Customer Service Case StudiesTurning Customer Service Stories Into Positive Shopping Experiences

In 2017, United Airlines forcibly removed paying customer David Dao from flight 3411 to make room for four employees on an overbooked flight. The airline offered passengers $800 each to give up their seats on the flight, but no one seemed interested.

The United employees (following established protocol, keep in mind) started selecting passengers at random to be bumped from the flight. Dao was selected but refused to leave. The employees then had security come and collect Dao, who was injured and bleeding as they dragged him from the plane.

Protocol or not, this was a terribly poor decision from a customer service standpoint, and the entire situation was recorded by fellow passengers who took issue with Dao’s mistreatment over social media. In the following days, the hashtag #boycottunited was shared 3.5 million times on Twitter. Then, in the weeks after the incident, thousands of the airline’s customers cut up their United credit cards, ultimately causing the company’s market value to drop by $1 billion.

Could this situation have been avoided? Absolutely. No doubt you can see why disregarding customer impressions was a poor move on United’s part.

Innovative pet protection company PuppyPy (formerly Huan) creates digital smart tags for pet owners. These smart tags make it super easy for pet owners to locate their missing pets if they run off or go missing. It’s an extremely useful bit of tech for people with aging or overactive pets.

Once upon a time, the company mainly promoted its tech features on its homepage and in its marketing copy. They wanted everyone to know that the tags don’t emit harmful radiation or stress-inducing sounds. They also promoted the tags’ water-resistance and replaceable batteries. These were the key talking points.

Over time, though, the company noted in customer feedback surveys that most buyers purchased the product because of what it did, rather than what it didn’t do. Customers loved their product because it kept their pets safe at home. It offered peace of mind that their pets could be found if they got lost.

This feedback led the company to refocus their branding to promote their core purpose (keeping pets safe) on their homepage and in advertisements. The messaging on the homepage changed to “Keep your pet safe and prevent heartbreak. Huan Smart Tags help you find your missing pet automatically.”

Because they listened to their customers and viewed feedback as an instructive tool, PuppyPy was able to rebrand and reach their target market more effectively. The result: a 53% increase in revenue following the change, according to founder Gilad Rom.

A very common mistake in marketing is the old {NAME} placeholder game. In January 2018, fast-food giant Jack in the Box flubbed fairly hard with a personalized email that soon became a viral tweet by a disgruntled recipient. Turns out, even though you’re offering your loyal customers free tacos for their birthdays, it isn’t a great idea to misspell their names or forget to add them at all in your email.

Lol thanks for the sweet personalized email jack in the box #Fname pic.twitter.com/H2bgmWBJnN

— Jen (@Jenleahhhh) January 25, 2018

This is just one of several marketing flubs that Jack in the Box has weathered. We wanted to spotlight this one, though, as it highlights the idea that personalized marketing does indeed work… work against you, that is, if executed poorly.

It’s hard to quantify the exact impact of mistakes like this. However, your name is central to your identity, and there’s solid research to suggest that messing up your customer’s name is one of clearest turnoffs for potential buyers.

Innovative pet protection company PuppyPy (formerly Huan) creates digital smart tags for pet owners. These smart tags make it super easy for pet owners to locate their missing pets if they run off or go missing. It’s an extremely useful bit of tech for people with aging or overactive pets.

They’re so good at it, in fact, that the company has dedicated an entire division of their operations to personalized marketing.

Amazon Personalization is a machine learning platform created by the company. It makes it easy for developers to include personalized recommendations to customers who use their applications. This service reflects Amazon’s extensive experience in building personalized systems.

Of course, Amazon also leverages this technology for their own retail operations. This gives them the ability to connect with consumers on a personal level. They are also able to predict what consumers like and dislike, what they might be interested in, and even what they need, rather than just what they want.

It might seem like we’re picking on airlines in this article. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that airlines are somewhat notorious for lacking customer support and service. Take Frontier Airlines, for instance.

In fact, in October 2022, Frontier was ordered to pay $222 million in refunds to passengers whose flights were canceled during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Denver-based carrier was also hit with a $2.2 million fine. The decision was part of a broader governmental crackdown on airlines and ticketing after the US Department of Transportation said it received substantial complaints from air travelers who felt cheated by carriers.

What happened? Well, the airline reportedly canceled thousands of domestic and international flights. Understandable enough, in the context of a global pandemic. The problem is that they failed to refund those tickets after pandemic-related restrictions passed. Then, calls and emails requesting customer support or services frequently went unreturned. Even those that did manage to get through were put on hold for hours at a time or ignored altogether.

This is perhaps an extreme case, but it’s instructive in a sense. All of these complaints should have been intercepted and resolved before the DoT got involved; it’s never acceptable for customer inquiries to go unanswered. In that sense, several seemingly-minor customer service failures built into Frontier’s practices ultimately led to millions of dollars in fines and extreme damage to the company’s reputation.

Frontier, like hundreds of companies during Covid-19, was swiftly overwhelmed by support tickets, and they simply lacked the resources or adaptability to answer them. In the end, it cost them dearly… and should serve as a reminder to other merchants that support services are only effective if the company prioritizes them.

Outdoor sporting company Santa Cruz Bicycles manufactures and sells high-quality off-road bicycles. Their products are known for high quality and performance, and the brand targets customers that have a profound passion for the sport.

Prestige and performance aren’t the sole features that make SCB popular, though. The company’s outstanding customer service and support teams echo the caliber of its products. Any problem that a customer has with a bike is sure to be solved swiftly and with exemplary service.

When the company started experiencing significant quarterly growth, its CEO swiftly realized that it could no longer keep up with a one-on-one customer service approach. After several customer case studies and a lot of management homework, the company switched to a CRM service. The new tool enabled 24/7 support bots that could be uploaded directly to their site.