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| Credit Inyenyerinews.org |
When it comes to holidays and annual
traditions, its not a bad idea for companies to join in on some of the fun. Putting
up discounts on goods and services just before a long holiday can go a long way
with boosting sales and attracting customers. Even something as little as well-wishes
or playing along with certain traditions over social media can help make a
company more relatable to the consumers. Thus, resulting in an overall gain in
the company’s public image.
However, companies should keep in mind not to
get too overzealous with participating in the festivities. Case in point, Bernstein Crisis Management pointed out that on the
1st of April 2018, AutoAnything.com
decided to take part on the fun and games offered by the one day in the year
where you can lie and get away with anything. Well, almost anything. The joke
involved e-mails being sent out to randomly selected customers, thanking them
for ordering a Tonneau Trampoline that would be delivered within 132-133
business days.
Of course, said customers were not pleased
when they saw this e-mail and no its not because of that absurdly long delivery
time. These days, when someone receives an e-mail thanking them for a purchase
they did not make, the first thing that usually comes to mind is: “Did someone
steal my credit card info?”. Threats to financial security are a very real
problem and more than a few lives have been ruined by identity thefts.
AutoAnything.com made a huge mistake here.
Yes, many companies pull some absurd and comical jokes off on April Fools and
some even benefit from it. However, context and premise need to be kept in mind.
Telling your customers that their savings are in danger is a little bit “Too
real” to be funny. Businesses have to make sure that what they say won’t be
interpreted in a negative way before saying it. Bernstein's full blog-post can be viewed via the link below. It should serve as a good lesson and a good laugh (In hindsight of course).
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