Category Archives: Business

Heinz Launch Commerce Via Facebook But Get Security Wrong

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Heinz have launched a special offer via their Facebook page that allows “fans” to buy a “limited edition” ketchup.

Heinz limited edition ketchup

Heinz limited edition ketchup

Unfortunately it’s pretty clear that the people behind the integration don’t really understand security or privacy.

In order to order the ketchup you need to fill out this form:

ketchup-order-form

Now why do they need ALL that information to send you a bottle of a ketchup? A delivery address is obviously going to be needed, but why would you need my date of birth?

Sorry, but that’s really intrusive.. too intrusive really

Of course to get to that page you really have to trust Heinz .. because whoever setup the “social commerce” doesn’t know a lot about secure certificates or ecommerce judging by this:

Heinz SSL error

Heinz SSL error

I’m sorry, but unless you can actually get the ecommerce basics like SSL certs right then all this talk about “social commerce” being the next big thing are just more fluff

And if a company the size of Heinz can’t get it right I doubt smaller ones will ..

 

 

 

How NOT To Deal With Negative Feedback On Twitter

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Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...
Image via CrunchBase

One of the exciting and often scary aspects of Twitter and other social media networks is that your customer service interactions are completely laid bare. You can’t hide behind closed doors. Nothing is sacred.

Earlier today Jason Roe tweeted about how bad his coffee tasted.

It was a statement of opinion. It doesn’t mean that there is anything necessarily wrong with a product or a brand, but that a particular customer (Jason), had a bad experience.

No matter what you do some of your customers will not be happy. In some cases it will be your fault – you’ll screw up. In other cases it won’t be your fault.

It doesn’t matter. It will happen regardless.

So how did this exchange go down and why am I even bothering to write about it?

Have a look at the response from the coffee vendor (screenshot from Tweetdeck as the original tweet was deleted much later)

How not to deal with customer feedback

How not to deal with customer feedback

Here’s the plain text version of the exchange:

Tasted my coffee bean from badger and dodo this morning. They were over roasted! burnt to shit, crumbled when pressure applied. Smelt crap.

And their reply:

@jasonroe nasty & vindictive of you! We have a complaints & refund proceedure you can follow. 40 cafes using same coffee have no complaints!

What makes it all the more amusing (and disturbing) is that the company not only handled this particular incident badly, but also managed to lose an advocate in the process:

@BadgerAndDodo the gas thing is .. I was one of your advocates until 19:04. Well done!

The company in question have since deleted the offending tweet, but they haven’t (as of now) offered any form of apology to Jason (or anyone else)

Now, was Jason being reasonable?

Did the company completely overreact?

I’d say yes to both of those questions.

How about you?

UPDATE: Jason has posted his own version of events as well as an email that the coffee company sent him.

Be Careful Mixing Business With Pleasure

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For a lot of people a business is known for its staff.

In the case of very small companies the staff are the company.

So if you are in business and you are using Twitter / Facebook bear that in mind. If your “personal” account is going to be associated, even indirectly, with your business account just take a moment to reflect before you post.

Reflecting does not equate with modifying or changing your personality. Personality is important.

It just means that you should think a bit before you tweet. Once you’ve posted it there is no going back.

German Lawmakers Seek To Limit Usage of Social Media Info By Employers

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Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase

Germany seems to take privacy pretty seriously.

According to reports this week Germany is seeking to enact legislation that would restrict the usage of information about prospective employees garnered from social media sites by employers. The legislators are drawing a line between “pure” social networking site and the more professional ones.

“The bill would allow managers to search for publicly accessible information about prospective employees on the Web and to view their pages on job networking sites, like LinkedIn or Xing. But it would draw the line at purely social networking sites like Facebook, said Philipp Spauschus, a spokesman for the Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizière”

No idea how they’ll classify Twitter or FourSquare .. though I can see FourSquare being used to keep track of supposedly sick staff … .. Or am I just cynical?

Full story here