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37signals You Have Successfully Weathered a Customer Service Storm by Sarah Woodward

All too often, companies give in to the instinct of burying their corporate heads in the sand when crises arise, instead of immediately engaging their customers.

In “How To Ride a Storm” (Inc., Feb. 2011), 37signals co-founder Jason Fried shares his company’s honest, transparent approach to dealing with unhappy customers when it’s Campfire product malfunctioned.

“When one of our products malfunctioned, thousands of stranded customers erupted in fury. Yet we came out of the crisis more credible than ever.”

Fried’s approach was to regularly update 37signals’ website with service repair status updates and engage each individual customer through Twitter who was voicing their ire or concern. They also took the blame. They acknowledged their responsibility for letting Campfire falter.

“We are battling demons on all fronts and losing. It’s pathetic, I know,” tweets 37signals co-founder, David Heinemeier. “We’re spending the goodwill we’ve built from years of reliable service like it’s going out of style.”

By signaling to customers that they were committed to fixing the problem while providing a continuous stream of status updates, 37signals avoided eroding all credibility as a service provider, and endeared itself to customers who saw 37signals as a true partner commitment to the needs of its customers.

They get it. In the always on conversation, 37signals made sure to openly communicate with its unsatisfied customers and strengthened its authenticity as a brand.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/how-to-turn-disaster-into-gold.html

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