Some months ago in Digital Ministry I penned an article about Remo being one of the first Australian websites to build a community around ecommerce.
Recently in light of the Victorian bushfires Remo had a new t-shirt designed that was a fundraiser with all money going to the Victorian fire appeal. On the surface it looked like a no-brainer, good product idea married with an altruistic purpose (they'd done it before the the "Sorry" t-shirt). Technically it should have ticked all the boxes. But… it didn’t pan out that way.
What ensued was actually a good case-study of online crisis management.
So how did the crisis unfold?
STEP 1: The t-shirt went up on display with the offer that
“100% of the proceeds from the sale of this design will be donated by REMO on behalf of its CustOMERs to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal”
STEP 2: A range of positive and negative feedback from members occurred regarding the t-shirt with some members particularly upset about the original design (not shown here) that had a fire blaze and an unhappy face. Comments included:
"This is not an opportunity for SELF PROMOTION! You've lost me.... I won't be back! And please people, just donate direct to the Red Cross. That way all of your money goes direct to the recipients."
"Sorry, but I find this particularly bad taste. This is not a merchandising or marketing opportunity! Asking customers to donate directly to the Red Cross Appeal would be a far more appropriate response rather than celebrating it on a T-Shirt."
"The Black Saturday T-shirt design would have been somewhat more poignant with out the sad face. I mean really, that's obvious, and I think it just makes it a little tacky."
STEP.3. Remo to his credit followed the Crisis Management handbook to the letter. So what did he do?
a. He apologised – admitted there was a problem.
b. He responded quickly – in fact the same day
c. He responded to each individual with a personal message.
d. He listened. Members of the community particularly disliked the flame and unhappy face. He then had the t-shirt redesigned extremely quickly without these elements. Even some of those that were critical had turned around:
"Given my earlier suggestion to drop the :( and flame I must revise this up to 5 stars. But I still advocate direct donations..........and buy the tee-shirt too."
The events that happened online happened extremely quickly – online communities move fast.
What was also interesting apart from Remo’s control of the situation was the ability of an online community to self-regulate with some members coming to the defence of Remo saying:
"I don't think it's in bad taste, it is a way of showing support for those victims and whenever you wear the t-shirt will remind yourself and others of the support these victims need. It is no different than attending a football game whose proceeds go to the same benefit."
While the crisis occurred online what ensued showed that the old crisis management techniques still apply and are more important than ever.
Thanks to Jenni Beattie from The Digital Edge for this post.
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