I am back from SXSW. I had a blast. It was one of the best events I have ever been to. So many familiar faces, so many new faces. Im already looking forward to next year. So, let me tell you about my flight back from Austin last night.
I arrived at the airport 90 minutes early to bard my Jet Blue flight to San Francisco. I checked my bag, made it through security without setting off the buzzer. Which is always a good thing. I waited patiently for my flight to board, had some food from Salt Lick..waited…got a coke.. waited… waited… The flight was suppose to board at 6:30, leave at 6:56 and nothing. At around 7:00ish I posted this to twitter:
I quickly got this tweet back from @JetBlue:
Oh and then @JetBlue got this:
Oh and this too:
Okay so you get the idea. I posted a frustrated tweet and got a quick response from Jet Blue via twitter. Pretty cool, huh?
Well here is where the problem begins and I want to make something clear. My post is not with the flight being late. Nor the “fix engine light” they were getting. I want them to take alllllllllll the time they need to make sure the plane is working. Check it five times for all I care. I just want to get home in one piece. My post is the lack of communication, service and the fact that I am disappointed by @JetBlue. If your going to place your brand on a site like Twitter, you need to be ready to react in a timely manner. So back to the story with pretty twitter pictures.
So then I went to add @JetBlue. I couldn’t… I was blocked by them for some reason. I was a blocked user. So I posted these tweets:
Seems for some reason I couldn’t follow them to send a DM as they asked. Now this might be where the story ends, then I posted this:
Anyone want to bet what happened next? Right! I got this:
That is right! @southwestair who was at SXSW, at around 9:00ish at night, with very little mobile internet service, was trying to help me! So after some Direct Messaging chatting and such it came to this:
So how awesome was Southwest Airlines? Offering to help, giving me flight options, even offering help the next day if I was stuck! I was not even flying their airline! Oh and what about @JetBlue?
They did get back to me 5 minutes before we boarded with this Direct Message:
So my point here? Twitter is about real time customer service if your a brand. It is not about posting links all the time, cool videos or such. It is about dealing with your customer and creating positive brand awareness at that moment. If you are a company, you see an unhappy customer out there, you need to move quick and communicate! @JetBlue could of said “got your tweet, will follow up soon” something to let me know they were working on it. Something..just let me know you have not forgot about me. Cause if you do not your competition will do this:
Or worst.. people will talk about your brand on Twitter like this:
You Get the idea. Oh, here is a video I made while this was all going on..I did not even get into the TV issue, how the Jet Blue folks do not know about their Customer Service on Twitter,(it would of been cool if they knew a little something about it) oh and check out the end where a passenger mentions the headset issue. Oh and yes.. this was my first trip on Jet Blue.
So I did make it home about 3 hours later then planned..in one piece. Oh and get this, two ladies say to me in the airport “Are you Dave Peck? We have been following you on Twitter.” Pretty cool huh? Things like that still blow my mind!
Posted under Blog
This post was written by davepeck on March 16, 2009
Amen. I love this post. I had a similar experience with @JetBlue. Tweeted about the fact that I couldn't book a flight to Denver in August on their site, so they told me to call a reservation agent. I replied that I didn't want to incur a phone booking fee, they said I had to take that up with the res agent.
All I wanted was a little information. If your company is not going to provide it, then don't pretend you want to hear what I have to say.
Thanks for a great glimpse of the future in marketing!
That is incredible! Thank you for bringing that to light. Another way to use Twitter…awesome.
I was watching this go down on twitter in real time. I figured you'd get a great blog out of it. Very good analysis — southwest must have good whuffie.
I was watching it while it was happening, too. @SouthwestAir sets the bar pretty high– if @JetBlue wants to play, they're gonna have to do more than just show up…
Great blog — the power of Twitter and how it might change the landscape of customer service. Love the narrative — wonder how many other Twitter stories are out there?
What a great story. Thank you for sharing. I would have never even thought to use @JetBlue or @SouthwestAir this way. I'm pretty loyal to SW, and moreso now!
It does! Actual hung with Tara Hunt there. She is awesome!
agreed
I bet you there are tons!
Well said!
Great post. I will await the white paper on this experience.
Kudos to Southwest. JetBlue could use a few lessons in customer retention from them.
She is awesome. She's a friend of mine.
I love *excellent* customer service. I *hate* poor customer service. Clear? Ok.
I'll probably get flamed for this but I believe you're being a little demanding here. Especially considering that @jetblue is figuring this out with the rest of us. It's great that @southwestair was willing but actually couldn't help you leave Austin either. To say nothing for the fact that you'd have never switched planes and paid for another ticket.
Here's my point: I believe that @jetblue could have been more speedy. I believe that Twitter may have been to blame for the block; I've been there before. I believe that @jetblue kicks ass for simply trying.
Let the flames begin.
In the past, I've been comped headphones, cocktail, etc. This time I was waaaay too tired to even think about a cocktail but the headphones fee fell flat. The JetBlue employees were all kind and considerate, they just had no control over what was happening… Today I got a $50 certificate from JetBlue for the inconvenience. So I've got that goin' for me…. lolz
Your experience is a great example of how NOT to use Twitter if you're a brand. The real question isn't how to do it well or not right now. The number of requests for customer service via Twitter isn't huge for any brand yet. The real question is how does it scale. As more and more people jump into these channels looking for help, how do the brands scale their support to maintain the high service levels?
