I love Southwest Airlines. If you follow me on twitter or have been a regular reader here you know I’m not exaggerating. But, just because I love them doesn’t mean I won’t criticize them.

On March 1st, they overhauled their loyalty program. They call it the Rapid Rewards program. In many respects the program is a leap forward. For example:

1. There are no black out dates. Granted that doesn’t mean there aren’t blackout flights on those days.
2. Points never expire so long as there is some account activity in the past 24 months. Very cool.
3. As soon as points are earned they can be used. The old program required you to accrue 16 points before you could redeem.

So far, so good. But, here’s where I think they made a mistake. Under the old program you earned the same number of points (1 to be exact) for every flight you took regardless of destination or mileage. Thus, a flight from New York City to Boston earned you the same number of points as a flight from New York City to Los Angeles. With the new program, you earn more points for the longer/greater mileage flights. Incidentally, these are of course, also the more expensive flights. I know why Southwest did this.

As a marketer, I genuinely understand it. Too many people were earning too many points too quickly, thus generating more free flights than Southwest preferred. In essence the new program is a traditional miles program, that’s really no different than what American, United or Delta offer. That’s disappointing when you consider how different Southwest is from those airlines.

Now, I started this post talking about how this program is a loyalty program. That’s really what it is. Great loyalty programs reward their most valuable members better than casual members. Under the new program, Southwest isn’t really rewarding loyal behavior.

Loyalty, when it comes to air travel, really is about frequency. The big question being, how many flights will this customer take on my airline. Think about it, if you fly 50 round trips a year, that’s 50 opportunities for you to choose Southwest or the competition. Under the new program, a very frequent flyer like me, is penalized for flying short flights. I travel from Chicago to Pittsburgh and Chicago to Minneapolis at least 6 times a month in total. But, I earn less points than the person traveling from Chicago to Los Angeles twice a month.

Aren’t I a more loyal customer in this scenario? Is not my frequent patronage more valuable than the longer trips flown by a more infrequent flier? I think so. What do you think?

Full disclosure: I loathe Delta Airlines for so many reasons.

I was strolling throughout the Minneapolis – St. Paul airport this evening on my way to a Delta Airlines flight that was of course 2:30 delayed, when I saw this new sign. It sorta struck me. Delta has implemented these signs and charging stations throughout their gates at the airport. The reason it struck me wasn’t because it was new. No, it struck me because it’s a direct rip off of the charging stations Southwest has been offering for years. And, while imitation is certainly the most sincere form of flattery, you can’t help but be struck by the massive gap that exists between Delta and Southwest when it comes to customer service.

Tonight, I arrived at the airport 70 minutes before the scheduled take-off. I had checked the flight status before leaving and the flight was on time. Some how, in the 10 minutes between when I checked and when I arrived at the airport, we were now 2 hours delayed. No notification (Southwest offers this) and no warning. When I arrived at the gate, the gate agent couldn’t offer any information about why we were delayed (this never happens on Southwest). Finally, we learned why (the inbound aircraft was delayed coming from St. Louis), but the agent wasn’t sure if the current scheduled time was accurate (again, never happens with Southwest). While we were all waiting for the flight an automatic notification played every 15 minutes or so over the intercom; it was reminding us that the flight was 2 hours delayed and we could purchase food on the plane (Southwest doesn’t do this period, and usually when there’s a significant delay they hand out free adult drink tickets). Think about that. Hey, not only are you delayed, but by the way you can overpay for crappy food on the plane; cool? When the flight finally arrived, there was more great news: we would be flying on a regional jet, so we’ll all need to gate-check our baggage (this never happens on a Southwest flight), which just adds to the delay when you land. The flight attendants lacked empathy and were robotic (never happens on Southwest). Talk about a hell of an experience. But, honestly, this isn’t an isolated incident. This is Delta airline at it’s norm.

They can try to change the signage, they can try to copy, but the gap between them and Southwest is Grand Canyon wide.

Heck, even the visual is a demonstration of that they just aren’t “plugged-in” or “connected.”

When you travel as often as I do you look forward to the perks you get with “status.”  Southwest does a great job of providing real value to their most frequent flyers.  From their A-list program to their Companion Pass program, they understand how to reward frequent loyal travelers.  Starwood does a great job as well.  I look forward to my stays at a Westin, Sheraton, aLoft, etc. because they understand how to take care of their valued guests.  I’m on a first name basis with all the people who check me in at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh, PA.  I always get to avoid the standard line for checkin and use the platinum line.  I always get my upgrades and I always get the types of rooms I’m a fan of.  The 15th floor is the platinum level and is reserved for only platinum members.  Their club lounge is on this floor and it’s a great epxerience.  The view is great, the seats comfy, the food and drinks very good and the service amazing.

