Customer loyalty in crisis: How brands can elevate care and retain customer trust

Editor’s note: Sujay Saha is founder and president of Acquis Cortico-X, a boutique consulting firm.

When a worldwide technology outage in July 2024 disrupted airlines, hospitals and businesses around the world, Delta Air Lines was still picking up the pieces days after other airlines were up and running – in many cases leaving passengers stranded in airports overnight. 

Delta’s customers (understandably) fumed. 

Although the episode largely faded from the news as other events rose to grab our attention, it continues to provide lessons about customer experience for other businesses that will face their own crises in the future. 

In terms of customer experience, this was an opportunity squandered not just by Delta but also by others in the travel industry – businesses that could have leaned into the moment and shown compassion for stranded travelers. 

Delta could have reached out to hotels, short-term rental companies and other airlines to make arrangements for stranded passengers. But that’s just one end of the spectrum. Businesses throughout the tourism ecosystem could have taken the reins and stepped up of their own volition without overtures from Delta, actively jumping in to see what they could do to help. 

For example, hotels could have gotten creative and opened spaces to accommodate travelers. Airlines that rebounded more quickly could have worked to offer alternative flights. But we did not see much of that happening.  

Proactive, consumer-focused approaches require a higher level of thinking when responding to a crisis and necessitates what I call experience activism, where a business puts the individual first, prioritizing people over profits and doing what is right for the customer or the employee. The idea is that if you do right by people, they do right by you. This approach has a more lasting impact than a referral program or a rewards program, and in the long run is economical – as well as being the right thing to do. 

Imagine a corporate culture where it’s ingrained in employees to look for ways to enhance the customer experience … and employees are empowered to act on their ideas. Over time, the people in such an organization would be wired to prioritize the customers and to act instinctively in a crisis. They would be thinking, “How do I provide an experience that is above and beyond what is expected, and how do I do that with the right attitude?” 

When it comes to this topic, businesses typically fall under one of these descriptions: 

• Laggards. What do you mean go above and beyond to create great experiences for customers and employees? No time for that. They have a business to run. 
• Enthusiasts. They love the idea of experience activism but don’t follow through. Other matters keep stealing their attention. 
• Forwards. They get it. They grasp the importance, and they make it happen. But even forwards can fall short if they don’t stay focused or are hit with surprises like a technology crisis. 

Consumer research: Keep a pulse on customers at all times 

A loyalty-related crisis, such as the one that Delta faced, presents both a significant risk and a valuable opportunity for a brand.  

It’s a no-brainer for companies to always keep a pulse on their customers – with surveys, sentiment analysis, focus groups and larger voice of customer – to understand changing customer expectations and pain points. By doing this, companies can anticipate potential issues and develop contingency plans that prioritize customer needs in preparation for a crisis. 

During and immediately after a crisis it’s essential to keep a continued customer pulse, conducting real-time customer feedback sessions and analyzing those sentiments, with a focus on understanding customer emotions, frustrations and suggestions. Listening to social media channels will help provide immediate insights into how customers are experiencing the crisis, enabling the company to adjust its response in real time. 

After a crisis, companies have an opportunity to assess the long-term impact not only on the company’s customer loyalty but also the larger industry. This can involve deep-dive interviews with affected customers, Net Promoter Score tracking and churn-rate analysis. By understanding how well they performed during the crisis from the customers’ perspective, organizations can refine their CX strategies and beef up their contingency plans. 

Providing customer solutions in times of crisis

Too often the situation turns into a blame game. Delta blamed the problems it encountered on CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to companies worldwide. The technology outage that downed all those flights happened when CrowdStrike deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows. For its part, CrowdStrike pointed fingers right back at Delta, saying the airline refused offers of help that would have gotten it through the outage faster. Microsoft even chimed in, saying Delta’s aging technology was the reason it was slower than its rivals to overcome the problem. 

The customers? The blame game did not improve their experiences. They just wanted to board their flights and arrive at their destinations. At a minimum, they didn’t want to spend the night in an airport. In a situation like this, businesses should seize the moment as an opportunity to learn, show empathy, accept fault and vow to customers to do better next time. 

This applies well beyond Delta, the travel industry and this event. Businesses in all sectors of the economy would do well to seize on the lessons that can be taken away from this mishandled episode and begin working toward becoming “forwards” rather than “laggards” or “enthusiasts.” They should strive to build a company culture that will rally for the customers in a crisis. These businesses will then instinctively know to act, whether they are at the center of the crisis or on its periphery. Their willingness to elevate the needs of the customer in that moment rather than obsess over the bottom line will create goodwill, brand recognition and greater customer loyalty. 

In fact, transforming a bad experience into a positive one may win customers for life. There’s something about a business stepping up and correcting a wrong that resonates with customers, and they are appreciative of the effort. 

That’s why the concept of experience activism needs to be part of the company’s DNA. When the next crisis happens, stepping up and showing compassion will be second nature to the business and those who work for it. 

When a crisis arrives, turn to your consumer insights and prioritize people over profit – because how you treat your customers today will define your success tomorrow.