"...another great weekend of skiing and riding!"
Posted by Joe Lichtenberg on Thu, Jan 31, 2008 @ 02:35 PM
"Mountain Update - [unnamed] Mountain received 2 - 3 inches of snow on Wednesday night, bringing our total snowfall for the season to 100 inches! And with more snow in the forecast tonight and Friday - it's shaping up to be another great weekend of skiing and riding!"
Today I received this email from a ski area that I occasionally visit, and coincidentally plan on going up to this weekend. Unfortunately, the real story is that there is a major ice storm moving in to the region. It is not safe to drive up Friday night, and the skiing on Saturday will be marginal at best. The mountain might even be forced to close lifts if there's significant icing on the cables or downed power lines.
Some marketers still think they can control the information their customers receive. I already knew what the conditions were going to be like before I got the email.
And what of the few that didn't have the time to check the forecast from other, more reliable sources? What if they pile their family into their Honda Accord with all season tires, and risk their safety to come up for a sketchy weekend based on that email? Will that help the ski area build loyalty and customer satisfaction?
I think the honest approach works far better. For example, this ski area might have issued an email warning their customers what they might expect, instead of hyping great conditions that in reality are about to disappear. Advise their customers to get on the road early Friday or early Saturday, but not to make the drive on Friday night unless they're prepared to drive in an ice storm.
An angry customer this weekend may never return. A loyal customer pays dividends for a long time.
**2/5/08 UPDATE** I did go up last weekend, but not until Saturday afternoon. They mountain was closed all day Saturday from high winds and ice! Closed! And the skiing on Sunday was pretty poor.