Peloton Tweeted Real-Time Updates About A Service Outage. It’s Almost Enough To Make You Forget About That Weird Peloton Wife Commercial

The way a company responds to problems is just as important as the way it does marketing.

Case in point: A recent service outage for Peloton owners.

Owners of the popular exercise bike and treadmill, and users of the standalone app, were not able to access the live feeds or the on-demand classes.

Peloton was upfront about it and responded quickly on social media.

It almost makes up for the Peloton wife commercial.

Over the last few weeks, the fitness company came under fire for a ridiculous ad that showed a nervous wife receiving a stationary bike from her husband. 

When the commercial aired on television, all you could hear was the sound of crickets and the soft whir of a spin cycle. On YouTube, there was a similar reaction. Silence.

Yet, when the ad posted on the official Peloton feed on Twitter, social media users erupted in outrage. And rightfully so — the ad seemed sexist to me. I happen to agree with the commenters because of how the wife seems nervous and worried about what her husband thinks. Here is the ad:

In comparison, when the Peloton service went dark for a while, the company not only posted a message about the interruption on social media but they commented on what everyone else was saying and seemed to be making amends.

Several “official” (and individualized) tweets suggested that the user restart the machine to solve the problem. PR crisis averted, right? To me, it’s an example of how a company can do real-time support on social in a way that is not possible elsewhere.

For one thing, it’s all easily accessible — to everyone and from the apps we already use. You don’t have to find the support site and dig through comments. You can see the official notice, make a comment, and expect to hear back. You can read what others are saying in a public forum you are already using.

Abinash Tripathy is the founder and CSO of a company called Helpshift, and I asked him about how this is a good example of real-time support. He said there is an expectation with consumers today (as part of our always on, always available culture) that a service like Peloton will be always on. It’s not that customers are angry or entitled; quite honestly, these services are almost always on anyway so it is more about the expectations of service. He said the key is to be as proactive as possible, which is why social media posts are so valuable.

“Real-time” help is often a challenge, though. It requires a highly dedicated staff. When I have asked support questions on Twitter, I usually receive a response quickly but not exactly in real-time.

Yet, the problem someone is experiencing is right now. To them, it can’t wait.

Can this new episode overshadow the advertisement and how it became such a major talking point over the holidays? Maybe not. Will a long-term strategy of assisting customers and responding to their needs over time eventually make us all forget about the commercial? Definitely. In fact, I think many of us already have.

Outrage happens. So do outages. 

How a company responds to the crisis? That makes all of the difference.