An internet outage is an opportunity for a telecom to shine or leave a stain in the world of customer experience. Sadly, I think AT&T left a stain in DFW yesterday.
AT&T generates millions in profits, so you’d think they would maintain and constantly upgrade their infrastructure and have redundancy upon redundancy systems in place. However, we got a little transparency into their operations after lightning struck a key building and started a fire. They maintain limited redundancy in their systems. There aren't a lot of disaster recovery plans, nevermind a crisis communications plan in-pocket, ready to go. There is limited backup or rerouting that's happening in case of a sudden, unplanned problem.
Yes, it was a disastrous fire. That's tragic and unexpected. Luckily no one was hurt. But...well, now we have the customer issues to address.
Everyone’s AT&T Internet in North Texas went out yesterday. Well, not quite. It started acting weird for a few hours, then went out. But no one told us this was happening. We had to figure it out through trial and error, unsuccessfully calling tech support, and scanning social media to compare notes on stories. Such a horrible customer experience!
Sadly, during extreme events, people remember the most emotionally impactful event and what happened at the end - it's the peak-end rule. I'm not sure people will remember this outage too fondly based on that rule. It will be a memorable experience that they may want to forget. (Two blog posts about this: The customer has a pleasant experience: peak-end rule, expectations, and goals and Why do memorable experiences seem to happen during support calls?)
Many people today work from home and require Internet access to do their jobs. Also, with the rise of automation, we have higher expectations about what companies should be providing as a service. We expect immediate response, reaction, and solutions. We also expect GREAT communication and transparency. When we don't get that, we wonder what we are paying for and what a company is trying to hide. Usually, it's more than inefficiency.
You'd think that a company like AT&T with tons of customer data like phone numbers and email addresses could have kept their customers easily in the loop of this challenge. In fact, most of us weren't aware of what was happening until we got a news report late in the morning about the fire. Puzzling, isn't it?
What happened?
I suspect that there was no crisis communications plan in place for this event. I bet that it was chaos at AT&T yesterday between the outage in DFW, San Francisco, Seattle, and the hurricane. The result was a horrible customer experience because they didn't have a plan in place to quickly reference to keep all customers clam and happy and maintain customer service standards.
We sometimes mistakenly think that crisis communications is just a PR thing. It's actually a customer experience activity. Helping your customers (or target stakeholder) navigate a disasater can help you build a better relationship with them in the end. Communication maintains transparency and honesty, which are both key to great customer relationships.
I'm sure AT&T did all that it could, given all of the activities happening. But in the process, they disappointed many customers yet again. And that's probably why there isn't complete outrage - it's not about the initial disappointment. It may now be an expected behavior - which is worse!
What would I have done to avoid the chaos yesterday?
Strategy:
- Avoid having customers in the outage areas call support to ask questions. I would communicate such disasters to the public right away so people DO NOT call support. Support can't fix a fire and regional Internet outages. We know that. They need that line free so they can solve customer problems. And I'm sure that there were customers elsewhere with solvable problems.
- Put the customer at the center of the communication plan. What do they need and want? I would place the customer at the center of every activity. They pay the bills. They need to know what is happening with their solution.
- Have a crisis kit ready to go in this scenario. This is crisis communication planning 101. These kits help with reaction. During a crisis you don't think clearly and may need multiple approvals for anything. You can work around this by having materials ready to go "just in case."
How would I have constructed the plan?
This is just off the top of my head. I would do more research and planning to make this a reality, but my agenda would have been:
Hour 1: when fire trucks arrive and I heard that we needed to shut down power - and the Internet.
- Immediately call the press and make a statement about Internet being down. I wouldn't give them an ETA just yet and wait until I had more information. But I would inform everyone right away that no Internet was available from AT&T that morning.
- Immediate inform all staff about the outage - especially support staff. Everyone needs to know to respond to customers appropriately. Especially support in case people call.
- Leverage materials from the toolkit:
- Launch a Web page regarding updates about what’s happening with this outage. Include social media feeds on the page so people can see what others are saying easily. Link to all articles and provide updates as they are ready.
- Using email and text templates, send a direct communication to customers informing them of the outage. This would go to all customers in the DFW area impacted, directing them to the web page and encourage them NOT to call support. If the Internet is literally broken in a region, you can't be helped anyway. You may wonder if someone could receive such an email or text during an outage. Most probably could through their phones. But, if you ask me, it doesn't really matter. The goal is to get people in general to see it and broadcast it through TV or social media. At this point, you just need to get the word out.
- Immediately record a message for the support lines. Again, get support staff helping those customers with problems that can be fixed. They shouldn't be telling customers about the outage. That's a waste of everyone's time.
Hours 2 - 6
- Post an update on the web page every hour or so and distribute it on social media channels, giving people insight into what’s happening. Show pictures of people working, the location and what happened. Try to balance it being serious and light. Make it human and show the people working to make the Internet work again. Sure, it's transparency that may be uncomfortable, but it will make customers feel included and informed. They will see you are trying to make progress and be more forgiving. They pay you; they want to know what they are paying for.
- Don't tell customers it will take up to 48 hours to fix. They will be furious, even if that is true. It implies that you aren't working on the problem and their needs don't matter. Show them that you are treating this as an urgent issue and trying as hard as possible. Remember - we rely on the Internet now more than ever before. Saying it will take 2 days to fix dismisses that fact and their jobs.
- List places where people can go for Internet access or provide information for how to use your phone as a hotspot. Who cares about the competitor getting the Internet access for the day! That already happened when access went down - customers found alternatives if they required Internet access to work right now. If you can't provide a chargeable technical solution, at least provide free advice so customers can accomplish what they need.
- Offer monetary compensation for the inconvenience. After hour 2 or 3 of Internet access being down, offer special deals as a type of apology. Have partnerships with companies like Karma that offer ubiquitous Internet access to offer a discount to AT&T customers for the day (maybe a discount on GB of transmissions). Provide a discount on hotspot phone usage for the day through AT&T or other carriers as options. The discount helps customers work around asking for a day discount. This will help reset expectations and build a better relationship with the customer. You aren't in business just for the money. You want to help your customers communicate using technology. You really do.
- Make it easy to access information about the outage on social media. Put the outage at the top of social media accounts for DFW displays.
6+ hours
- On your Web page and in social media, openly admit that this is a complex issue and list your plan. Being transparent means being vulnerable. Show that. Let your customers into your world. Include pictures to show people working to solve the problem. Prove to them you trying to fix the issue.
- Email and text your customers every 2-3 hours, telling them to go to the page and make it clear what is happening. Maybe stop texting during the night, but email would demonstrate you care and are trying.
- Continue offering discounts and list alternative sources of Internet access.
- If there is an ETA - start to show it now, even if it is 24-48 hours. At this point, honesty is your best friend. Give people hope up until the 6 hour mark. After that, people will understand that this isn't as straightforward as anyone thought.
When access resumes:
- Post the good news on the Web page and communicate it through all social media platforms.
- Email and text customers that it is up and running. They need to know ASAP.
- Announce it to the press and encourage them to announce it.
- Send a note to all impacted customers the next day to thank them for their patience and see what else they need. Sure, you'll get some negative Nancy's wanting a refund, but show that you care.
That would be my plan. Sure, it has holes (I created it in about an hour). However, if you focus on keeping your current business running without interruption and focus on your customers in that crisis area being informed, happy and part of your company's community, you may create a better relationship from a disaster and crisis. A crisis is a customer experience opportunity to shine or leave a stain. Use it to shine. Always.
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