It’s good to be platinum.

This isn’t a work of fiction.  This isn’t a lie.  This isn’t a stretch of the truth.  This is, in fact, a 100% completely true story of how the Pittsburgh Yellow Cab Company essentially held me hostage for roughly 30 minutes.

Let’s start with the definition of “hostage,” just to make sure we are all on the same page.  Webster defines a hostage as:

• a person held by one party in a conflict as a pledge pending the fulfillment of an agreement
• person taken by force to secure the taker’s demands

My trip into Pittsburgh was going amazingly well.  The flight from Chicago took off on time, arrives 15 minutes early, there was a cab waiting, no line for the cab and we made it into Pittsburgh quickly.  I was just praising the gods for all this great fortune, when things took an abrupt turn toward crazy town.

The cab driver stopped at the MARC USA Pittsburgh office and read me the fare; $34.00 and change.  I pulled out my Discover Card (it’s my card of choice and I’ve used it for every cab ride I’ve ever taken from and to the Pittsburgh airport) and handed it to the driver.  The driver snapped his head back at me, pursed his lips and in a clearly irritated tone said to me, “I don’t take Discover, only Visa or Mastercard.”  I mumbled under my breath, that this was ridiculous and the said to him, “well, that’s the only card I have.”  This was technically a lie.  I had my Visa CheckCard that’s tied to my banking account; however I never use that card for cab rides.  In the past I’ve witnessed and heard of stories where a vendor/service will run up charges once they have your CheckCard info.  I should also mention that the Yellow Cab website clearly indicates that they do in fact take Discover Card.  But, I digress…back to the story.

The driver snapped back to me and said, “Bullshit, I want my money now.  You’re not going to rip me off.”  Woah, this totally caught me off guard.  I was completely confused.  At this point, I said, “Well, there’s an ATM over there (roughly 15 feet away), I’ll go there and get you your money.”  That seems fair, right?  Well, not to this guy.  No sooner had I put my hand on the door handle to exit the cab, the cab driver locked the doors and yelled to me, “no, no, no, I’m not going to fall for this trick.”  Huh?  So I was literally locked inside the cab and couldn’t get out.  Perplexed, I tweeted, “I’m locked in a cab. My cab driver wont let me out because I gave him Discover Card.”  While tweeting, the driver told me that he’d be calling the cops.  I was getting more confused by the moment.  I once again reiterated my request that he let me out so that I could get his money from the ATM.  But, he ignored my commentary and proceeded with dialing 911.

Well, I guess not to be outdone, I tried calling the Yellow Cab customer service line from my cell phone 3 times.  However, each time, my call automatically was sent to voice mail.  There was no one, not one single person, actually manning the customer complaint/service line.  Well, so much for customer service.  15 minutes went by and I realized he had not turned the meeter off.  I pointed this out and was then cursed at and told that it was not my place to tell him how to use his cab.  WTF, right?  Ok, it gets better.  I then said to him, “look, just let me get out so I can get your money and we can then both put this behind us.”  At this point, the driver of Yellow Cab 159 went further into crazy town.  He, said that he was going to sue me for lost wages, because I was the one causing this situation.  Huh?  No, seriously, huh?

I continued to ask to be let out of the car and finally he agreed.  Great, I thought, I grabbed my bag and attempted to leave the cab.  I should point out, the cab was a mini-van with sliding doors on each side.  I attempted to exit from behind the driver’s side.  The driver then demanded I leave my bag with him.  Ummm, no.  The bag had an iPad, Mcbook Pro, a few expense checks and some other personal items.  I declined and that’s when he grabbed me and tried to pull the bag off of my shoulder.  I then slid back into the car and exited out of the door behind the passenger’s seat.  I made my way to the ATM, grabbed $40.00 in cash, brought it back over and asked for a receipt.  He refused to provide a receipt unless I gave him the money.  Again, strange, but at this point, nothing was phasing me.

This is when it got even stranger…the cops showed up.  Yes, I said cops.  See, he had apparently called 911 twice.  The first officer on the scene was alone.  He was quite helpful and very cordial. I wish I had taken down his info, because he deserves a medal.  He asked me what happened, I explained the situation and he apologized.  He then went over the cab driver, got his story, came back and agreed to procure the receipt from the cab driver in exchange for the money.  Not a problem.  I gave the officer $1.25 (I’d already given the cab driver the $40.00 from the ATM).  The officer provided the cab driver the $1.25, got me my receipt and again apologized.  This is when a police van showed up with 2 or 3 (I can’t recall) additional officers.  They were a bit late to the party

The officer advised me to call the cab company, talk to a supervisor and explain the situation.  I called again and again was dropped right into voicemail.  I’m sending a link to this post to the cab company and will let you know what happens.  Talk about a crazy Friday; and it wasn’t even Friday the 13th.

