The Promoted Complaint Tweet – Extortion or Desperate Business Move?

On Sept. 2, a 20-something president of a Melrose Park, IL beauty product manufacturing company named Hasan Syed took a business trip to Europe.

When he flew back first class and couldn’t immediately recover his luggage, he turned to Twitter to share his frustration. He’s certainly not the first to do so, but he’s likely the first person to pay to promote his frustration. Yes, he ran a promoted complaint tweet.

Syed spent $1,000 to promote his tweet to all of the followers of British Airlines on Twitter, discouraging them from flying British Airlines because their customer service, he said, is horrendous. (For a rundown on the chain of events, including screenshots, click here>>.)

The airline company failed to respond on Twitter. After the press picked up the story British Airlines got working to fix the problem, find the luggage, and get it back to him. But Syed had done his damage.

He was already getting press all over the world and British Airlines was getting crushed by public opinion. That’s when Syed published his ad stats and publicly declared that he won.

You may have guessed by my description of the events that I am not in the “praise Syed” camp. I  pondered the difference between critical public discourse and extortion.  And then I found myself re-targeted by ads from Syad’s products, and the synchronicity of the ad events furthered my suspicion of his intentions.

Also, as an international traveler myself I know that 90 percent of the time when I connect through Amsterdam, Frankfurt or London on my way to the US my luggage doesn’t make it from one plane to the other. It’s usually not the airline’s fault. It’s the airport, the weather, delays, shorter gaps between flights, or a one of many other reasons. If I spent $1,000 each time my luggage was delayed Twitter would have a down payment for a house from me by now.

Regardless of intentions, there are many lessons to learn in this situation for businesses and consumers alike.

8 Lessons To Learn From the British Airways Promoted Complaint

1. If your business services customers 24/7 so should your customer service. And if you think that sentence sounded funny, imagine it applied to your business – a business that helps customers but doesn’t offer customer service. In this sense Syed is right to call out British Airways.

2. Customer service via social media is not just a “nice-to-have” any longer. It’s a must-have, particularly for large companies. Your customers expect to be able to reach you online, and they expect a fast response.

Oh and if you think this will go away, or by resisting it you’ll change your customers’ behavior, you’ve already lost this game.

3. Handle your social media the way you’d handle your customer service center. Social IS the new phone number. Would you run your business without a phone number? Get social and make sure there’s a skilled rep available at the other end of the line.

4. If you are the customer I recommend you stay off the extortion end. No matter how much fun I’m having with this story I cringe at the expense here and that final “I win.” This is not a game. And publicly humiliating anyone is not a win. This kind of move can be time-consuming and financially taxing and could negatively affect how you’re perceived.

5. If you try to use a move like this to get more visibility for your business, think twice. Do you want to gain customers based on mutual-hatred of an airline’s customer service or do you want to earn the trust of your customers with your own outstanding customer service?

In the extreme case in which you decide you still want to do this, add some extra stickiness to it. Write a blog post where you tell the story and how your experience as an entrepreneur taught you how to deliver outstanding customer service.

Post that as a tweet, promote the tweet. It is ok to criticise, but you’ll get more value out of it if you do it gracefully.

6. Pay attention all ye who worship influence scores. Syed just proved you don’t need to be a social media influencer to make an impact on social media. (We’ve written about this before.)

The truth is that large companies (in particular) will choose which customer request to respond to based on influence scores. Because it’s cheaper that way, and the assumption is that the low-score guy can’t possibly hurt you.

But that’s not customer service. That’s selective customer servicing… Get the difference? Servicing is an act, customer service is a process and attitude. You will only deliver outstanding customer service if you treat all customers equally.

7. You think good customer service is expensive? Think of how expensive this situation is for British Airlines. If it helps you, think of it as insurance that also gives a return. You have to pay for insurance don’t you? Why do you buy insurance? “In case shit happens,” as Chris Rock says.

Well this is that insurance with the added benefit that it eventually starts paying back. And it can pay back very very well.

8. Oh, you want proof of ROI?

Whenever I hear the ROI discussion in connection with customer service I start to question the mission, values and foundation of the business. The best entrepreneurs didn’t choose to deliver outstanding customer service after a serious ROI projection exercise. They choose it as a part of their culture. They choose it because it’s a winner’s attitude. They choose it because there are no customers without customer service.

I’m not proposing that you throw all your investments at customer service and social media. I’m suggesting you accept that it is unavoidable and highly beneficial to service your customers properly online.

No “buts,” no “ifs.”  As Diana Nyad said about swimming from Cuba to Florida, you must “find a way.”