Saturday, November 19, 2011

2 Points for Heinz

Heinz (as in the ketchup) recently launched a Facebook campaign for a new product available only on their Facebook page. The campaign failed the first day however, as the e-commerce application was faced with problems which prevented users from being able place orders. Heinz responded to the hundreds of comments on the Facebook site and shipped free bottles of ketchup to thousands of customers who had attempted to unsuccessfully place the orders.
Takeaways from this tidbit for any company to learn - aside from make your customers happy - are:
1) launching products on social media that are available only to social media users ~ great idea to make customers feel like they are a part of an exclusive experience and to drum up marketing buzz.
2) when faced with a glitch, apologize on the social media site - to each customer who leaves a comment if necessary; customers will be consoled, and other prospective unhappy customers will be pacified.
Good job, Heinz.

1 comment:

Melissa B said...

This is such a cool example and definitely a sign of times to come. Not only did Heinz handle the situation well, but it was great product development from the beginning. Companies are realizing that social launches are the best possible pilot for a new product. Feedback is real time and the results (positive or negative) can be viral. A great example of companies using social is the company CrowdTap. Brands can create communities based on demographics, interests and other information users provide on facebook (that have opted into Crowdtap). The brands can then pose questions to this target audience who reply real time, giving the company instantaneous feedback on their products/brands. I wonder if Heinz has a crowdtap page!