Building customer loyalty by social media transparency

Once upon a time, what went on inside a business, and what was represented externally, were two different things. Companies went to extraordinary lengths to present a serene, problem-free exterior, hiding whatever technical, political, operational or commercial wrangles going on behind the scenes.

The advent of social media, though, gives companies an opportunity to do something that many will inately feel deeply uncomfortable with. The idea that you might actually want to be transparent, sharing your problems and issues, your decision making processes and your decisions about future direction will strike fear into the hearts of PR folks, board members and legal types. But a new style of thinking spurred on by the social media revolution is starting to permeate more adventurous businesses, and could be a key tool for corporates to adopt in differentiating them from their competitors and winning and retaining business.

Here’s an example. Let’s take two airlines. Both run simillar routes, with similar aircraft and at a similar price point. They both have their share of delays.

Airline A resoultely keeps customers in the dark, and trots out the usual routine of predictable excuses; “air traffic control restrictions,” “delayed inbound aircraft,” and so on. They only ever really reveal these if you really press them for the information on what’s going on, so for the majority of people most of the time, all they know is that there are delays.

Airline B also faces the same problems, however they take a different approach. With this company, when you make your booking, they offer the ability to keep you updated with info about your flight via Twitter, Facebook, and traditional channels like email and SMS. And rather than just tweet you the same generic excuses as Airline A, they do something novel – tell the truth. They say “this morning’s ice means we’re expecting a 30 min queue to get de-icer”. Then “the de-icing queue is not as bad as predicted and we’re now expecting a 15 min queue.” Or they might say “our flights from Heathrow due to go between 6 and 7 averaged 35 min delay over the past week, which was mainly caused by the normal ground congestion at that time.” Or when you’re stranded at some outpost and the departure board just says “indefinite delay”, the airline is tweeting with the real story. “Your aircraft had a technical problem on it’s first flight of the day, which meant it was 35 mins late taking off, it then had congestion getting into it’s 1st destination, and a take off time restriction getting back out. All combined this put the crew over their hours for your flight, so we’re calling in a standby crew. They’re due in by 1600 latest but it could be sooner, so we’ll keep you updated”. And so on.

So on one hand you could say that Airline B are completely mad to be so honest about their problems. But on the other hand, as customers start to develop closer ties to their suppliers via social media engagements, that honesty can start to translate into loyalty. You always expect some kind of delay when travelling, but would you prefer to know nothing and grin and bear it whatever happens, good or bad, or would you actually like to be treated like a grown up and kept informed. Not just ‘lip service informed’ but real, actual accurate information? Where companies choose the latter, it opens the door to a totally different kind of customer-supplier relationship. It shifts from “I buy from you and I get what I’m given” to “You’re my partner, and I respect what you tell me.”

Of course this flies in the face of tradition corporate wisdom – admit nothing and deny everything would seem to be the norm for many businesses. But taking the time to engage with your customers, especially via social media, and you open the door to a new kind of relationship. As you build up more trust, you can start to have different kinds of conversation with your customers. Their opinions can start to inform your business decisions, and a customer who has helped make a decision and direct your future will be far more loyal than one whom you’ve constantly kept in the dark. With a critical mass of engaged Facebook followers for example, you can have honest, difficult conversations that no focus group would ever give you real insight on. “In the last monh we told you 16 times out of 30 that our 6am flight would be delayed due to take off air traffic restrictions, which led to an average daily delay of 20 mins. We’ve had to build in the cost of extra aircraft fuel used waiting to take off into your ticket prices. If we changed our departure time to 7am, there’s 30pc fewer fligts taking off and we predict a far more on time set of departures, and with reduced fuel costs we can reduce the ticket price. Do you support us doing this? Vote yes or no”. And so on.

This approach won’t be for everyone, and only those with courage, commitment to provide the customer information on on ongoing basis, and a desire to stand out from the pack, will make it work. It’s not without risks, some customers might prefer to live in ignorant bliss and believe that reading nothing negative must mean that everything is positive. But customers are getting smarter at using the opinions of the crowd to make purchasing decisions, so why wouldn’t you want to be doing your bit to help inform those decisions? Honesty and transparency will ultimately repay in loyalty and advocacy, and with more people actively using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media to get real time intelligence on everything from football transfer rumours to who has the most reliable mobile network, brands need to make a decision. Are they in, or out. If it’s in, then it has to be fully in and not just lip-service. It won’t be easy, but I think the bold will ultimately be repayed.