Blackberry's customer loyalty scheme

Earlier this month Blackberry users were going mental on Facebook and Twitter about the service collapse. Blackberry users in Europe, Canada and South America also experienced technical difficulties which was believed to speculate from Blackberry's global infrastructure. In other words they had a failed back-up source. It resulted in millions of customers worldwide without the use of their smart phone for three days, which caused a lot of upset, anger, and frustration.

The issue was reported via many different media channel. ITV ONE in particular caught my attention, where Managing Director of RIM (which stands for Research in Motion) was interviewed about the fault in Blackberry.

Steven Bates apologised to the customers who were experiencing problems, and then went on to explain the reasoning behind the messaging and browsing failure. It was nice to see that Blackberry were not ignoring their customers.

However, there was no settlement for when the problem would be solved, nor did he mention any compensation that would be given to users without access to their Blackberry.

At this point I feel it would have been important to offer a freebie because people appreciate free things. It makes them feel special. It would have made customers take their mind off the problem, which could have resulted in less ranting, and in effect it would have reduced the bad publicity Blackberry were quickly accumulating.

As a Blackberry owner, I believe that during this time the biggest problem of all was to admit I had a Blackberry. To Iphone users it was seen as a joke. Humorous Facebook and Twitter updates were escalating by the minute. Even video's like this one were being posted to Youtube...

I recently blogged about Brand Management and Customer Service on Twitter where I stated companies should monitor tweets, regarding their brand, and have a strategy for bad PR. In this case, Blackberry should have monitored what their customers were saying about them.

Not only did this show a lack of acknowledgement, it made the company look worse, especially because they are a technical industry. They should have an experienced community manager, who is knowledgeable on social media tactics. It could have quickly changed the attitudes of some customers.

What happens now?
RIM have now tried to make amends with customers by giving 'premium apps for free' as well as one month of technical support for free. The premium apps consists of: SIMS3, Bejeweled, Texas Hold 'em poker 2 and many more which RIM claim will add at a later date.

Although free Apps are a nice gesture, I am not entirely sure it will make up for no access to email for several days. Blackberry users need to be reassured that this problem will not happen again, so they can continue to trust the brand and stay loyal.

Personally, I am waiting for my contract upgrade date so I can convert to an Iphone!