So what did they do about it?
Foreword
Welcome to the Weekly Business Learnings series!
These days it is hard to get good service from businesses we encounter as we go about our daily lives.
This has inspired us to analyse each unique situation and share our insights so you and your business can benefit from these case studies or perhaps find out what you can do next if you happen to be working for a "toxic company" or know someone who is.
This week we take a look at Pizza Hut in Singapore.
Background
The American fast food chain Yum ! Brands has close to 44,000 companies all over the world
Yum ! Brands own KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. They are the global leaders of chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories
Worldwide, the Yum! Brands system opens over six new restaurants per day on average, making it a leader in global retail development
Half of Yum ! Brands profits are derived from markets like Singapore, outside the U.S., and they are a global fast-food restaurant leader in emerging markets
The Problem
In September 2017, customers were unable to order from Pizza Hut online. Ever since, they revamped their website in the second quarter of 2017, numerous issues seemed to plague the popular fast-food restaurant brand.
The new Pizza Hut website wasn't user-friendly and the revamped pizza pricing was a problem for certain customers.
Customers who were experiencing difficulty ordering online sought refuge on social media channels yet there was no information whatsoever on Pizza Hut acknowledging the problem and informing customers that they were working on it.
Although there was a single post on August 29 saying that all hotlines, online ordering and delivery services were down, a week later, some customers were still unable to order online on the Pizza Hut website since April 2017.
Bad social media practices
There were no negative responses to be found in any of the comments on Pizza Hut's Facebook page leading us to believe that the staff mending the social media page was more than likely not engaged in unethical social media marketing practices such as deleting genuine customer complains or negative feedback or marking fan comments on Facebook as spam.
Companies abandon Twitter
Unable to grasp the benefits of other social media channels besides maintaining basic Facebook and Instagram pages with mediocre results, Pizza Hut, like many digital-marketing-challenged businesses have closed down their Twitter channel.
The Repercussions
As a result of the countless technical glitches and inability to even have their basic ordering/ delivery function work, how many customers have Pizza Hut disappointed?
How many people would not purchase from Pizza Hut and go with their competitors' such as Domino's or McDonald's instead for a better experience?
A positive outcome could be that disappointed customers would flock to the sister brand KFC to satisfy their dining option but this is at the expense of Pizza Hut which sells slightly pricier items, meaning revenue potential for Pizza Hut could not be met due to the technical glitch and most importantly, poor management of a bad situation.
Although Pizza Hut Singapore's website was found to be up and running a few days after the glitch, we are not so sure if people would be ordering from them anytime soon since there is poor communication between them and their customers. This "We know but you don't need to know" attitude clearly will not bode well with customers who do not appreciate being kept in the dark.
What is the best method to customer communications?
There simply isn't just one single best method in dealing with all customer communications.
For starters, a concerted effort with a team of well-trained staff headed by a professional digital marketing expert would have to be in place.
To find out more about how to achieve greater business results with customer communications via digital marketing and social media channels, contact us.