Social listening

What brand did you select? Old navy

What are people saying about the company, brand or a product? How terrible the customer service has been for the past four weeks during the civic shutdown.

What interested you about this brand or product? I shop there frequently. Recently indulged in some retail therapy and noticed their shipment fulfillment speed was significantly slower than usual.

What is the company/brand's Value Proposition? Accessible fashion essentials for every family

What are THREE specific things (both good and/or bad) people are saying? Comment on those comments, using some EXAMPLES from social media.  Feel free to include screenshots of the social media examples in your blog post.

Customers have been commenting about the “lack of care and respect” the company is showing for customers through their poor customer service response during the covid crisis. Before they were complaining about the delayed processing/shipping, they were complaining that the stores were open and the company was putting its employees in danger as well as the public. 

What products/services/messages are they trying to sell or promote?

Old navy is a clothing retail store. The brick and mortar locations as well as a large online store.

What aspects relate to marketing, and the company's marketing efforts?  Think about the kinds of things we've talked about in class or that you've read in the textbooks. Cite examples. What's the marketing challenge facing the brand? This should be the main point of your blog post! 

How did the company/group respond to customers? Did they respond? Should they have responded? Was this a good decision for the company/organization? Why or why not? 

Old navy chose to have reps respond on behalf of the company. Most are pre-formulated with inserted customer names from Facebook. Old navy also chose to add to their FAQ page about the effects they are experiencing during the covid crisis. I believe the company made the right decision to engage with customers however I feel that more organic/less scripted and autofilled response would have been received better.

If you were the brand manager, how would you respond to customers? Be specific, and don't just agree with what the company did! 

Personally I think they they should jump on the commercial bandwagon. Lately they’ve been pushing these huge sales with short springtime themed clothing ads/gifs but I feel that if customers had an inside peek into the warehouses and their safety then they would be a little more sympathetic to the workers during this time and be less upset about the delayed orders.

What did you learn from this assignment?

I learned that as a business you should be more prepared than you think you should be. And if you aren’t prepared at least be flexible and able to get prepared in a timely manner. Also remember that communication/engagement with customers plays an important part in the success of your company.