[00:00:00] Mel: Hi, and welcome to Less Chatter, More Matter, a podcast about all things communication without the waffle. I'm your host, Mel Loy and in this show, I will give you short, punchy, practical communication tips and insights you can start using in your communication practices right away. I'm a former corporate communication executive who happily took a redundancy, started my own business, and never looked back.

[00:00:27] Mel: These days, I use my 20 plus years of experience to help guide organisations of all shapes and sizes in how to communicate more effectively. I'm wife to Michael, cat mom to Cookie, auntie to 12 nieces and nephews, a yoga teacher, and a group fitness fanatic. I promise these episodes will always be short, sharp, and helpful, so let's get amongst it.

[00:00:52] Mel: Well, hello there, friend, and welcome back to the show. Goodness me, it has been a week as far as crisis [00:01:00] comms goes. I've been working with some clients on some last minute crisis comms, and let's face it, most crises seem to be last minute. And then if you're in Australia, you might be aware of a few big issues, like with Qantas, the national airline and Star Casinos, whose Annual general meetings of shareholders over the last couple of weeks went off like a frog in a sock.

[00:01:22] Mel: But of course the hot news came in the form of the colossal bin fire that was the national Optus outage last week. So for those of you not in Australia, Optus is the second largest telecoms company, servicing 10 million customers for mobile, phone and internet services. And last week they experienced a national outage that meant all of those customers couldn't use their mobile, their phone, or internet services for 12 hours minimum, basically a whole day.

[00:01:53] Mel: And for some, it has gone on for much longer than that. Now, why am I bringing this up? Well, because it is an [00:02:00] excellent case study of what NOT to do when it comes to crisis communication. So in today's episode, I'm going to talk you through some of the things they did right, a lot of the things they did wrong, and why we all need to be prepared for a crisis and what that can look like.

[00:02:15] Mel: So before we get into that, a bit of background for those of you who may not be aware. Last year, Optus was also the star of the show for another terrible reason. In 2022, they were the victims of a massive hacking attack and a stack of customer data was stolen.

[00:02:32] Mel: And it was an absolute hot mess with , tens of thousands of customers having their personal information stolen and many of them needed to get new driver's licenses, passports, et cetera, et cetera. It cost Optus a lot of customers and a lot of money. So in short, its reputation has taken a huge, huge hit in the last 12 months.

[00:02:52] Mel: Now at that time, Optus was widely criticised for their poor crisis communication, particularly with their customers. [00:03:00] Did they learn from this experience? Well, it would appear not, but let's start at the beginning. So about 4 a. m. Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, the 8th of November, Optus customers started to realise they weren't getting service.

[00:03:16] Mel: And they started sharing this on social media and by the number of comments and posts, it soon became pretty apparent that something big was up. In crisis comms, this is what we call the golden hour. It's literally the hour after a crisis occurs and in that time, you have to act very quickly. So here's where Optus made its first big mistake.

[00:03:36] Mel: They were not the first ones to tell the story and they were not timely in their communication. They didn't confirm an outage until a full two hours later at 6 a. m. And this of course is a massive issue for people who rely on mobile and internet service to run their businesses, get their work done, even just to check in on people who are vulnerable.

[00:03:56] Mel: And it would have been great if they had a bit more notice to sort those things [00:04:00] out, but of course they didn't. So this is where the chaos started. The whole day, there were businesses who rely on internet for online orders, or even for credit card and EFTPOS orders in store, and they just couldn't take them.

[00:04:13] Mel: They had to rely on customers who could pay cash in their stores, because, of course, card payment systems can't connect to the internet, and a lot of small businesses took a massive financial hit. The next big mistake they made was the lack of communication from there on in. Now, you'd think they would have learned from the criticism leveled at them after the cyber attack, but no, here we are.

[00:04:35] Mel: As a case in point, they have an Optus help account on social media platforms. They had one post on their Twitter or X feed in the morning saying they were aware of the issue and apologised, but then the next update wasn't until six hours later, which is just ridiculous. You know, the lesson here is: during the acute phase of a crisis, you have to communicate often, even if you don't have much more [00:05:00] to say. Because imagine being a customer and going to the social media channels or the website looking for an update and seeing nothing new in six hours. By communicating regularly, at least you're able to offer reassurance that you're working on the problem and that you recognise your customers are looking for information.

[00:05:19] Mel: Now, what did work well around this time in terms of messaging was two things. Number one, they took responsibility and apologised. And number two, they shared fairly early that the incident wasn't the result of a cyber attack. So number one, apologising, absolutely essential, even if the hack or outage or whatever is caused by a third party.

[00:05:40] Mel: Nobody cares what caused the crisis. They care how you respond. I'm going to say that again because this is one of the golden rules of crisis comms. Nobody cares what caused the crisis, they care how you respond. So you just have to front up and say sorry. And on the back of last year's major hacking [00:06:00] incident, the question top of mind was, of course, is this outage the result of another attack?

