A stranded marketer’s volcanic ash cloud experience – email fail

So, there I was, stuck in the Canaries due to the Volcanic ash, eagerly awaiting news on what to do next and looking to the airlines, the media and even the government for information – what communication did we expect and what did we get?

Expecting the apparently unexpected

Most of us holidaymakers booked our trips online and received the usual email confirmation back, so the first place we look is our email inbox, if our flight is to be delayed or cancelled surely they would email us and let us know?

Hmm just the usual retail newsletters, no emailed information yet perhaps our flight is still ok.

Next stop the airline website.

This is better we have a big banner on their homepage offering news on the ‘unprecedented’ disruptions and there is a list of the day’s cancellations – however our flight is a couple of days away so no news yet.

I know, we’ll check out the online news coverage.

And they’re telling us to contact our airline before travel, well we’ve checked their website and we’ve tried calling them but to no avail so perhaps the next stop should be the airport and their physical ticket desk.

Email marketing fail...

It's the day of our flight and another check of my email and finally the airline have sent me an email telling me my flight has been cancelled. We’d figured that out for ourselves by looking at the media coverage but it’s good that they’ve given us clear instruction on how to rebook our flight with a nice link especially for doing so.

Link clicked but every flight we look for is coming up with no flight found until a month away? Surely that’s not right? The email clearly stated this was how I was to find a new flight. It would seem I was expecting the unexpected unlike the messaging in their email campaign. What started as a good impression of their help has now turned to a very unimpressed customer who is confused.

Email marketing fail – always ensure that you are delivering what you promise in an email campaign or you will lose recipient trust.

With no help from the email or their website and the telephone number they gave us just making us queue for hours we did the only thing left – time for some face to face contact...

...And a gargantuan queue full of people who have received a similar email fail experience. Two hours later and we speak to the airline representative who has spent their day fending off seriously unhappy people due to another department’s (in another country) email marketing faux pas.

Lessons to learn

• Make sure your email marketing efforts are integrated and if affecting different departments, especially if in other countries, ensure you communicate the plan and expected outcomes to all.

• Don’t hurry your email marketing campaigns, if not thought out properly they can cause more chaos and pressure for other departments and harm the brand.

• If you’re setting an expectation in an email, follow it through onto your website. If the web side isn’t working than your email is pretty useless.   

We got back in the end and are now trying to chase back money from cancelled flights. After numerous phone calls we’ve been told to send an email. No response from that or even acknowledgement of receipt of it, so back to hassling another department via the phone. Some companies just don’t learn...

If you’ve experienced communication fails as part of the volcanic ash cloud drama then add your comments and share your experience below.

All the best
Abi