Telstra Tweet Fail

Well, I thought after learning a bit about he SPAM act I would talk a little about how companies are starting to not only break it but hide behind it.

Some of you would know how Aussie Telco Telstra copped a bit of flack after the responses on their Twitter account were quite impersonal. But it's what they did next that was a little silly.

Telstra released a statement saying that their Twitter responses were impersonal because otherwise they would violate the SPAM act. Guys, your customers have told you that they aren't happy, don't frustrate them by hiding behind legislation.

The customer relationship in the digital world can be a little different and can be a fine line between being personalised and SPAM.

Now I don't know the exact ins and outs of he SPAM act but I can safely say that having an impersonal tweet would not be violating it. This is what many Telstra customers thought too. The backlash was so big that Telstra finally saw the error of their ways. (Smart move).

Make this a lesson to all businesses even attmpting to communicate with their customers in the digital domain, MAKE IT PERSONAL! Make it seem like you're having a face to face conversation with the customer. If there is a face to the business that is communicating to them directly, a customer will have a greater sense of attachment and as we all know attachment = loyalty. Seems pretty logical to me.

What do you guys think? Personal or impersonal?