Crisis Corner: Navigating a Customer Service Issue that Goes Viral
*Disclaimer: Our firm does not represent Red Lobster but is examining their communications response in our crisis series.
Have you ever read about a large, public crisis and wondered how you would have responded? Learn from our crisis communications team and join us each month as we break down real-life scenarios, walk through key insights and learn appropriate response tactics. This month, we are revisiting Red Lobster’s 2020 Mother’s Day viral video and sharing a few crisis lessons learned.
How do you navigate a customer service crisis that results in a physical altercation captured on video? Check out York Daily Record’s article to watch the video and learn more about the incident.
Image Credit: Google Maps
Challenge
WHO: Red Lobster
WHAT: Overwhelmed with curbside orders on Mother’s Day leaving customers waiting for hours, Red Lobster was faced with one angry customer who demanded a refund and hit an employee.
WHEN: Mother’s Day 2020
WHERE: East York, Pennsylvania
WHY: Restaurant was transitioning to all takeout orders because of COVID-19, leaving staff unprepared to meet the demand on Mother’s Day.
Response
Two days later, Red Lobster issued a statement from its CEO apologizing for the long wait times and inability to meet customer demand.
The statement mentioned the company was working to learn from its mistake to prevent customers from experiencing wait times like this again.
In a separate statement, a company spokesperson specifically addressed the East York brawl, stating the company never tolerates violence.
Image Credit: Twitter
Takeaway
When dealing with frustrated customers:
Acknowledge your mistake as soon as possible. Although a strong apology, Red Lobster took two days to issue a statement acknowledging the incident.
Instead of justifying your actions, look at the issue from the customers’ perspective. Red Lobster understood how long wait times ruined a special day for many customers and their families.
Demonstrate how you plan to prevent a similar incident from happening again. In an essential part of its statement, Red Lobster stated, “We are working to better understand what occurred and how we can prevent it occurring in the future.” Customers want to know how you’re planning to resolve the issue with concrete action items. Keep them in the loop.
When addressing a public, physical altercation:
Acknowledge what happened once you know the full story without assigning blame or sharing specifics. Red Lobster issued a separate statement regarding the East York brawl, stating it does not tolerate violence and is thankful its team members and the guest involved were not seriously injured.
Review your company’s policies and make sure your team members know what to do should something like this happen again. Red Lobster stated it expected team members and guests to treat each other with respect but could have taken it a step farther by sharing how it planned to deal with similar situations in the future. (For example, did the team follow protocol? Was staff trained for a situation like this? If not, are they implementing something to prepare team members for similar situations in the future?)
The public took Red Lobster’s side in the East York brawl, but customers were still upset about wait lines. Red Lobster owned its mistake for lack of Mother’s Day preparation and acknowledged frustration from the customers’ point of view, helping to communicate a genuine apology and win back Lobster4Life fans.