Two nights ago I took an Amtrak train up to Baltimore for the Grace Hopper Conference. When the station manager announced a 20-minute delay, the lines of people waiting to board became irritated. Many had already spent the day travelling or had a long day at the office. Then the irate tweets directed @amtrak started. The person managing their social media account was quick to respond with an apology and provided a link to file an online complaint to customer service.
When the train finally arrived, I was relieved to board and settle in. Unfortunately, as I was walking through 
the café cart to get to my seat, I slipped and fell onto a soaked floor of water. After some nice folks helped me up and asked if I was ok, I collected my belongings and told one of the employees in the café cart about my fall. I also asked why the floor was soaked with water and why there was no signage that warned people to be careful walking through the cart. He said he had just finished dragging ice across the floor, and that they should not have allowed people to board the train so soon, but that they were running late. By the way, he did not even ask if I was ok. #Fail 1 – not expressing concern for your customers or apologizing.
When I got back to my seat, I tweeted @amtrak about my fall. Their response? Radio silence. I tweeted them two more times relaying my experience. Still no response. #Fail 2 – not responding to your customers.
Dissatisfied with Amtrak’s lack of compassion and response, I told the train conductor who collected my ticket about my fall when he asked “how are you today?” He looked at me and said “well if you are hurt, you should get off the train.” He then began to explain to me that he was not responsible for the train’s boarding safety practices. #Fail 3 – not showing compassion for your customers and passing the buck.
While there are several lessons nonprofits can learn from this example of Amtrak’s failures in customer service, I want to highlight two essential ones that will improve your relationships with your constituents.
Own Your Mistakes
Take responsibility when you mess up, and don’t pass the buck. How many times have you sent out an action alert where you inadvertently offended a donor or activist? Or perhaps one of your gala sponsors at your big event noticed a typo in the sponsorship signage you designed and printed. The best way to handle these unfortunate situations is to take ownership, show compassion, and simply say "I’m sorry." Apologies will go a long way with your donors and consitutents.
Be Responsive
Nonprofits, especially those who work in the advocacy and political spaces are prone to criticism and feedback on public channels, like Facebook and Twitter. While all organizations should have a good social media hand guide for staff, it’s just as important to have a savvy and senior person managing your organization’s social media channels. This person should know how to deal with serious complaints, like someone falling down at one of your large volunteer events or rallies. The staffer should also have enough common sense to answer tough questions or criticism, even if it’s followed up with a response as simple as “I’m sorry you experienced that, let me look into it and get back to you. Please send me your email address." This tactic shows that your organization is responsive, can diffuse sensitive situations, and quickly moves it off public channels into one on one communications.
In today’s world where people have public access to your organization 24/7 through social media channels, in addition to your public facing events, it’s more important than ever that you start thinking about customer service as part of your communications strategy.
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