L. L. Bean - Social Media Monitoring Post 2

Social Media Monitoring (cont'd.) & Brand Recommendations

Since they announced the end of their lifetime return policy, L.L. Bean has entered some rocky terrain with their fan base. The legendary policy -- a guarantee that the company would accept any item, at any time, for a full refund with no questions asked -- was once a trademark of the company. After all, it's been in place since its founding in 1912. Many loyal customers are not pleased, threatening to never wear their Bean Boots again. Fortunately for these folks, Bean's new policy is a liberal one; customers may return an item for a full refund up to one year after purchase, and defective items can be returned at any point.


What the Groundswell Has to Say
Still, fans are upset. If you've read my previous post monitoring L.L. Bean, you'll know I've been closely following the company's main Instagram page. Why Instagram? Because this is where L.L. Bean is currently investing their time and energy. Longstanding PR manager Laurie Brooks has ensured L.L. Bean stays on top of their Instagram game by posting at least one photo a day.

Although the L.L. Bean Facebook page has hundreds of thousands more followers, the majority of its content is just reposted from Instagram. The same can be said for the L.L. Bean Twitter page. Between mid-February and mid-March, their Instagram posts have not changed, nor have their followers' activity. L.L. Bean continues to post fans' photos of the great outdoors, and followers post positive comments and tag their friends. A miniscule amount (1 to 3 comments per photo, on average) negatively call out L.L. Bean's return policy change. L.L. Bean still, by and large, chooses to ignore fan comments on their photos.

Overall Interest in the Company: Waning
Interest in the company (think: Google searches including "L.L. Bean" has stabilized overall according to Google trends, which can be expected. The company typically sees drastically heightened activity approaching and during the American holiday season, which is   mid-November to late December. See my first blog post for a chart detailing annual activity for 2017.

Data courtesy of Google Trends. Highlight represents time following L.L. Bean's policy change announcement.

Data courtesy of SocialBakers. Chart represents Facebook following from October 2017 to mid-March 2018.

Fan Sentiment 

Data source: Social Mention

Mentions of L.L. Bean as well as their return policy hasn't changed much in the past 30 days, according to Social Mention's search algorithms. See my first blog post for sentiment data from February. Sentiment for the term "L.L. Bean" fluctuated between 14:1 in February to 10:1 in March, with "L.L. Bean Return Policy" moving from 0:1 sentiment in February to a steady 1:1 sentiment throughout the month of March. The takeaway: over time, folks are talking less about the company's return policy, yet overall positive sentiment for L.L. Bean is on the decline.

Increased negative talk about L.L. Bean could stem from one of two causes (or both). First, their fan base could truly be disenchanted with the brand following their policy change -- and vocalizing that disappointment on the web. Second, this could be due to the fact that L.L. Bean recently announced flat sales for 2017, which means a lot of negative things: 100 employee layoffs and no bonuses for workers. News outlets reporting on this means more negative articles floating around the web, which could be to blame for their sentiment changes.

Recommendations for L.L. Bean

Step one: get talking. Step two: do it on Instagram, not email.

My recommendation to L.L. Bean: get talking on your social media accounts. I don't mean talking in the comments section; make some original content that gives customers a glimpse into the world of L.L. Bean's operations. Talk to the followers who are  frustrated about the change. Let them into your world; give them a virtual tour of your factory, and show them a video of what happens to returned merchandise that's unsalvageable (bonus points if you highlight how the company donates frequently!). Explain to them why the return policy was negatively impacting finances. Invest in these explanatory posts, and customers will deduce the rest: that L.L. Bean made a completely necessary policy change that enabled them to stay in the business, without compromising quality.

Here's the thing: customers today see right through a company who refuses to talk to them during difficult times, and one e-mail announcement on your policy change isn't cutting it. L.L. Bean made a difficult choice in nixing their lifetime refund policy; but it was a completely necessary change. They should be explaining this to their customers, not trying to move on from the topic. Putting customer service first is what makes L.L. Bean unique. It's time to capitalize on this change and show your followers that you still care.

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are the perfectly acceptable vehicle to communicate critical messages to your customers. As a customer of L.L. Bean, I was shocked to see that the company chose to send a letter about the new return policy via email only. Not once have I seen the company post about their policy change on Instagram. Nowadays, upwards of 78% of the U.S. population has at least one personal social media profile, and at least 69% of millennials keep up with current events through social media. L.L. Bean has a captive audience here. Those photos of puppies in L.L. Bean totes and picturesque landscapes are great, but there's so much more the company could be doing with their social media following.