I hope this holiday season allowed you some good cheer and time with your families. I am “lucky” to be in the sandwich generation, and am surrounded by all age groups in my family. As an elder care marketer in Chicago, I used this time to conduct a mini-study on customer service among the generations.
My study began by sharing a recent post by Jeff Lerner about his Twitter experience. Jeff had visited Dunkin Donuts just as he normally does in the mornings. But rather than enjoying his nice hot cup of coffee, it ended up all over him and his new shiny car – due to the drive through employee not paying attention and securely placing the lid on his coffee cup. Not being the drama queen that some people would be and going after some crazy lawsuit, he simply tweeted about the incident and his frustration (as seen below).
Tweet about Dunkin Donuts
That was that. He got it off his chest and was well prepared to go on about his day. But then something unexpected happened. Within a few minutes @DunkinDonuts was following him on Twitter. Then almost immediately they sent him a direct message to find out which of the Dunkin Donuts stores this incident had taken place at. Guess what? They sent him a $10 gift card right to his door the following week.
As a marketing professional, this story makes me think how immediate social media can be and they value that provides to customer service. But it’s not just big companies taking advantage of the real-time connection that Twitter can provide them for keeping customers happy. You can even find small local businesses doing the same. This is something that every business should at least be trying to learn. Being able to instantly pick up on bad customer service incidents can dramatically increase customer loyalty if it’s handled quickly and properly. Most people don’t really expect that a business will go out of their way to make them happy. The sad truth is that many don’t.
You might be wondering the result of my study and why I chose the title of this blog. For the answer, you will have to check my next blog right after the New Year, Social Media: To Whom It May Concern, Part 2.
Marla Levie, BSW, MA, President and Founder of Focus on Aging, has successfully been providing marketing consulting, social media and recruiting services to the elder care market and to other service-related professions in the Chicago area for over 20 years. Use the contact tab to email Marla for additional information about her services.
