E- Marketing Challenges & Opportunities - Introduction Case

Introduction  DELL - HELLCASE

On June 21, 2005, a “citizen journalist” by the name of Jeff Jarvis posted a single negative blog-post about his experience with one of the top computer and technology companies in the world- Dell Inc.  His rant was lengthy, and unforgivable, with sentences like, “DELL SUCKS. DELL LIES. Put that in your Google and smoke it, Dell,” and it attracted computer buyers from around the globe.
dell - hell on-line rant this is the cause for the on-line outrage

Dell had built a strong reputation during the 1990′s and early 21st century, however, the experience of one customer would serve as a catalyst to Dell for over two years.  Dell Inc. became known instead as, “Dell Hell,” and the bold opinion of Jarvis resulted in a domino effect that caused bad critiques and drastic declines in Dell’s success.  Their business, their brand, was under attack, and getting this smudge off their record was no easy task.

The Reason

Dell set themselves up for this situation by failing to relate to the very people who keep them in business. The first reason to get serious about your business’s on-line presence is so you have a better grasp on what your customers are thinking.  Billions of dollars in marketing efforts are spent each year on studies, surveys, and behaviour patterns to find out what people want and how to appeal to consumers.  But don’t think just because there aren’t conversations about your brand on-line that this is a good thing.  In fact, if you aren’t a topic of conversation on-line, this can be an even bigger warning: no one is talking about you because no one cares or knows about you.

The Output

Dell learned to listen and “they ended up seeing the value in listening to and ceding control to customers. They reached out to bloggers; they blogged; they found ways to listen to and follow the advice of their customers. They joined the conversation. That’s all we asked.” In fact, Dell ended up earning the forgiveness and respect of Jarvis back again.

Jarvis posted this on his blog on October 18, 2007, explaining in detail exactly what he saw in Dell that caused his change of heart:

Dell realized that engaging in the conversation wasn’t just a way to stop blogging customers like me from harming the brand. We, the customers, bring them great value besides our money: We alert them to problem. We will tell them what products we want. We share our knowledge about their products. We help fellow customers solve problems. We will sell their products. But this happens only if you have a decent product and service and only if you listen to us.

dell learns to listen  The response from jarvis after two years

this incident caused Dell to create this website  dedicated to listen to customers  idea storm by dell

Now if you see this whole incident it is a perfect example of companies underestimating new forms of interaction and how it can affect you. This in fact highlights the need for marketing in newer avenues with vigour.