Remember last year when we told you about major brand mishaps when it came to personalized marketing materials? Update: They’re still happening at a rapid fire pace, with brands seemingly eager to upstage one another week after week.
In January 2015, Comcast decided a longtime customer needed a new name:Comcast released a quick and obvious statement acknowledging the mistake, saying “Each and every customer deserves to be treated with respect. Respecting our customers is paramount, and we need to do everything we can to make sure that this never happens again.”
Almost immediately ditching that philosophy, they came back for seconds in February:Comcast spokesman Jack Segal told Wired the company is “investigating this thoroughly, and we have reached out to our customer.”
Just days later, new Comcast partner Time Warner joined the party as well. A statement from Time Warner placed blame on a third-party vendor, leaving pie on all collective faces.
“We are truly sorry for the disgraceful treatment of Ms. Martinez and have reached out to her to apologize directly. Our investigation showed that this was done by an employee at a third-party vendor. We have terminated our agreement with this vendor and are changing our processes to prevent this from happening again.”
Incompetent and poorly performing third-party vendors can cause great distress for the companies working with them. At the end of the day, their performance and professionalism can have a direct effect on another business's credibility and image, so being able to keep an eye on such vendors' performance data and statistics, using solutions like that of Aravo, can be highly attractive to those looking to improve and strengthen supplier relationships and trim the fat, if necessary.
Each gaffe serves as important learning lesson for communications professionals everywhere. While database-generated lists are useful, a system of checks-and-balances must be in place for direct mailers, whether it’s an extra step on supervisory approval or limited access by third-party employees.
Of course, if/when mistakes happen, having a crisis plan in place is imperative. A customer apology, thorough investigation and a public assurance that the matter is being dealt with swiftly and professionally won’t necessarily fix that single issue, but may help consumers forgive the brand just a touch sooner.
More importantly, taking steps to stop these incidents from recurring should be the end goal. Give lists a thorough review to be sure they’re clean of these (or any other) types of egregious errors, keeping your customers happy and their names correctly along the way.*