I’ve gotten 2 emails from Pizza Hut.com in the past week, which most of you may think is completely odd, specifically given the fact that I’m *really* cheap and will usually drive out of the way to get the $5 Little Caesar’s deal. So, what did these 2 emails say, and why are they important enough for a whole blog post? Basically, Pizza Hut screwed up, admitted it, and addressed it in a *really* humble way, and I just wanted to say ‘Bravo, Pizza Hut, Bravo.’
The first email was pretty odd. The subject was ‘Sports – 2 Medium pizzas, 1 one-topping and 1 specialty or up to 3 toppings‘, and then the rest of the body was relatively empty, save for some template text and that sort of thing. Also came from a vague and unfamiliar email address. Honestly, I didn’t pay it much attention, just threw a Spam label on it in Gmail and went on my merry way.
Today, I received the following email from Pizza Hut proper:
Dear Valued Pizza Hut Customer:
You may have received an email on Wednesday that appeared to be from Pizza Hut with the subject line
“Sports – 2 Medium pizzas, 1 one-topping and 1 specialty or up to 3 toppings”. We were testing
new functionality that will better serve our customers. It was not the intent of Pizza Hut for this email to be
sent to you. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused. We value your relationship
with us and understand that communicating with you via email is a privilege not to be taken lightly. We have
identified the cause of the mistake and have taken steps to make sure this does not happen again.Again, we apologize for any inconvenience or confusion that email message may have caused. We appreciate
you as a customer and want you to be 100% satisfied with us.Pizza Hut and YUM! Brands are committed to your privacy and the privacy of your data. As such, we recently
updated our privacy policy. View our Privacy Policy here.
Wow. There are a few things that I want to point out that REALLY impressed me with this:
1. Very specifically owning up to the first email, to jog my memory – they mentioned the title and when I should have received it. This tells me that they’re very aware of what happened, and are on top of things now.
2. They explained what happened – to me, this is important. Don’t just apologize to me, that is cold. By explaining that this is part of testing for a new functionality, that actually piques my interest a bit, so that I’m likely to keep an eye out for future communications.
3. We…understand that communicating with you via email is a privilege not to be taken lightly. Any company that makes this statement (and obviously believes it) is a winner in my book.
So, whoever at Pizza Hut who made the first error, it’s ok. Things happen, no sweat. To the ‘upper brass’, whoever recommended that you send the followup email should get a big fat bonus, and maybe a promotion. Talk about handling things in absolutely the correct way. Good job.
Ricky Cadden 