What do social media and Bertucci’s pizza have in common?
Growing up Chicago I was fortunate to I be spoiled with being surrounded with good food and exceptional pizza. When I arrived in Massachusetts not so much. It took me almost 2 years to find a pizza that I actually looked forward to eating. I soon disovered a local Italian restaurant chain called Bertucci’s They have an amazing pizza called The Carmine. The flavors are amazing, caramelized onions, smoked tomato sauce and fresh buffalo mozzarella., I was hooked after 1 bite and have been for 8 years.
I am very brand loyal almost to a fault, in fact it took me two years before I decided to even try another pizza from their menu. My love affair with Bertucci’s and The Carmine started almost eight years ago and unfortunately ended on Saturday.
I take that back, our relationship had been on the rocks for some time with inconsistent food quality and mediocre service that has been slowly declining over the years. I won’t bore you with all the untasty details, but I will say that the time before last we actually had to send back the pizza.
Customer and brand loyalty is a relationship built on trust.
This trust is based on consistency.
Customers expect consistency when they attach to your brand or service and will remain loyal until that consistency or trust is broken. Once that trust is broken it is very hard if not next to impossible to regain, as in my case. Lets look at Coca-cola for example, our relationship was going great until they broke my trust and changed their age old formula and new coke was born.
Consumers like me did not welcome this new and improved impostor so much so that coke had to revert back to their old recipe to satisfy the masses. I have been a Pepsi drinker ever since. Don’t break your customers trust it leaves the door open for your competitor to get friendly with your fan base.
For the record it wasn’t just wasn’t the food that has pout a bad taste in my mouth regarding Bertucci’s or the service of the waitress. The majority of my dissatisfaction came from the management and the way my complaint was handled on Twitter.
Bertucci’s is currently running a promotion for 5 dollars off 25 dollars or more. Our bill came to $54 dollars so our savings would have been roughly 10%. I had the coupon saved on my iphone which included the coupon code. When the bill arrived I showed the waitress she said she would have to get manager approval. A few moments later Mr Manager came over and all he said was sorry I cant take that it had to be printed, then walked away! I have been a loyal customer for eight years, suffered through another bad meal and I couldn’t even use my coupon, hows that for a thank you for dining with us?
I was shocked to say the least! The correct response would have been, no problem, I can take care of that for you! By the way how was your dining experience with us today? Had Mr Manager been a true brand ambassador for Bertucci’s brand he would have found out that my meal was bland, our salad was not delivered until after the lunch was on the table and then it was drenched with dressing instead of on the side like I requested. If you and your team are not going to be champions of your brand whey should you expect anyone else to?
It became very clear to me that Bertucci’s no-longer valued my time or my families business. It showed in the service, the food, and the overall experience. Well that my friends was the nail in the pizza coffin. I decided to write the corporate office but then changed my mind and decided to connect with them via Twitter.
Incorporating sites like Twitter and Facebook into your customer service model allows your company to operate with more transparency, become more intimate with your customers and connect with them in ways that was never possible before.
Bertucci’s wants people to follow them on Twitter and Friend them on Facebook, But my question is why? if you looked at either there Twitter or Facebook page they were more interested in using them as an extension of a sales brochure. When I visit your social sites and website for that matter I want you to engage me don’t sell me, talk to me, reward me for being a loyal consumer of your brand, wow me with your personality. Far too many companies like Bertucci’s, miss these opportunities to truly connect with the people that matter most, their customers and fans of the company brand.
I had made the following tweets on twitter:
- @BertuccisTalk Bertuccis in Westborough Ma refused my 5 dollar off digital coupon, service was so/so quality of food has gone down hill lately
- @BertuccisTalk not sure Ill return redeeming my digital coupon code could have been a nice gesture and also saved some paper 3:46 PM Feb 26th via web
- @BertuccisTalk when store manager came over to me and said there is nothing I can do and walked away spoke volumes about the value of a cust 3:47 PM Feb 26th via web
So why do I mention this, because not only did they not respond to my tweets, they also removed my tweets from their stream so no-one would see.The lesson here is that if you are going to use social media you need to be prepared for the good, the bad, and the ugly and then respond appropriately. In fact a bad review is your time to shine. It showcases your commitment to exceptional customer service. Consumers understand mistakes happen, in fact it is a regular occurrence in the restaurant industry.
People want to know that you care about them. When they know you don’t, they stop caring about you and your brand! If you are going to truly commit to a social strategy you need to be commit to it 100 percent. Social media will allow you to connect with your fan base but more importantly allow them to connect with you outside regular business hours.
I know I am starting to sound like a broken record but a social media campaign is about engagement and building relationship and community. If you want to see an example of what I am talking about, look no further than Zappos.com a company that has taken the use of social media and customer service to the nth degree. Zappos has built their reputation on exceeding the customer expectations. They live and breath by their core values which are posted on the company website Zappos.com:
As we grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the core values from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies. These are the ten core values that we live by:
- Deliver WOW Through Service
- Embrace and Drive Change
- Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
- Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
- Pursue Growth and Learning
- Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
- Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
- Do More With Less
- Be Passionate and Determined
- Be Humble
Does your company live by it’s core values better yet do you have any? If you do have them does everybody on your team live and breath them? Your success or failure depends on this!
Instead of taking down my tweets Bertucci’s community manager should have responded and asked me how to mend our relationship, but they didn’t. Maybe the employees have not been trained to care after all a company is only as strong as it’s weakest employee.
So what I would like to know is why is Bertucci’s engaging in social media if in my opinion they really don’t want to be social or even care for that matter?
I plan on following up with the corporate office tomorrow to discus this, for the record I will really miss their pizza but fortunately for me they are not the only game in town, a new Buca di Beppo opened up a few miles away down the road and I hear they go above and beyond to exceed the customer experience since they are the new kid on the block I imagine that they are hungry to earn the trust of the community, then again only time will tell.