Sometimes we just mess up. Sometimes we mess up big. And sometimes, if we don’t clean up after ourselves, our mess ups get even worse. Add the bad buzz from social networks, and business blunders could spell death for our company.

In fact, customer loyalty has been shown to increase when a company apologizes for its mistakes.  Here are 4 steps from The Internet and Marketing Report that can keep us from losing customers.

1. Grovel: When Amazon messed up, CEO Jeff Bezos posted a humble apology online, prompting more than 700 customers to respond, including one that wrote, “My loyalty keeps growing stronger.”

2. Surprise: Netflix sent out unrequested refunds when it discovered its service didn’t match its promises. Many customers hadn’t even noticed the issue.

3. Anticipate complaints: Southwest Airlines sends out humble letters admitting their fault for customers’ discomfort based on reports from employees at Monday morning meetings. Letters often arrive before passengers even have a chance to write letters of complaint.

4. Explain: As always, the best apologies admit fault, explain what happened, and describe what’s being done to prevent it from happening again.

So go ahead and apologize like you mean it, and before the social media networks get a hold of you. It could save your business.

Sometimes we just mess up. Sometimes we mess up big. And sometimes, if we don’t clean up after ourselves, our mess ups get even worse. Add the bad buzz from social networks, and business blunders could spell death for our company.

In fact, customer loyalty has been shown to increase when a company apologizes for its mistakes.  Here are 4 steps from The Internet and Marketing Report that can keep us from losing customers.

1. Grovel: When Amazon messed up, CEO Jeff Bezos posted a humble apology online, prompting more than 700 customers to respond, including one that wrote, “My loyalty keeps growing stronger.”

2. Surprise: Netflix sent out unrequested refunds when it discovered its service didn’t match its promises. Many customers hadn’t even noticed the issue.

3. Anticipate complaints: Southwest Airlines sends out humble letters admitting their fault for customers’ discomfort based on reports from employees at Monday morning meetings. Letters often arrive before passengers even have a chance to write letters of complaint.

4. Explain: As always, the best apologies admit fault, explain what happened, and describe what’s being done to prevent it from happening again.

So go ahead and apologize like you mean it, and before the social media networks get a hold of you. It could save your business.

Tired of constantly entering your shipping and credit card information into websites? Amazon has a solution.

Amazon has a new way to check out of Amazon across the web. When you see the Pay Phrase box at a check-out, you simply type in your Pay Phrase. Your credit card and shipping address is already tied to the Pay Phrase, and your order is done. Click to see a demo at Amazon, and watch the short video.

The phrase is supposed to be easy for your family to remember, but not so easy for the bad guys to figure out (or in my case, 11 year olds who like to buy stuff online). You are asked to enter a PIN during the transaction, so the double secret confirmation is still there.

Looks like a great way to up your conversions, since check out is so easy for your online customers.

Tired of constantly entering your shipping and credit card information into websites? Amazon has a solution.

Amazon has a new way to check out of Amazon across the web. When you see the Pay Phrase box at a check-out, you simply type in your Pay Phrase. Your credit card and shipping address is already tied to the Pay Phrase, and your order is done. Click to see a demo at Amazon, and watch the short video.

The phrase is supposed to be easy for your family to remember, but not so easy for the bad guys to figure out (or in my case, 11 year olds who like to buy stuff online). You are asked to enter a PIN during the transaction, so the double secret confirmation is still there.

Looks like a great way to up your conversions, since check out is so easy for your online customers.

The New York Times calls Twitter “one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the internet.”

Wired says it’s “incredibly useful.”

Like all social media, Twitter is a fast-evolving tool that is changing on a daily basis. What started as a simple micro-blogging tool (think Instant Messaging, only you can do it from your mobile phone, your computer, etc.), is growing rapidly.

While Twitter hasn’t exactly matured into a huge money-making marketing tool, it’s worth checking out. Here’s a link to the Twitter site and to some other companies that are currently using it:

Twitter
Dell Computers
Apple Computers
Southwest Airlines
Amazon

Note to Delta Air Lines — it looks like you stopped Twittering about a year ago, which is a shame, because you had it figured out — mix fun, personal Tweets with light-hearted suggestions on how to make travel easier. Brilliant. Get back at it!

The New York Times calls Twitter “one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the internet.”

Wired says it’s “incredibly useful.”

Like all social media, Twitter is a fast-evolving tool that is changing on a daily basis. What started as a simple micro-blogging tool (think Instant Messaging, only you can do it from your mobile phone, your computer, etc.), is growing rapidly.

While Twitter hasn’t exactly matured into a huge money-making marketing tool, it’s worth checking out. Here’s a link to the Twitter site and to some other companies that are currently using it:

Twitter
Dell Computers
Apple Computers
Southwest Airlines
Amazon

Note to Delta Air Lines — it looks like you stopped Twittering about a year ago, which is a shame, because you had it figured out — mix fun, personal Tweets with light-hearted suggestions on how to make travel easier. Brilliant. Get back at it!