PR Fail of the Month: United Airlines
A PR fail can occur accidentally, but sometimes they are highly preventable. It seems as though many businesses haven’t been able to grasp the “we are all connected at all times” aspect of social media so when there is a PR fail, the fallout can be catastrophic. The latest brand casualty is United Airlines.
If you haven’t either seen or heard about the videos of the passenger being dragged off of their flight after being “voluntold” they would have to give up their seat, you must be living under a rock. Here is a recap:
United Airline overbooked the flight – A standard practice among many airlines in case people are late or they cancel their tickets.
Overbooking backfired when all passengers showed up and United realized they needed four extra seats for United employees.
After all passengers were seated on the flight, the crew asked for volunteers to give up their seats.
When no one volunteered, they voluntold four passengers to get off the plane.
The passenger in question refused to give up his seat and was taken off by force.
Businesses can learn many lessons from this situation. Here are four things you should do to avoid getting into hot water in a very public way when things go wrong.
Be transparent about your processes
You should strive for transparency in how you run your business simply because it fosters trust. The other side of that coin is that if you lay all your cards on the table, then you also protect yourself if something bad happens. Make sure your customers know how they will be impacted if something goes awry with the product/service they have purchased from you. A great way to ensure you haven’t missed anything is to carry out risk assessments on a regular basis so you have a strategic plan in place that won’t dig you into a deeper hole.
Remember your customers are human
The CEO’s public statement following the incident almost dehumanized the passenger and their customers as a whole. He and United Airlines were accused of being “tone deaf” because of the reaction to the situation. He has since tried a softer approach after the incident had a negative effect on share prices – but the damage was already done. Your customers have lives that will be impacted by what you do, especially if you offer an “enabling” service like transportation. Rather than immediately jumping to place blame as far away from you as possible, try looking inward first to see if your business had any hand in negatively affecting the situation. PR fails are awful, but if you don’t learn from them to better your customer experience, then you are not focusing on the right aspects of your business.
Social media makes you vulnerable
If you haven’t realized this by now, you’re in trouble. While social media is a great marketing tool, it can also be used against you if you don’t carry out your brand promises. In this way, your customers are holding you accountable, which isn’t a bad thing. Everything you do whether good or bad will instantly be visible to eyes across the globe. The bad stuff tends to go viral a lot quicker than the good stuff, so strive to do better for your customers so you avoid a PR fail.
Always offer incentives
While you are creating relationships with your customers, you also have to remember that you offer a paid service. If something goes wrong with that service, you are accountable. Don’t be stingy with how you reward people. Not everything needs to be a negotiation where you take the smallest hit financially. Your customer would be doing YOU a favour, so reward them accordingly. You don’t need to publicize that you sweetened the deal because your customers will talk about it for you (because social media).A PR fail isn’t the end of the world – if you handle it properly. Of course, the best way is to anticipate things before they happen. To do that, you need to make sure you have a sound strategic business foundation.
We’ll help you build your foundation, you just have to take the first step.