The Ideal Crisis Management Guide

3 things customers want after a scandal

When things go wrong, how you respond can make or break your customers' trust in you. No matter the size of the scandal, how you handle it internally and externally can determine its effects on your relationship with your customers and, therefore, your future as an organization.

“What the public thinks of your company is critical to its success,” says Katie Schmidt, the founder and lead designer of Passion Lilie in Business News Daily

The scandal could be something recent that has major concerns, such as a data breach. It could also be something that has slowly been brewing at your company or in your industry for years, like a lack of diversity and inclusion initiatives. It could also be a mixture of the two, such as a history of inequality being leaked to the public.

Once you realize it is a problem, and certainly when your customers realize it is a problem, action needs to be taken to hold on to your customer base. Customers vote with their dollars and their feet in today’s economy of infinite options. Odds are, you have a competitor and your customers can easily choose to take their business to them instead if they don’t feel you have adequately addressed the issue.

According to research from Cone Communications, “nearly 75% [of customers polled] said they would refuse to buy from a company if they learned the company supported an issue contrary to their own beliefs.”

Below is a three-step guide to what concerned customers want, based on my experience as a consumer and a professional and backed by expert opinions. The more of these steps you can achieve and the more ways you can address these steps, the higher chance you will have of regaining the trust and relationship with your customers that was lost because of the scandal.

Acknowledgment/ Apology

If this is an issue that you honestly want to address, the bare minimum that you can do is acknowledge and ideally apologize for it. Beware that newer generations especially will notice when an apology is not honest and that apology will end up backfiring against you. From Marketing Insider Group:

If you admit the issue upon discovery, it shows you’ve made an honest mistake that you’re seeking to repair, which can renew or even reinforce trust.

It also allows you to apply your own messaging before a narrative is set in stone, which allows you to reassure consumers that the issue is a one-time mistake rather than a systemic problem or a nefarious choice.

You can even put a positive spin on it and focus on the “we’re doing better" aspect, as Domino’s did with success.

However, a half-hearted or scripted apology can also be spotted easily. Make sure you mean what you say.

Another easy acknowledgment that might be an attempt to head off a scandal or address scandal in your industry as a whole is to use a supporting hashtag. Again, this is the bare minimum and your customers are looking for you to back that hashtag up with action.

Research and implement new policies

Acknowledging or apologizing is a good start, but you can’t just talk the talk. You need to walk the walk. You have to show your customers that you mean what you said and that you are going to make changes to prevent this from happening again.

Do research both internally and externally to determine your next steps to address the issue. Communicate your plans with your staff and your customer base. Transparency will help ensure that they know you are making changes and will help them trust you again.

Listen to their concerns and work on ways to address them in real tangible ways. You may not be able to implement everything, but set realistic goals to achieve them and do something even if it is a small change for the coming season. From Marketing Insider Group:

put substantive efforts behind your words. Fix the problem, and make up for any damage that has been done, even if, in the short term, it damages your bottom line. Consumers need to see real change to trust a company again, and a simple apology is not enough.

Help the victims/ give back

Determine who the victims are from this scandal and work towards making things right with them. This might mean conciliatory gifts/ perks to your members or addressing diversity and inclusion inequalities in your current workforce.

To really go the extra mile, see if you can address the issue in your local community. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a type of business self-regulation with the aim of being socially accountable.

“A robust CSR program is an opportunity for companies to demonstrate their good corporate citizenship … and protect the company from outsized risk by looking at the whole social and environmental sphere that surrounds the company,” said Jen Boynton, CEO of B Targeted Marketing Co. in Business News Daily

If the issue was related to gender equality in the workplace, partner with local initiatives in inspiring girls in your field or support a network of women professionals. Again, this will show your customers that you are committed to making change and not just saying what they want to hear to fix your bottom line.

These don’t have to be massive. An effort to do good and show your dedication to solving the issue in your organization and the local community will have a large impact.

Bonus: Make these changes sustainable

However you choose to address the above steps, don’t just do it for the news cycle or that quarter/ year. Make sure that those changes are meant to last for years to come and fulfill those promises. While this requires effort, it will continually show customers that you are a company worth investing their money in.

So, when something goes wrong and a scandal, big or small, occurs, consider implementing the following steps to help reestablish your customers' trust in you. You can do the bare minimum and hope they believe you, or you can take additional steps to prove your dedication to the cause. The more you do, the higher chance that customers offended by your scandal will begin to trust you again.

A final note: The best scandal is one that never has to happen. Get ahead of issues and make sure to initiate these steps to be proactive instead of reactive to the scandal.

You can also take time to evaluate your workplace culture for any potential areas of improvement. Address issues before they become scandals and make these steps part of simply your workplace culture instead of simply in reaction to the scandal.