Netflix's proactive-- and preemptive-- 'crisis' management
With pleasantly alarming alacrity, Netflix responded to a technical glitch last week that delayed the shipment of thousands of DVDs by issuing an apologetic e-mail and a 5% rebate to subscribers affected by the delay.
The response was so prompt, according to MediaPost's report, that some subscribers hadn't even noticed the one-day mailing delay.
One Netflix member responded to the e-mail by saying: "Nice. And no, I didn't notice that they hadn't shipped on Monday," MediaPost reported.
Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey told The Associated Press that he wouldn't disclose how many of the company's 7.5 million subscribers were affected or how much the company would pay out in its 5% credits, according to an AP report posted on MSNBC.msn.com. "The key thing here is: This was completely proactive on Netflix's part," he said. "There's no requirement for Netflix to do this, no obligation. There was no request for it. We thought it was the right thing to do."
A refreshingly customer-centric response, don't you think?
Comments
Its the same thing as when an individual makes a mistake. If the person admits it, apologizes, and offers some sort of solution, no one gets angry and most end up rather pleased. This is an example of a company actually behaving as a responsible individual would, accepting blame and resolving the issue, before anyone calls them on it. Very well done other companies would be wise to do the same in their business.
Posted by: Kat | April 4, 2008 10:38 AM
Interesting. Netflix has always been on my top 10 list of "customer satisfaction." The whole concept is based on that; why should anything they do be different.
Posted by: Rick Rosenberg | April 6, 2008 1:42 PM
This is another reason I am planning on holding on to my Netflix stock.
Posted by: William Amsden | April 7, 2008 7:29 AM
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Posted by: Arianto | April 8, 2008 8:16 AM