan DeVaughn 8:52 PM on June 16, 2010
Humble acknowledgement + action plan + good-faith expression of how you're gonna make people whole. Anything less will antagonize and alienate. "Satisfied" customers aren't the objective here. You want LOYAL customers. This is your opportunity to cultivate them.
Liz Alexander 9:20 PM on June 16, 2010
I agree that transparency is paramount in today's electronic world. However, it occurred to me that since mass e-mailing is a "system," then Intuit's capability of proactively communicating with us was chopped off at the knees as well. I'm faithful that we'll all be back to business as usual soon.
Alexis Jaworski 6:53 AM on June 17, 2010
Errare humanum est! We all make mistakes, both at personal and company level, however it is how we inform people and how we respond to the error, that makes customers stay loyal! Being upfront sometimes is more beenficia than the opposite.
Stevie the K 8:57 AM on June 17, 2010
Slightly off topic, but has anyone seen the atrocious customer service and product satisfaction ratings for Intuit and the core Quicken program over the last several years? Almost universally loathed, even by longtime users. Perhaps this is just another example of how they've taken their eye off the ball (serving the customer) and focused on acquisitions and internal measures.
Ben Langstaff 11:54 AM on June 17, 2010
Wow. Intuit goes down and doesn't even proactively email its customers. DabbleDB is bought and shuts out its existing customer base. Coghead is bought and dumps all of its customers. So does anyone have any recommendations for a solid cloud computing company that has a PROVEN track record for reliability, service and support? We're not talking start-ups here. I need a company that's been around for a while and will be here in another 5+ years.
Brandon Coppernoll 2:18 PM on June 17, 2010
I use Quicken for my home finances. I opted to not use online for this exact reason, but as a user you presumably accept the risk of this exact thing happening. I would consider backing up work online, but my financial data and existence would not solely be carried online.
Alice Errett 5:26 PM on June 17, 2010
I've been using Caspio for about two years. They've been in business for about 10 years and I've never had any issues with their service. And they don't nickel and dime me to death with charges for this and that. Even their technical support and training is included in their base fees. Sorry about those that experienced an outage or whose company got bought out or got closed. It's tough times out there!
David Meerman Scott 12:10 PM on June 21, 2010
Great example. Most important? FAST.
The Go To Guy 2:42 PM on June 21, 2010
Here is the best argument you can make against cloud computing. it may all the rage. But not for me, thank you. I will not put my data on some server somewhere and trust somebody else to make it available. Not a chance.