#715 in the Purple Goldfish Project is taken from a post by Axel Murillo of Worldwide Business Research USA LLC:
In Axel’s words:
Like one of tens of thousands of people traveling this past holiday season, I had booked a JetBlue flight for the day after Christmas to spend quality time with friends and loved ones. However, Mother Nature had other plans. A storm that quickly produced between 12 and 32 inches of snow fell on many areas of the North East that eventually caused the cancellation of some 10,000 flights. It certainly earned its titles as the “Snowpocalypse,” or “Snowmaggeddon” of 2010.
[Editors Note: Axel’s flight was canceled and rescheduled a total of 4 times. Each of his reschedules were done via Twitter]
My trip to Austin eventually went off without too many more delays, once again letting me take for granted things like roomier leather seats on coach, and DirecTV for everyone. Since I pretty much only fly JetBlue these days, I tend to forget that other airlines don’t offer what I’ve come to think of as common sense expectations.
A few days after my return to New York, along with all other passengers affected by the “Snowpocalypse,” I received an email from Robin Hayes, Chief Commercial Officer for JetBlue Airways that partly read:
“As a token of our appreciation for your patience during last week’s snowstorm when we canceled your flight, please accept 10,000 TrueBlue points which you can apply toward future travel to any JetBlue destination.”
If I add those to my existing points, I got a free round trip ticket to Austin anytime! I’m more than satisfied; I am fairly star-struck by this rock-star quality treatment! By any conventional means, JetBlue has no responsibility to provide such perks to assuage climate disruptions. But the fact is that they did; that’s what I call a phenomenal customer experience.
Marketing Lagniappe Takeaway: Be proactive when faced with service disruption. Great job by JetBlue to offer the comp True Blue points.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra) – Here is an interview with JetBlue’s Chief Commercial Officer Robin Hayes. 5 questions at Bloomberg Business:
Speaking of True Blue, here’s a blast from the past. Madonna and her release of ‘True Blue’ hits its 25th anniversary this year:
Lagniappe defined: A marketing lagniappe, i.e. purple goldfish, is any time a business goes above and beyond to provide a ‘little something extra’. It’s that unexpected surprise that’s thrown in for good measure.
How do you stand out in the sea of sameness? How do you win repeat customers and influence word of mouth? Are you Giving Little Unexpected Extras?
What’s Your GLUE?
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