Monday, March 26, 2012
Here's one powerful way to leverage customers you don't want in order to preserve the ones you do: pre-empt their drama using social media.
This news segment from Austin TX television station KXAN highlights the reaction of a woman who was asked to leave the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema for texting. And no, she was not happy about it.
KXAN does a fine job balancing the drama with the anti-drama; what the Alamo is very skillfully doing to (and about) public offenders with what the Alamo is doing for its prized customers. As one YouTube commenter writes, “What you don't understand is that it’s better for a company to remove one obnoxious, rude, and disrespectful customer and have her get angry than it is to have a theater full of unhappy people being distracted by her.”
My point exactly.
But what does it say about our marketplace that the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s policies and supporting communications to improve the quality of its customer experience are newsworthy? Seems like a lot of opportunity there…