I love the book and the movie, Animal Farm. Early on in the story, right after the animals take over the farm they erect a sign that states, “All Animals Are Created Equal.” I love the sentiment. By, the near end of the story, after the pigs have taken over control of the other animals, that sign changes to “All Animals Are Created Equal, Some Are More Equal Than Others.”

As many of you know, I’m a huge Southwest Airlines fan. I often opt to fly them knowing a connection is needed, than take a direct flight. Sounds crazy, I know, but that’s how much of a believer I am in their brand. It’s been well documented that they’ve really nailed customer service in the age of the real-time web. I’ve always been impressed with how fast they’ve addressed feedback.

When the Kevin Smith situation popped up a few weeks ago, I took Southwest’s side. I genuinely felt they handled the situation appropriately. In the face of tough feedback from a very popular and influential traveler, the stood their ground and didn’t bend to Kevin Smith’s pressure. As the Kevin Smith situation was blowing up, I again, couldn’t believe how quickly they were addressing the situation. From tweets, to apologies, to phone calls, to even a blog post, they were Johnny on-the-spot.

Last Thursday, March 11th, I had a very uncharacteristically negative experience with Southwest. I was flying my seemingly weekly flight from Chicago to Minneapolis. The arriving airplane that we were to use was coming from Florida. Unfortunately for me and the other flyers it was more than 2 hours late because of weather, which I never hold an airline accountable for. Look, weather problems happen and you definitely want to be safe up there in the sky. The situation got worse though. After the flight landed in Chicago, there was a maintenance problem. Apparently the forward lavatory “spilled” or “over-flowed” (both terms were used) and maintenance would need to clean things up. Again, hey, mistakes happen. And I can completely understand the need to clean up something as unsanitary as bathroom “waste.”

Well, unbeknownst to many of us sitting in the first few rows, the spill/over-flow didn’t just stay contained to the galley; it went as far as the first few rows of the plane. The carpets underneath the seats were soaked. But, you couldn’t really tell this unless you looked very closely. Unfortunately, I looked closely, far later than I should have. I had put my Timbuk2 bag that contained my laptop and some documents under the seat in front of me. That makes sense right? You always put your smaller bag underneath the seat in front of you…at least that’s what the flight attendants encourage you to do.

When we arrived in Minneapolis, 3+ hours later than scheduled, I we pretty beat. When I reached down to grab my bag, I noticed the entire bottom was soaked. The spill/over-flow had soaked through my bag, thus ruining it and the documents it contained. Thankfully, the laptop was ok. To make matters worse, you can’t wash this Timbul2 bag and there was no way I was going to keep using a “waste” soaked bag. Sorry, but that’s just not very sanitary. So, for the first time ever, I tweeted something negative about Southwest. To their credit I instantly received a direct message stating “Uh oh! I’m so sorry! I hate hearing that…what happened? Anything I can do? Feel free to email me: xxxxxxx.xxx@wnco.com.” Literally within an hour of receiving it, I sent an email to the Southwest employee that explained a shortened version of the above. I proactively included my Rapid Rewards Number (I’m an A-List member) and my confirmation code for the flight. After I sent the email I sent a direct message back letting them know I sent the email, per their request.

It’s Sunday and I still haven’t received a response back. I’m bummed, but I’m not surprised. Where as Kevin Smith got a formal apology, a flight credit, a blog post and a whole lot more; I’ve gotten nothing. But, you know what? I’m ok with it. Why? Because, I’m not silly enough to think that I matter as much or more than Kevin Smith. It would be nice if I did, but I know that I don’t. Southwest has less to lose with me than they do with him. As they’re prioritizing who to respond to and how quickly, I’m sure that Adam Kmiec is further down the list than a celebrity like Kevin Smith.

If you will, “Some Animals Are More Equal.” As paying customers, we sorta need to remember that, even though it kinda sucks.

Do we need a bit of a reality check?

I was in a client meeting a few days ago where we collaborating on their 2010 social strategy. The social strategy ultimately is tied to the overall marketing strategy and thus the well defined business objectives. As we were plotting out a fairly robust and comprehensive plan, our client paused and asked a great question, “We don’t know if what we have behind the door is a drip or a flood; how will we scale to meet their real time expectations?”

