Offering Disillusioned Customers An Olive Branch
What can brands do when they lose the trust of a large chunk of their customer base?
With access and availability of goods and services increasingly in the consumer´s favour, it´s more important than ever to build trust between them and your brand. If you fail to convince them of your reliability, they´ll simply divert their custom elsewhere. But, what can brands do when they lose the trust of a large chunk of their customer base?
Everybody knows it´s harder to place your faith in something or someone once you´ve been let down. Ebay is making attempts to reassure its customers who are said to have been tentative to reengage with the website following a large-scale cyber attack.
In an article on the Marketing Week website, eBay´s senior director of operations, Sarah Calcott, told the publication how 2014 has been a “challenging year” as a result of the breach. The American e-commerce firm launched a reassurance campaign following news of the attack, and asked affected customers to change their passwords.
Calcott attributes the trust the brand built with its customers prior to the hack as a reason why the company is now back in growth, although it did force its full-year sales forecast to dip by $200m to $18.5bn.
“We had frustrated customers but we are the other side of that. We are very lucky in that we have a loyal set of customers and we have seen those come back,” she added. Calcott outlined how the company reached out to those disaffected customers to try to convince them of the “great experience” it offers through a “serious investment” in couponing, seller incentives and increased marketing spend.
Have you seen any good examples of brands turning a potential PR nightmare around? What tips would you give for those looking to reassure or reengage with their customer base?