How Companies Can Successfully Say Sorry
A Company Apology That Works
By Lenka Davis
The words that you say matter.
If a company makes a mistake and the CEO says they are sorry, does that help to keep customers? Is it successful? What is the best way for a business to say you're sorry to your customers?
There seems to be a lot of apologies happening lately with large and small businesses due to various reasons. The reasons vary from data breaches, security vulnerabilities and privacy issues, products shipped late and badly packaged products, to changes in products or services that did not consider how it would affect all their customers.
“. . .the most dreaded word in business: sorry”
I was encouraged to read about a CEO of a one year old startup that has turned squeezable bottles of extra-virgin olive oil into a hot kitchen staple and how when they had delivery delays and other packing problems, he wrote all his customers an apology email. (Sorry this article may be behind a paywall for some of you). Here is a summary, however, of what it says.
What the company did right.
They wrote an email to everyone, even those customers that did not have a problem.
They offered a discount for as much as they could, even though they are one-year-old company with only five people.
They intentionally did not include the company's website in the email as this was an apology and not a marketing email.
How the customers responded.
The email open rate was 78%
2.5% responded with a reply back
Customers wrote back saying thanks for being honest, or that they won’t be using the discount, etc.
In the Wall Street Journal article that tells this CEO’s story, it also references a book about this very subject named “Sorry, Sorry, Sorry”. It is written by the co-author, Marjorie Ingall, of the blog named SorryWatch.com where they have written about “The parts of a good apology”.
The six parts of saying sorry. (You don’t need to include all of these.)
Say the words, “I’m sorry”
Say what you are sorry for, be specific
Describe what effect your actions had
Don’t defend yourself, only explain if needed
Say it won’t happen again, if needed
Say how you will make it up to them
In some sense apologies are written by companies because enough customers complain or give constructive feedback. Examples of some apologies that needed to be said happened when companies were rolling out new features or services. Customers gave feedback and companies responded. Some apologies are unconventional and some admit they don’t know exactly what happened.
Listening to customer feedback
Apple’s Eddie Cue announced on Twitter, not using the word sorry, that AppleMusic would pay artists during the customer’s free period. This happened after Taylor Swift boycotted the music service because the old policy was to not pay artists during the customer free period. Netflix had to send two apologies as they were figuring out how to separate their DVD business from the streaming service. Most apologies happen because customers give feedback and companies respond to that feedback.
Sending an apology in a timely manner shows the company is taking the matter seriously. They want to address the situation as fast as possible.
Adding a point of contact if customers have questions helps. This can be someone that is able to be available and can respond quickly.
Like most communication from a company to a customer, the success will depend on how authentic the tone of the email is, and the expectations of the audience.
The good news is that, “we’re living in an age of accountability, with increased calls for transparency, and an increase in public power to demand a response.” Psychology professor Karina Schumann runs the Conflict Resolution Lab at the University of Pittsburgh, stated in the New York Times article. He’s Sorry, She’s Sorry. Everybody is Sorry. Does it matter? (Also behind a paywall)
“we’re living in an age of accountability, with increased calls for transparency, and an increase in public power to demand a response.”
FunFact
Apologizing to every person that complained. Skittles, the candy company, individually apologized to all 130,880 customers who complained. Necessitated by deciding to turn its green candy from lime to green apple flavor. They did it over various social media channels.
