Social Listening: Spilling the (Pure Leaf) Tea
Saying that this brand is a staple for us is an understatement. The refreshing taste of this tea tramples over any of its competitors, and the fact that they practice sustainability by using products from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ tea estates is a bonus in my book. Pure Leaf makes it a focus to use the finest ingredients, care for the environment, and to settle "for nothing less than best." Settle for nothing less than best in the sense of their taste but not so much for their communication and engagement with their customers I would discover.
I hopped on to Pure Leaf's, @pureleaf (28.6k followers), Instagram to see what they had been up to and if they had anything new to share with the world. I remember back to when I posted a picture of their product and received a 'like' for it. Talk about fangirling over that for the next week. It would soon be evident that I was lucky to be noticed. In their bio, I saw they included the hashtag "#NoIsBeautiful," along with different subsections for recognition of customers and blog posts. Their photos were beautifully edited and it all had a great aesthetic. It appeared they had a new project about saying no. They promoted this in a storytelling kind of way by sharing and featuring women's stories about being empowered to say no to the things they don't want to do and "to pursue their passions, no matter how big or small." They even made a video stating that, "No makes life better. After all, it works pretty well for our tea. No artificial sweeteners. No artificial flavors. No extra stuff ... No is beautiful." I believe they took the word "no" a little too much to heart when they would give "no" response to commenters and "no" products to keep on store shelves.
Inspired by the video, user @lovepeacejoy.kylie responded, "...At first i was sucked in, thinking 'oh man I need to do more and say yes.' Then when the script switched to say no, I literally sighed with relief. It felt good to be seen..." The video did a good job throwing both this user and I off our rythym when the "script switched." Pure Leaf, did however, missed a great opportunity to reply to this heart-spilled comment. It appeared that on most of their social media channels they were promoting #NoIsBeautiful inspired by their new product, the Iced Passionfruit Green Tea. This product can be seen in every post regarding the project. Even better they came up with such a remarkable series name for it: The Passion(fruits) Project. I see what you did there Pure Leaf!
Scrolling down some of the pictures, I saw the average number of comments that would be left on a photo was around 11 just in the last month. Thinking to myself, that isn't a lot of consumer involvement especially with the new movement they are trying to start, so I began looking through the comments they did have. @asto.ldbytaylor said, "Listen is there a shortage with your drinks. I went to 6 different stores with NO EXTRA SWEET TEA that's all I drink besides water so please get it together as a company." This was only one of many comments regarding the inability to find their products. Another Instagram user, @steve_w_joyner, said, "The raspberry is my favorite, and also the hardest to find in NC." Looking back to my shopping trips, I do recall many times my husband's product was out of stock. In fact one day I went to four different stores until I found a stash of the single bottles. You better believe I stocked up on those.
The common question being asked was, "Where are the teas?" Pure Leaf's response? Nothing. I did some calculations and found that in the last month on Instagram alone, out of 114 tagged photos, they only 'liked' 64 pictures they were tagged in and commented on only 20 of them. With very few comments on their own feed, it should be a reasonable assumption that everyone could have been acknowledged.
While there was a hefty amount of comments questioning the availability of the tea, it seemed the other half of the comments were praises on the taste of their products. @matty_shakes commented, "Your tea is soooo much better than @snapple I'm never buying that garbage again." @dripmaster7 proclaimed, "Pureleaf my love for you is so right but it feels so wrong." A comment left on Gold Peak's, @goldpeak (16.4k followers), Instagram was, user @nicholas_lyons2121 saying, "Post more if you think you're better then @pureleafteas."
With little to no participation on Pure Leaf's end, they seem to have a couple of hurdles they are going to have to jump over to keep fans of theirs satisified. Lack of communication with their consumers could be enough of a deturent to drive them somewhere else. Competitors like Gold Peak or Snapple, while not as good in quality, still make an effort to talk to their followers and be involved with what they are saying. It wouldn't be such a bad idea for Pure Leaf to take a note out of Gold Peak or Snapple's book for once. I find that communication is key in any situation in life. Engaging with consumers makes them feel heard and seen, as well as, faithful to that brand.
If I was in Pure Leaf's shoes I would dedicate time to react to all comments coming in on the social media channels. It's simply not enough anymore to just post photos for their brand. Making an effort to involve themselves with their customers, whether it is responding to good or bad comments, shows the world they are paying attention and that they care. It doesn't matter how many times you respond to the same question, a company has so much power to change how a customer feels just by interacting.
The lesson I learned from this, my fellow reader, is a customer can be made happier knowing they are being listened to. "When customers are happy, they keep their product longer, they spend more money over time, and they share their happiness with others, either in person or on social networks," as stated by David Meerman Scott in his book The New Rules of Marketing & PR. My message to Pure Leaf is, stay engaged, be active and give us more tea!
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