Think about that question. It’s profound really. When we mailed in comments to companies we might have accepted a 30 day turn around for feedback. When we email customer support, it’s reasonable to expect anywhere from 24 to 48 hours for a response. When we call the 1-800 number, we’ll tolerate 15 minutes to hours (depending on call volume and your need) to connect with a real person.

But, in the social space (twitter, Facebook, etc.) we demand, not expect, INSTANT feedback. So, again, I ask, do we need a bit of a reality check? I even find myself expecting immediate feedback when I tweet a company, comment on a post, or make a request via a forum/message board. Is that right?

Let’s consider a few things:

1. Customer service is important and consumers expect great customer service
2. Providing great customer service is expensive – technology while an enabler, still requires REAL humans to deliver on that great customer service experience
3. Customers want value…and by value I mean they don’t want to spend a lot
4. Quality customer service is derived from both what is said/done and how quickly service is provided

There seems to be a gap here, no? Let’s assume you’re a company that offers a service. If you have 10 customers and 1 customer service person, you’re probably ok. But, if you have 1,000 customers and still that 1 customer service person, you’re going to be stretched. Ok, so what happens if you have 1,000,000 customers and still only 1 customer service person? Well, you aren’t going to be able to provide great customer service. Hmmm…ok, so we’ll just hire 99,999 more customer service people to bring us back to our ratio of 1 customer service person per 10 customers. Cool, but we’ve got to pay these people. For the purposes of round numbers let’s assume each person costs the company $100,000 in salary, benefits, and operations. Well we just went from $100,000 of customer service overhead costs to $9,999,900,000. That’s a big jump, no?

Is the company going to eat those costs? Of course not. They’re going to pass those costs on to you. If amortized equally, each customer will now be paying at a minimum $9,999.90 more. Guess what’s going to happen? Yeap, we’re going to have some pretty ticked off customers.

Look, that’s an extreme situation, but the round numbers show us that customers like you and me need to be willing to do 1 of 2 things:

1. Pay more for better service
2. Have more realistic and lower expectations

Surely, there’s a middle ground. Companies like Zappos, Comcast, Southwest and others are showing us the way. But, you can’t simply copy someone else’s model. If you’re a company you need to find your own model; one that works for your culture and customers. And as companies are developing these models what are we to do as customers? Should we change our expectations? I think we should. If we don’t, companies will be reluctant to enter the social space. After all it’s easier to keep us using older and more familiar tools for customer service, like email, letters and the phone.

There’s a reason Apple isn’t in the social space. Part of it is arrogance. But, the other part is they don’t have a model for how to make it work. Think I’m wrong? Consider the Genius Bar. Have you ever tried to walk up and get help at a Genius Bar? If you’re like the majority of Apple customers, it’s a rare occasion when they’ll simply help you on the spot. A more likely situation is the Apple employee will ask you to schedule an appointment at the Genius Bar. Granted, that appointment could be for a time 15 minutes in the future. The point is, they schedule, slot and meter your ability to get customer service. And, while they’re doing that, they’re also getting major kudos for offering amazing customer service. Not too shabby, huh? Imagine if Apple was on twitter and using the platform for customer service…an extension of the Genius Bar, if you will. Do you really think customers would accept an exchange like this:

Customer: “Hey, having a problem with 15″ MacBook Pro. The screen keeps shutting off randomly. Any thoughts? Thanks.”

Apple: “Thanks for your tweet, unfortunately all of today’s, tomorrow’s, and the rest of the week’s slots are filled up. I can tweet you back in about next Thursday. Thanks.”

No customer would dare accept that. After all, if you have time to tweet me that, you should have time help me out. If Apple, instead ignored the customer’s tweet until next Thursday, the customer would still be irritated because of the time lag in getting a response. See, it’s the expectations of the medium. Almost feels like a no win situation.

So, what do we do?

I was visiting Every Block today. If you haven’t checked their site out, definitely find some time. Every Block represents the future of the web…well at least it does for me. I’ll spend more time in a future post talking about Every Block, similar sites, and why they are the future of the web.

For now, I just want to cover something very specific. Check out this screen shot from Every Block. It’s the footer of their site. How cool is that? The footer’s role, in my opinion, is to make sure you never end up at a dead end. It’s a method for driving people to other sections of the site or to illicit a response. Well, Every Block, really gets it. Feedback from consumers is critical. Active feedback is even better. By having a call to action for consumer feedback on every page they’re clearly demonstrating a willingness to listen to feedback.

With all the talk about Web 2.0 footers like the White House’s site, it surprising we haven’t seen this treatment more. I’d like to see every site offer this type of a feature. Sure, most sites offer a contact us page, but this is “Contact Us” on steroids because it isn’t relegated to just one section of the site.

