Social Media Done Right

By Matt Sarrel

I had a fantastic customer service interaction with IAMS this morning. I called the 800 hotline and waited for about 7 minutes to talk to Theresa who was very helpful and courteous.  I had opened a can of cat food that was rotten and wanted to report it.  I was pretty sure it was a defective can.  I’m willing to accept 1 defect in about 4000 that I’ve served to Nina and Sonja over their lives.  Theresa took down all sorts of codes that were on the can and said they’ll send me a coupon for a free case.  I’m very happy with that outcome.  She also asked me a few questions about the girls, like name, breed, where I got them, etc.

This is where it gets interesting from a social media POV.

Then I twittered about the interaction.  Shortly thereafter, @AskIams sent me a tweet thanking me for thanking them, saying that Theresa is good, and hoping that Nina and Sonja enjoy the case of food.

So there’s a database that links @msarrel with Matt Sarrel and that Nina and Sonja are his cats.  Talk about personal.

Iams has how many customers?  Let’s say several million.  And they know who I am and who my cats are.

And I’m too lazy to send my few dozen customers holiday cards.

There is a real lesson here.  Iams pretty much has me and the girls for life.  First and foremost they make a great product.  I’m willing to accept 1 bad can.  No harm came, it was very obviously bad.  Then they get up close and personal with me while they over-deliver on fixing the problem.  Attentive and personal in the real world, on the phone, and online.

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