Online Reputation Management Case Studies
Take a look at how these companies were affected when consumers voiced their opinions. The brands suffered massive damage because they were unaware of what was being said about their products or failed to react in time.
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5.1% - The percentage points that Dell is down in Customer Service Ratings this year. Similar figures were seen at the height of Dells Customer Service woes in 2005.
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$150,000,000 - The amount Dell is reportedly spending on beefing up customer service. A lesson learned from Dell Hell?
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15 - The number of 'Dell Hell' posts that Jeff Jarvis wrote in 3 weeks regarding Dell's poor customer service.
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2879 - The number of comments generated by Jeff Jarvis' 'Dell Hell' series.
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5 to 6 - Number of times greater the cost to win a new customer than to keep an old one.
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8 - Number of people a "happy" customer will tell about a big ticket purchase experience.
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19 - Percent of customers with unresolved complaints who will no longer purchase products from that company.
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8 - Percent of customers are more loyal after a complaint is resolved than if there had been no problem at all!
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73% - The percentage of journalists who use blogs in their research. The most often cited reason for using blogs was "to measure sentiment."
Blog Leads to Corporate Embarrassment
In 2005, an American blogger by the name of Jeff Jarvis bought a machine from Dell, the giant American computer manufacturer. Jarvis paid a considerable amount of money for the four year in home service and support plan. A while later he had to have the machine seen to, but was told to return it, leaving him without a computer for 10 days.
It took only a six line blog post about the poor service to generate 253 comments within a few days. Ten follow-up posts and 2800 comments later the blog sparked so much opinion that it gave birth to a colloquial term for a shocking service situation. The expression, Dell Hell, has since become a household term.
Lock Manufacturer Unaware of Fundamental Design Flaw
In 1992 a bicycle enthusiast magazine published an article on the ease of lock picking, and a review of the better locks, and lock systems for bicycle security.
The article pointed out the obvious design flaw of the tubular pin tumbler locking system. In 2004 videos began circulating on the Internet which showed how to open these types of locks with a ball point pen. Most of the lock manufacturers had long since opted to drop the lock mechanism for something with more integrity.
However, Kryptonite, a lock manufacturer that was predominantly featured in the videos, was not on the ball and ended up facing class action lawsuits in the US and Canada for negligence. More worryingly their product sales suffered a severe drop and stakeholder confidence took a massive knock as a result of the manufacturer not responding to the conversation swiftly.
In the end not only was Kryptonite forced to sacrifice shelf space, but it's relationship with retailers and consumers nationwide was significantly compromised.
Software Developer Sues Forum with Hot Head
A good example of a badly handled online image is the case between a software development company and a forum site.
The forum Whirlpool contained negative posts about 2Clix's software, which in turn resulted in the developers filing a lawsuit against the forum owners, demanding that they remove the content and pay thousands of Australian dollars in damages.
The owners of the forum, backed by their users who donated money towards legal fees, refused to cooperate. Legal specialists advised the company to withdraw the case, expressing doubt in their odds of winning the battle. Not only did the software company suffer the embarrassment of a failed retaliation, but it also led to more negative press - and the forum never removed the posts.
Had the incident been handled by a swift WebPR campaign instead of a knee-jerk reaction, it could have been used as an opportunity to educate consumers about the brand.
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