This is so encouraging and I hope we see more of it.

Time ran a very interesting article about Wal*Mart’s new initiative called “Project Impact.” Sounds cool and somewhat ominous, huh?  So what is “Project Impact?”  Well according to time it boils down to 3 things:

1. One goal of Project Impact is cleaner, less cluttered stores that will improve the shopping experience.
2. Another is friendlier customer service.
3. A third: home in on categories where the competition can be killed.

The first goal makes sense.  Where as Target’s store environment are friendly, open, and inviting, Wal*Mart’s are dingy, dark, and down right scary.  I can’t tell you if making the stores less cluttered will lead to more sales, but it makes sense.

The third goal is a pure prioritization move.  Essentially, why put money and effort behind business units and categories that aren’t in your sweet spot?  Instead focus on areas where you can excel.

So let’s focus on the goal #2; friendlier customer service.  It’s sorta funny when you think about it.  You can optimize your shipping, choose cheaper suppliers, update the store layout, and even decrease the pricing.  But, none of that matters if the in-store experience is underwhelming.  And the biggest contributor to the in-store experience is the people.  But, nobody ever wants to invest in people.

Think about it.  How often have you recommended a program to a client only to be told, “well, we’d love to do it, but we can’t ask the people on the floor to do that.”  It happens all the time.  To really make the customer service friendlier you’re going to need new people.  Why you ask?  Because, changing the personality of people is nearly impossible.  Either you’re friendly or you’re not.  Seriously.  There’s a reason Target has an entire behavior profile driven set of testing that all employees have to pass before being hired.  It’s so they can get a person who embodies the Fast, Fun and Friendly mantra that is the Target culture.

When you’re corporate culture is “VALUE” are you really going to get people who are top notch performers that are excited to come to work every day?  Well given that Wal*Mart has made it a priority to have friendlier customer service, I’d say no.

Make no mistake, the most important asset is human capital.  You can have a great business plan, killer advertising and operational excellence, but if you don’t have the right people in place to carry out your vision, you’ll lose every single time.  Maybe it’s time we start investing a little bit more into human capital from the beginning.

After posting my thoughts about the very male-negative ad by Clorox, I contacted Clorox directly and pointed them to my site to see what I had written. These was the response I received today:

“Dear Mr. Kmiec,
Thank you for contacting us.

As you can imagine, advertising is an integral part of our company’s operation, and we devote a great deal of time and research to it. The objective of any Clorox Company advertisement is to provide the consumer with accurate, useful information about a product in a manner that makes the message memorable. On those rare occasions when there is disagreement about an advertisement’s content or impact, we appreciate the feedback we may receive from our loyal consumers. Such feedback is always kept in mind when reviewing future advertising. I have forwarded your comments to our Marketing Department for further review.
Again, thank you for contacting us.

Sincerely,

Vicky Bullock
Consumer Response Representative
Consumer Services

Did you know: According to Dr. Abel Wolman, former president of the American Public Health Association, sodium hypochlorite, the basic ingredient in Clorox Regular-Bleach, has saved more lives than any other substance made by man, due to its ability to reduce waterborne disease.

To let us know what you think about your experience emailing our company, please click on the following link to complete an online satisfaction survey.

http://surveys.affina.com/metasurveyExternal/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.cgi?idx=WU72GH

If you have additional questions or comments, please click here to respond to this email.”

The interesting thing about “social media” is how quickly people, companies, and organizations have hopped into the space.  Some like Comcast and Best Buy are using it less for “campaigns” and more as a fundamental underpinning of their business.  As they blaze a path for how to make social media work hard for the business other companies are going to sit up, take notice, and follow the blueprint.  Social media is going to evolve from the squishy unsophisticated mess that it currently is, into a stable, predictive, formulaic strategy for business success.

I’m a little concerned though that as companies drink the social media fruit punch and start seeing the return on investment opportunities, social media will become less useful to the people, customers, and consumers who made it something to pay attention to.  Look back through history and you can see that as a technology or an “opportunity” matures it becomes less useful for providing value.

Think I’m crazy?  Look at call centers.  They’re horrible to use.  The whole purpose of them today is to avoid letting you talk to a human being.  It’s all about “automation.”  But, it wasn’t always that way.  When phones and call centers were still an evolving medium you could always get a real person to help you out.  The phone is just one example and there are many others.

In short, what’s going to happen to the value we derive from social media when companies figure this “thing” out?  Are we going to get screwed?  Will you be able to talk directly to Frank at Comcast?  Will Zappos really be able to retain their wide open culture?  I don’t think so.

It’s not a question of if, but a question of when.