Hi Dave – thanks for the write up and I appologize that I wasn’t able to keep you informed in a timely manor. You and the others on your flight got to be the recipient of what I’ll strive to make a rare confluence of situations.
I too was out in Austin without my computer and was not communicating effectivly with my cover in NY. Add to that a random bug that seems to cause our Twitter account to block users – something we’re still trying to understand the cause of – and you get the situation where we aren’t able to assist you on Twitter with the immedicy that you’ve come to expect of us.
I hope you’ll forgive us our lapse. Our use of Twitter to provide information to our customers is important to me, but it’s also a new tool and procedures still need to be built that allow for the constant coverage you expect of us.
Oh great pressure!
Agreed Ed!
Mary was on the flight with me!
Like I just said to you on twitter "Oh the power of twitter". But seriously though, this is a great example of how helpful twitter can be. Go Southwest! Also, I am reading a comment right above mine from Morgan Johnston, who looks like a Jet Blue employee, and I have to give her and Jet Blue credit for responding to your post. It would have been nice if they were around when you needed it last night, but at least they're up-to-date with everything that is going on.
Interesting blog post. I think Morgan's response is honest and fair. One of the challanges is that the folks operating a brand's Twitter stream aren't always in a position of helping.
Companies need to internalize the process more. However, if you've ever worked with a brand to set up a Twitter feed before, you know that it's always a debate about who should manage it. It is usually Customer Service, Marketing, PR, or often someone at one of their agencies.
I guess the lesson is that if you engage customers here, and insinuate that you can help them out, then you better be able to actually do that. However, there are some people who will never be satisfied. For the record, I'm not implying that you are one of them Dave.
Has it come to the point that we get outraged if a company doesn't respond to our tweets — even if it is evident that there may be a technical problem? There are a lot of companies that don't even have a Twitter presence let alone immediately respond. @jetblue did immediately respond and specifically requested you DM them. To me, that's the equivalent of someone saying, "I'm leaving work, but you can reach me this other way." That is excellent customer service. You don't know that the inability to DM them was their fault. It seems strange to think that they would go in a block you. Now I suppose you can get outraged that this person was not monitoring Twitter at the exact moment you needed it and they apparently were offline for a little while, but that's a pretty high standard — especially since he/she told you to DM them. Southwest deserves a lot of credit. But it seems like the challenges you had with @jetblue might have been an anomoly. I just don't think they deserve the public flogging if there was some technical glitch with Twitter that prevented them from connecting with you. But big props to Southwest.
Outstanding post, Dave. I really did enjoy this entire JetBlue/Southwest story. I'd love to see this …ahem… take off. I agree with previous posters; this was an excellent example of how customer service should and should not be done. Well done, sir.
Ash: no flames your way. Your points are valid and well-spoken. Whether or not JetBlue was to blame for the blockages, though, their customer service was still poor. There may be reasons for it, but JetBlue has a LONG history of poor customer service – and, for them, "reasons" tend to smack of "excuses." Regardless of whether or not Southwest was able to get him out of Austin that night, Southwest's attitude is what won the day. Attitude often keeps customers coming back in a tightly-controlled market.
@morgan Good response. I wonder whether part of the issue is an organizational culture one. If my impression is right that SWA still empowers just about everybody to run to the ball if necessary, it might be less likely that one person with a bad internet connection would have such a public impact. But I'm talking through my hat here.
It does suggest, however, that going into the real-time space will need a different internal approach than would work for most other things.
I give Southwest an 11 for trying to help, even tho they couldn't get him out of Austin either.
Wow! Great post Dave, thanks for your kind shout out. The truth is that we are ALL trying to figure out the best way to help Customers, have fun with Customers, be real and authentic, protect the brand, raise ROI, etc, etc….so much to consider 24/7, and we are all learning how to do it together!
It's the wild west out there yall! Saddle up…
Christi from @southwestair
p.s. the wifi is still strained in AUS : /
This is interesting. Dave, you got an initial quick response from the JetBlue Twitter account and (naturally) assumed that it was being closely monitored by a customer service person. By chance, someone was monitoring the account and did want to help you resolve your problem. That he dropped the ball–due to a technical glitch–is not the issue here. It's how Twitter is being used by companies in vastly different ways.
Brendan Cosgrove said (above) that this is an example of "how not to use Twitter if you're a brand." Well, I agree that someone shouldn't set expectations high and then not follow through. But has the market already made a determination that Twitter *is* a customer service tool? Or is it a marketing tool? Or is it a way to begin conversations with its customers? Or is it…you get the idea. Twitter is a communications platform, and different companies are going to use it in different ways. They need to understand the implications of utilizing Twitter as a "real time" customer service tool and dedicate resources to ensure that the right people–with the proper authority–monitor the app and provide the level of service that people come to expect from "live" service agents. If they are using it as a feedback and communications tool, it's inappropriate for someone to respond to you and offer help; oftentimes, this hurts more than it helps (as was in your case).
