Join us Dec. 1-3 to connect with leaders from CMI Media Group, Publicis Media, Ogilvy and many more
Travel app Skyscanner’s social customer service response goes viral on Facebook
Most brands respond to customer service complaints online with canned tweets and Facebook messages. But a little creativity can help you strike viral marketing gold, as travel app Skyscanner discovered when its humorous response to a customer query went viral on Facebook, getting over 17,000 likes and over 2,700 shares.
It all began last week, when a user named James Lloyd got a suggested itinerary from the app saying he would have a layover in Bangkok lasting 413,786 hours, or 47.2 years.
The amused Lloyd shared a screenshot of the itinerary on the brand’s Facebook page on Aug. 23, with the caption, “Hi Skyscanner. Just wondering what you’d recommend I do during the 47 year layover your website has suggested?”
A rep named “Jen” responded to his post three days later with a detailed itinerary of Bangkok, rather than a run-of-the-mill reply directing him to a call center.
“Unless you’re a huge fan of The Terminal, I’d probably recommend spending those years outside of the airport, so here are a few suggestions,” she said, before recommending that he go check out a rooftop bar, take a cruise, check out the floating market and even become a Tai chi expert.
Jen from Skyscanner didn’t stop there. She went through the comments, initiating several other conversations — even throwing in a Game of Thrones reference when someone asked for her full name.
Such unscripted responses by brands’ social media agents is a growing trend, said Paul Johns, CMO at social customer service company Conversocial.
“Customers increasingly appreciate it, because they’ve gotten bored of the sterile nature of branded customer service,” Johns said.
More in Marketing
‘It’s too risky’: Tariffs are causing brands to back away from the U.S. and expand abroad instead
A number of brands that have historically bet on the U.S. market are now deploying resources elsewhere because tariffs are tanking their bottom lines.
Future of Marketing Briefing: Kimmel, Google, TikTok: three fault lines in a broken ad economy
Fragmented, politicized and increasingly treated as a risk rather than a utility, the business of media is being reshaped in real time.
Best Buy will allow advertisers to ‘take over’ the in-store shopping experience
Beginning next year, Best Buy will offer “takeover packages” to allow advertisers to appear throughout the in-store shopping experience.