06/05/03
- When
we received an e-mail form American Airlines describing what they
call ... well read it for yourself:
|
Dear
William Thompson,
Because
you're an AAirmailSM or AAdvantage
eSummarySM
subscriber, we'd like to remind you there's still time to
win a new 2003 Lincoln Aviator from AA.com. But hurry! Our
"Print the Pass. Travel with Class." sweepstakes
ends Sunday, June 15th.
It's
easy to enter. Just take a simple three-step
demo of Flight Check-In at AA.com. When you do,
you'll see how easy it is to print your own boarding pass
from your home, office or anywhere there's access to the
Internet and a printer.
You'll
be automatically entered for a chance to win a 2003 Lincoln
Aviator, a First Class trip for two or a portable printer.
Plus, you'll earn 500 AAdvantage® bonus miles* the first
time you use Flight Check-In at AA.com!
Take
the demo today for your chance to win!
–
The AA.com Team
|
Here's
the result when we enthusiastically clicked on the link in the
message - here's what we received (on the fourth try):
| Thank
you for your interest in the "Print the Pass. Travel
With Class." promotion. Due to the overwhelming
response, our servers are temporarily busy. We encourage you
to come back to www.aa.com/promo later for your chance to
win a 2003 Lincoln Aviator.
Again,
thank you for your interest and your understanding. We
regret any inconvenience. |
Our
e-letter replying to American Airlines ...
Received
e-mail re your "Print the Pass. Travel with
Class." sweepstakes.
Attempted
to click through on several occasions, and the system
refused to respond. All
other web sites were coming up immediately - so yours was
the only one crashing.
Perhaps
when dropping a large e-mail campaign - such as this one
that obviously went to all AAirmailSM or
AAdvantage eSummarySM subscribers - it will be
a good idea to anticipate server loads and to add
capacity.
Here
is the failing URL: (Actual URL was given - but it is
deleted here for security purposes)
What
otherwise seems to be an attractive marketing campaign has
turned into a negative impression - for perhaps thousands
of other valuable customers, as well.
Best
regards and good luck with your web challenges. I hope the
planes are doing better at getting off the ground.
William
H. Thompson
Principal
|
Harsh
words? Sure! This is the "big league." Perhaps a million
or more of American Airlines' best customers are at stake. What are
they going to think about the airline's ability to handle
"technology" - first on the ground with their new
automated boarding pass system - and then in the air with their
airplanes - if they can't even handle an e-mail promotion?
Seldom
does one find a promotion headline so prophetic! "This may be
your last chance to enter to win ..." At least it's worth a
chuckle.
Another
try - two hours later - resulted in a stumblingly slow process
almost no one would understand or wait for (pages loading in 65
seconds) - but we finally persevered and got a sample boarding pass
printed. That took 9 minutes - and then the system died again -
leaving us without any notion that all this had earned us a chance
in the sweepstakes to win a SUV monster. Not to be defeated - we
tried again - and after getting one step farther to a registration
page - filled with cute little tricks - "fill in the boarding
time shown on the boarding pass you just printed" (there was a
boarding time there - but just above it was a 'Departs" time -
to confuse those evil respondents, we suppose.
After
all that - the system crashed yet again - and our registration for
the prize never went through. Up came that same old "we're
sorry" message. We gave up - after another 30 minutes of seeing
what it would take in tolls of frustration on even the most patient
of customers. Luckily - we had other things like phone calls with
clients in process, as well.
"If
only our registration had gone through," we thought. "We
would have been the only entry!
It's the nightmare of marketing. When something goes wrong - whether
in e-mail, print or media - the mistake is replicated millions of
times. This is the reason seasoned marketers test carefully - and
roll-out slowly. To dump more e-mails than can be reasonably handled
by the web infrastructure they will trigger - is clearly not the act
of a seasoned marketing team.
Pay
attention. If you have a project that will reach out to your most
important prospects - the customers you already have - pay
particular attention to getting it right. Don't even think of
overloading your equipment - or your people. Your best intentions
will turn against you. Let American Airlines failure stand as your
guidepost.
Test
it - rehearse it - try it on a few trusted critics - and then when
it works - let it grow. Like American Airlines - struggling in a
tough economy - with tough competition - today's marketing has no
room for error, especially ones that tend to drive known customers
elsewhere.
Epilogue: We tried once again at 11:00 am -
three hours after we started - and there was - praise God! - a
confirmation that we actually had one confirmed entry. If you see
our sign on a brand new SUV - at least you'll know, we earned it the
hard way!
Credit
For Fast Customer Service by American Airline's Webmaster:
To his credit - the web master at American Airlines responded to our
e-mail in a record time for e-commerce, 5 hours. Here's what
he said:
| Dear
William Thompson,
Thank
you for your interest in our recent American Airlines
Sweepstakes.
I
apologize that you encountered difficulties entering into
our "Print the Pass. Travel with Class"
Sweepstakes. Due to the overwhelming response, our servers
are temporarily busy.
Please
know that we are working diligently on this problem and we
very much appreciate your understanding and patience.
When
you have questions or need assistance with any aspect of our
website, to include our current sweepstakes, please feel
free to contact our AA.com Web Services at 1-800-222-2377
Option-2 (6:00am-2:00am/daily).
Mr.
Thompson, we value customers like you who expect quality
service and hope that you give American Airlines the
opportunity to serve you better in the future.
Sincerely,
Mr.
M. Exter
AA.com Web Services
American Airlines, Inc. |
Then
a second follow-up e-mail from American Airlines - another apology
and the nice touch giving five entries to the contest in view of the
problems encountered.
06/09/03
Dear Mr. Thompson,
Thank you for your interest in American Airlines "Print
the Pass. Travel With Class" promotion.
Due to the overwhelming response, as you are aware, our
servers did experience difficulties. We apologize for the
inconvenience and will be submitting your e-mail address
automatically for your 5 required entries for your chance to
win the 2003 Lincoln Aviator.
If you have since returned online and re-entered, no
problem, only 5 of your total entries will be
submitted.
Again, thank you for your interest and your understanding.
We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
We value customers like you who care about quality, and hope
that you will continue to give American Airlines the benefit
of serving you.
Sincerely,
Sonnia Ortega
AA.com Web Services
American Airlines, Inc. |
From
this customer's viewpoint - the recovery and swift contacts were
more impressive than the promotion itself. American Airlines is to
be commended on its ability and willingness to openly communicate
with its customer base.