[00:06:05] Mel: So they obviously recognised that would be top... of mind for people and they shared that message pretty quickly that it wasn't a cyber attack. The other thing that worked well for them a bit later in the day, mind you, was the CEO fronted up for some one on one interviews on radio and TV. Now this is a good tactic for a couple of reasons.

[00:06:25] Mel: Number one, it shows accountability. You haven't delegated this part to a lower level manager. I've seen that happen in a crisis, and it failed spectacularly because that person wasn't well briefed, but it also seemed to show the CEO just didn't care, or wasn't opening themselves up to criticism. The second reason why this is good, it's a two way conversation.

[00:06:47] Mel: So the CEO has been questioned live on air. They're not hiding behind a written statement or a pre recorded video. And again, this works for transparency and accountability. Could she have fronted up earlier? Absolutely. But at least she fronted [00:07:00] up. Did she keep showing up? No. Uh, the next day there was very limited, uh, media outside of some more statements.

[00:07:07] Mel: So again, an opportunity that has been missed potentially to try and rebuild trust as quickly as possible in the brand. Now, at the same time that all of this is going on, the customers are of course looking to the Optus website for information. And that is customers who can access the internet, of course.

[00:07:26] Mel: Now, let me tell you that information was sparse at best. There was only one post that was updated throughout the day, and the last update was at 6. 30 in the evening. Now, why is that a problem? Well, firstly, by that time, they'd announced that services had been fully restored, except they hadn't been. And they wouldn't be fully restored for some customers for several days.

[00:07:48] Mel: Secondly, your crisis doesn't finish when your workday finishes. In a crisis, you down tools, you buckle in, and you stay in for the whole ride. People work at different [00:08:00] times of the day. And when it's apparent the issue hasn't been resolved, then Optus absolutely should have kept the updates coming through throughout the evening, even the early morning if need be.

[00:08:10] Mel: It just once again goes to show a real lack of care towards their customers and a lack of putting the audience at the centre of their communication. The other issue with their online info was that it wasn't even attempting to answer the questions and concerns customers would have. It was the perfect place to put up some FAQs, things like, Is this a cyber attack? How long will it take for services to be restored? Will there be compensation for my business losses? Et cetera, et cetera.

[00:08:37] Mel: And even if you don't have all the answers yet, you can be addressing the questions to the best of your ability. As it was, it was just basic, basic, one paragraph of information that offered no reassurance, and as I said, was not updated.

[00:08:51] Mel: So the lesson here is... Get ahead, put yourself in the shoes of your audience, and anticipate the questions they're going to ask. It shows you [00:09:00] care, and it shows that you are on top of things. Also, another lesson here from the Mel Loy Crisis Comms Playbook. In a crisis, you should have one source of truth, of information, that your comms will point to.

[00:09:14] Mel: Usually, it's a page on your website or intranet that's continuously updated. So what this does, it limits the risk of missing something or making a mistake when you're sharing information through all those other channels. And it means you only have to do one detailed update in one place at one time.

[00:09:33] Mel: Another massive issue they faced was that customers couldn't dial 000. So, particularly for those customers who use landlines. Now, for those of you not in Australia, 000 is our equivalent of, say, 911. Many older people still have landlines in their homes and rely upon those. So if they are not able to dial emergency services, that is a huge issue.

[00:09:57] Mel: The workaround Optus offered was half assed at [00:10:00] best. They told customers they could find a friend or a family member and ask to use their device if they needed to call 000. Okay, Optus, let's imagine you're an elderly person like my grandfather was, who lived alone, had a fall, and the only thing in reach was their landline.

[00:10:15] Mel: Exactly how is that meant to work? Instead, they could have at least said that restoring triple O services was their top priority, and encouraging people to check on their friends and families and neighbours. Now, another top tip during a crisis is to pause all other scheduled communication, whether that's on your socials, emails, TV, commercials, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:10:38] Mel: The reason being, and unfortunately I have seen this happen. Sometimes the pre scheduled content goes out and it's extremely insensitive to the current situation. Optus clearly didn't think through this completely. Once their service was restored and people started getting emails again, for some customers, the first email that came through from Optus was their [00:11:00] bill.

[00:11:00] Mel: You actually can't make that stuff up. Imagine being without service for 12 hours, unable to run your business, and the first email that comes through is a bill for said service. Surely there could have been a pause put on those automated processes at least for 24 hours. And again, it just shows a lack of care and a lack of putting the audience first.

[00:11:22] Mel: The final mistake I want to highlight is a big lesson, and that is not letting the right stakeholders know at the right time. Now, later in the day, on the day of all of this happening, the Federal Minister for Communications was interviewed on radio, and she said she hadn't heard from the Optus CEO.

[00:11:40] Mel: That's a very public criticism, and rightly so, as the National Telco, or a National Telco. You'd think one of the CEO's first calls would have been to the minister that regulates your industry, and that you work with fairly often on a huge number of matters. So not only did the minister say they didn't get the call, they then also outed [00:12:00] the CEO on live national television or radio rather.

