Helen Green

Baking in customer certainty

Trust: one of the key ingredients in the customer relationship. No matter what the product or service, when your customers trust that you are going to deliver to a certain standard then they are far more likely to be loyal returners as well as advocates for the business.

However, there are times when even the best intentions go astray and it is how you deal with those times which can say more about the organisation than when things are running smoothly. Take Quorn-gate for example. A twitter post drew attention to the wording on a pack of three sausage rolls which purported to contain 12 sausage rolls (or at least “12 mini rolls when cut into 4’s”) and asking if that was the most ‘brazen’ packaging comment seen. The post went viral prompting Quorn to leap into action commenting “we like to think of ourselves as honest and humble, not brazen or confusing” and promising to rectify the packaging on the next print run in the New Year.

By taking prompt action, acknowledging the reason for the complaint and moving as swiftly as possible to rectify the problem Quorn have demonstrated their commitment to the customer relationship. Not only that, they have also shown their willingness to engage in dialogue; something which will only strengthen customer trust in the brand. We all make mistakes, it is how we deal with them that matters.