Hey Under Armour, I get it, mistakes happen to all of us. It’s Friday afternoon, POETS day, the sun is shining and the digital team are desperate to get off early to hit the pub ... erm sorry gym. Rupert the intern is too young for the pu...sorry gym and is happy to stay – I mean what’s the worst that could happen eh! The weekend rolls by in a flash and everyone returns Monday morning with sore heads...sorry muscles from all the DOMS, and OH MY GOD. It has been a record weekend for sales but something doesn’t look right. There are 1000s of orders but the revenue is WAY down on where it should be. This is bad. Somehow the website pricing has been wrong for 48hrs and people have been spreading the news all over the interwebs. The office panic is widespread and palpable. Inboxes are overflowing and everyone is looking to pass the book. It must have been Marketing’s fault, no no it was definitely the merchandisers, no it must be a development glitch. Poor Rupert. Nobody is sure how to react, maybe the C-levels won’t notice, please god say they won’t notice. Surely they’re too busy in their plush offices or on the golf course to look at actual revenue numbers. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll only spot the sales volumes on the dashboard and give everyone a raise. Wishful thinking I’m afraid, questions are already being asked. But what do we do. Alan the warehouse manager, ever the dutiful employee, has already begun shipping orders. THIS IS BAD. And now you have a choice: a) Accept the error however, it happened. Take a huge hit and ship the orders regardless, but turn it into a positive. Think of it as a loss leader, tell all of the new (or existing) customers about the mistake and how despite the cost you’ll still honour your word. Quietly encourage people to spread the word about what a great company you are, and if they enjoy their new purchase (many of whom may never have bought UA before) encourage them to come back again with a one-off discount code for being in the lucky club. 1000s upon 1000s of delighted customers, social media buzzing with positive brand mentions. YOU CANNOT BUY THIS KIND OF PR. Website traffic rockets, entirely new demographics are suddenly brand ambassadors and now the only concern is how you’ll be able to keep up with the demand for full priced orders. Life is good, Rupert is off the hook. b) You’ve run the numbers, this will kill the company. You can’t possibly fulfil these orders at these prices. But what to do. Honesty is the best policy as my old Mum probably definitely maybe once said or somthing. People are reasonable and will understand. By Monday 12pm all customers have been informed personally by email that the pricing was an error and unfortunately can’t be honoured. Of course you understand this is upsetting, especially as people’s money has been taken, so to soften the blow here is a onetime 30% discount code that can be redeemed against any item. Tell people you know this isn’t the bargain they thought they’d got, but hope it goes someway to making up for the upset and inconvenience of not being able to fulfil their order. c) Panic and don’t do anything quickly. Wait until Wednesday and then send out a generic email that doesn’t even address the customer by name. Thank them for their interest but tell them their order wasn’t accepted. Don’t give any reason, details or admit any mistake – that would show weakness BRAH. Tell them the refund will be with them within 5 working days. FIVE WORKING DAYS. Apologise for the inconvenience, that’ll appease people I’m sure. Of course you’re a smart company, never one to miss a marketing opportunity, so don’t forget to use your standard email template highlighting your free shipping and returns – people will surely be queuing up to order again. Remember it isn’t a mistake that defines us; it is how we deal with it. You chose C (*shakes head*). For a company with the slogan I WILL, it is ironic to the extreme that it turns out YOU WON’T! • You won’t honour orders made in good faith • You won’t admit the mistake and try to turn it into a positive for both you and your new customers • You won’t give people their money back for up to 5 working days. Stay hungry guys, although with this kind of negative PR I worry that might not be all that hard for you going forward. If you need any help with your marketing and comms I’m here – you’ve got my details from my orders (although it appears you don’t know how to use them). Of course the rate I quote you when we agree to work together won’t be the rate I actually charge, but hey I’m sure you won’t mind. Hit me back, just to chat, truly yours, not your biggest fan. This is Sta...erm Matt.