Can discounting serve to bring back consumer trust after a crisis?

The Marketing Society Forum, published in Marketing Week and Campaign Live, has looked at the theme “Can discounting serve to bring back consumer trust after a crisis?”, referencing airline Qantas’s offer of free travel to passengers affected by its recent industrial dispute which grounded its entire fleet.  And that got the Think Tank’s PR team revisiting discussions about issue management.

It’s a fascinating theme in that it runs right to the heart of brand experience and corporate reputation.  In terms of PR, how you handle an issue makes all the difference, and ultimately as one of the commentators in the Forum points out; “we all mess up sometimes… apologizing and accepting responsibility for [one’s] failings often diffuses the situation”.

How you attract people back is another matter. Discounting or offering a free replacement of some sort is often the accepted short-term response to help ameliorate the immediate frustration that your customers have felt.  But the tone of that communication is also key, as is the way your employees/staff handle the situation.  If the whole process is felt to have been handled swiftly, in a straightforward and fair way, then most people will give you the benefit of the doubt.

Ultimately though, as the Forum respondents agree, this activity also needs to be part of a broader series of responses too to re-establish trust in a brand and ultimately as part of more regular, strategic reputation and risk management planning that the Board or senior management need to undertake.

See the full article here