[00:12:03] Mel: And that is a situation that could have been completely avoided if the CEO followed a crisis comms plan outlining who contacted key stakeholders and when during this type of crisis. Okay, so we've covered the acute phase of the crisis cycle. Let's move on to recovery. Now, it's only been just over a week, so the mop up is continuing and will for some time.

[00:12:25] Mel: And this is the thing about crisis comms, right? There's often a very long tail to it, and that needs to be resourced to help restore trust in a brand. So what has Optus done so far? Well, at the time of recording this episode, they had made an offer to provide additional data to eligible customers rather than a refund.

[00:12:44] Mel: Which, of course, is pretty poor compensation for people who lost a day of sales in their small businesses. And not only that, they have not made it easy. Yes, it's 200 gigabytes, but it's for customers who are on plans. They had to log onto their Optus account by a certain [00:13:00] date to apply for it. And they've only got until the end of the year to activate it, blah, blah, blah. Essentially. So essentially they're not just going to apply a blanket extra 200 gigabytes of data for customers automatically.

[00:13:11] Mel: They making them work for it, which is ridiculous. And then for prepaid customers, I think they're getting free service on weekends until the end of the year, which essentially is only like 10, eight days of free service or something like that. So not a great response. Certainly not one that demonstrates that they've listened to their customers.

[00:13:31] Mel: And then to top it all off, their corporate affairs team is going to be busy for some time. A Senate inquiry has been announced into the outage and the Australian Communications and Media Authority, they're the regulator, has also commenced an assessment to investigate Optus's compliance with the rules on emergency calls.

[00:13:50] Mel: So there is still a long way to go and it will be quite interesting to see how this pans out. Now, in the meantime, let's do a quick recap of the key best [00:14:00] practices of crisis comms that Optus could have followed.

[00:14:03] Mel: Number one, get in quick, be the first to tell the story. Even if you don't have all the facts yet; it helps you control the narrative and it shows you're on top of things.

[00:14:13] Mel: Number two, communicate frequently, especially during the acute phase of a crisis. Even if you have nothing new to say, people will still be searching for assurances and updates. So a simple statement like, we're still investigating the cause. And on that, you know, give a peek behind the curtains. Let people know how you're investigating the cause.

[00:14:34] Mel: You know, maybe there's a whole checklist that you work through and you're working with this particular engineers and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You don't have to go into too much detail, but give a sense of the work that goes on behind it.

[00:14:46] Mel: Number three, while we're talking about communicating frequently, don't assume your crisis ends when business hours end. You need to keep people updated, especially if things haven't resolved as you thought they would.

[00:14:59] Mel: [00:15:00] Number four, one source of truth. Usually a webpage and use it to respond to the questions your audience is likely to ask. Provide links to further information or support where needed on that site, but have it there and keep it updated.

[00:15:14] Mel: Number five, let the right stakeholders know at the right time. In crisis planning, you should have mapped out exactly who those stakeholders are and who is responsible for contacting them within specific timeframes.

[00:15:28] Mel: Number six, pause all other comms in the pipeline. That means the scheduled social media posts, emails, et cetera, et cetera. What you have pre scheduled could be insensitive to the situation. So just pause it all, be on the safe side.

[00:15:41] Mel: Most importantly, number seven, show you care. Apologise quickly, take responsibility, show you've listened to your customers and respond accordingly. But by far the biggest lesson out of all of this is that it pays to be prepared.

[00:15:57] Mel: And that means investing the [00:16:00] time and the resources in creating your crisis comms plan, ensuring it's up to date and testing it out to make sure it works and to ensure that everyone knows their roles and responsibilities. So if that plan is activated, people know what they need to do.

[00:16:15] Mel: The other piece of this is the ongoing relationship building and relationship fostering that you need to do in corporate roles. And having those great stakeholder relationships really helps you weather these storms when they happen. So it pays to put the time into those as well, just every day.

[00:16:32] Mel: Now, if you do not have a crisis comms plan or you do not know where to start, fear not my friend. This year I trialed running my crisis comms training as a boot camp style. So it was virtual and we met once a day for one hour a day for five days and plus extra Q& A time all through Zoom. And throughout the course, I took everyone through the whole crisis comms process, used loads of case studies, and I provided all the templates that the team needed to get started. And that pilot worked [00:17:00] really well, got some great feedback.

[00:17:01] Mel: So if this sounds like something you or your team would be interested in, I have great news. Next year, I'll be hosting these crisis comms boot camps again throughout the year, and you can book in now. So I've got them open already. And also, if you book by the end of November, you will be able to take advantage of our birthday discount, so 30 percent off.

[00:17:21] Mel: And as long as you do those courses before the end of May 2024, and as long as you book them in by the end of this month. Now, I'll pop the link in the show notes, so if you do want to invest the time in getting ahead on your crisis planning, and being in the best possible position to respond when a crisis does happen, I got you covered.

[00:17:40] Mel: Okay, that's all for this week. I hope you found this case study episode interesting, and as always, I'm happy to get your feedback or answer any questions, so please get in touch. I'll be back next week with another fresh episode. In the meantime, keep doing amazing things. Bye for now.