BA announced this week that is had sent out over 11,000 SMS apologies to customers affected by the Terminal 5 saga. Their SMS programme is managed by mobile marketing agency, Incentivated.
CRM is a great use of SMS by businesses and I believe, far more powerful than other forms of Push marketing that some brands are still thinking about running. If you’re going to contact people about a cancelled flight or an unexpected transaction on their credit card, it’s simply the best way of delivering the news, quickly and cheaply.
I flew in and out of Terminal 5 during the ill-fated launch week. OK, they cancelled my inbound flight (but sent me an SMS notification in good time), but after that, all was sweetness and light. Me and my baggage arrived on time and they even gave me a whole bunch of Air Miles to compensate for the cancellation.
I think the big issue was more to do with the classic “over promise, under delivery” so beloved of big business. If they said that they were going to have teething problems, people would have been prepared and much more forgiving. And if they left people to make up their own minds about the terminal, without the overhype, people would have been pleasantly impressed.
Terminal 5 is pretty nice and shiny, but ultimately, it’s just a terminal. No one really is going to get excited about it and if they do as a result of hype and spin, they’re going to be mildly disappointed.
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