What Morgan said was right–Twitter is a new tool and JetBlue as a company hasn't figured it out yet; they don't have the policies and procedures in place to ENSURE that you have a consistent and positive experience in the way they use the tool. I'm sure there will be repeat performances of this kind of episode until companies get a grasp on how these new tools, networks and services can and should be used to better their customer experience.
Exactly my feelings. If a branded company risks bad press, bad CS situations, they better think of ways to instantly deal with the issue with a very positive outcome. Twitter is real time, companies have to also respond real time, even if for damage control.
I think Southwest did an awesome job of trying to help but I think people are being overly critical of JetBlue. I agree with some commenters that perhaps he should not have responded in the first place if he couldn't follow through on the service, but why should someone on twitter expect such a level of service? JetBlue probably has an entire call center with phones constantly ringing from people needing service – I think its unfair to expect that one person using an emerging technology be expected to be on par with that. Still, great post and I enjoy following Dave on Twitter, but I do feel this is a little overly critical.
This may highlight a potential biz model for Twitter to create group accounts, which would allow for multiple users to log in and manage concurrently. So that a whole ‘customer response’ team could be there, ready to respond vs., one or two users on whom the expectation to be always on, I feel, is somewhat unrealistic.
Hi Dave,
Glad you finally made it home. That was a sad response to your story on behalf of @JetBlue, but at least they responded this time. I would love to run their Twitter board for them, and I'm absolutely sure that I could get the job done better.
There were a number of different options that they could have used last night and I would have implemented some of those options before I caused my company so much bad press, and so many customers who felt abandoned and ignored.
One simple option would be to go to another computer, make up a quick Twitter account and contact you through the new account. Or, they must have had your cell # listed, and if not, should have. They could have called you and said to please 'follow' the new account name, and then kept you posted.
As it was, the entire event was poorly handled. But they could have learned an important lesson from this. And if they were smart, they would look to people like me, who were a part of trying to solve the problems during the event and ask for help. Can you imagine how much money a couple of good Tweeter could save them in bad press alone? Must have been at least a million people watching that event unfold.
Hope they are listening, reading, watching Twitter, they can contact me on Twitter. I'll tele-commute for them daily, and keep their Twittering customers feeling like they matter.
We were glad to see you finally get on that plan. When I got up this morning, I immediately grabbed a cup of coffee and my laptop to see if you had made it home.
At least you got a good story out of it.
See ya on Twitter!
As a SWA employee, I would be disappointed if you were not offered positively outrageous service. I can tell you that every one of us is empowered to deliver the very best we can for anyone at the airport, our customers or not.
I am also quick to defend JetBlue for their quality and service. I ride on them to my hometown quite often, and am always treated like I treat my customers. As always, safety first, service second, efficiency close behind. Thank you for keeping the airlines flying with your ticket purchase.
Dave, thanks for the update. This is a great story to remember for our restaurant. Communication is so important to our guests.
@lisapadilla was given a $50 credit voucher to use on the next flight we buy, to their credit.
Whatever happened to actually calling a company or talking to a desk attendant? Have we gotten to that point in our society that we need to rely upon technology that we can actually do ourselves by just getting off our fata**es?
It's a little misguided to expect jetBlue's gate people to know what @jetBlue on Twitter is. Do they know how to service a Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprop? Do they know who hosts their web site? jetBlue needs to improve integration between its Twitter account, which is front end for customer service, and its customer-facing employees, but expecting them to know about @jetBlue is just new (media) age snobbery.
Very interesting post. Thanks a lot. However, it's amazing to see how well this incident ties in with the recent Louis CK act on Conan about people's expectations. http://tinyurl.com/bd3d7t
Everything is amazing, nobody is happy.
Great post and video Dave. It's really interesting to see the lack of knowledge about @jetblue on the part of the JetBlue employees and the breakdown of simple verbal communication to you and the other passengers waiting for the flight about what was happening.
Thanks for the comment. It was an interesting experience no doubt
hi
I am seeing another disturbing trend, though, and that's the fact that people are now tweeting about companies not responding fast enough. What if there is only one person behind @jetblue at any given time? What if they were simply being overwhelmed with other requests? It takes time to gather information, figure out what's going where, and then retweet it. Also, Twitter isn't exactly known for its "Five Nines" of uptime either.
While Twitter is a nice tool for them to use, I am concerned about folks having unrealistic expectations of companies that are using it.
All good points and you are correct. Who knows how many people are there and responding to any social network. What is a realistic response time from a post on a social network?
Best story ever. Follow @JetBlueSucks on Twitter for inside info, passed along by current employees who are waiting to lose their jobs.
Awesome! Good to hear you had an awesome trip…..
Steve Slater like many of use had enough of the rudeness of people on airline flights.
Jet Blue will be the loser here. Maybe other airline companies can take a clue that if there flight attendants are feed up with the nasty attitudes of some people then rest assured we most definitely are. The first airline company that puts a stop to this kind of passenger behavior will be the one I book travel on.