In my research (I feel like a $300 handbag is an investment that merits a little research)I stumbled upon the companies facebook fan page. I have to admit, I am impressed. The page is covered in pictures, updated daily at least. it links to their website, their twitter, their facebook, and their youtube (that blog is soon to come), store locator's, pictures of the newest collections, even an album of celebrities spotted wearing coach can be found in the archives of Coaches fan page. Someone over there knows what they are doing.
But the best and most impressive part of the page, was the constant interaction that the company had with their one and a half million fans. Coach is one of the rarer major brands, that allows their fans to post on their wall, (Going back to post on "Socially Awkward Media" this is not a common occurrence ) but they also, wait for it, respond! They thank users for compliments, reply quickly to questions, and actively comment on the pages and pictures of relevant "friends". That alone is enough to impress me, but what really suckered me in, was how well they handled negative feedback, (from their fan page):
Rachel Chia Huay Toh I bought a coach wristlet from US, when I return home and found that the color of the wristles is not match with the one from online. Can you help to advice, how am I going to return and get the correct color one?
Not that it takes a genius to answer simple questions, but the majority of brands seem to either delete or ignore anything that could be seen as negative.
What coach is doing, by leaving these potentially negative posts on the page, but addressing the concerns of the customers, is showing how good their customer services is, and that they actually care about the plight of their consumers and are actively working to create a better product and services for their customers. And as a customer, I care a lot more about that, than making a purchase from a seemingly perfect brand.
Now I'm off to go buy a purse ;-)
