Let’s get into what exactly happened with Swiggy. Swiggy made the mistake of addressing several of its customers as ‘Suryakant’. This left a lot of Swiggy’s customers really confused. But here’s the main question: was it a genuine error or a marketing ploy? The main form of communication for most organizations and businesses is email. This is how organizations and businesses communicate with their external and internal stakeholders. But if a client is misaddressed, the consequences can be grave. It usually ends in the resignation of the employee who made the blunder.
Details of the ‘Suryakant’ situation
Swiggy is a Bengaluru-based company that delivers food. Swiggy basically sent out emails to its customers referring to all of them as ‘Suryakant’. This left customers wondering whether the customization software of the company had failed or if it was a copywriting error. This situation gained major momentum on Twitter. Even comedians, influencers and other public figures got interested in this ‘Suryakant’ situation.
Dear @swiggy_in
Please give your admin a break.
They deserve it.
Yours truly,
Abshi Mathwe pic.twitter.com/EI4OmiawUs— Abish Mathew (@abishmathew) March 10, 2021
This is refreshing.
Usually I get people calling me Rishab, Vinod or Vishal, Raghu.
Suryakant is brand new.
Thanks @swiggy_in pic.twitter.com/XDdeSzePrW— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) March 10, 2021
The build up to create curiosity
As a response to this ‘Suryakant’ situation, Swiggy created curiosity among online users.
The nation wants to know! #WhoIsSuryakant https://t.co/UhyvJQhm4h
— Swiggy (@Swiggy) March 10, 2021
For Swiggy, marketing via email is a major digital marketing strategy. In 2019, Swiggy’s Mail Open Rate was 25% and the CTR (Click Through Rate) was 7% which is a new record for the brand. But then the question still remains about whether this was a genuine mistake on their end or a marketing ploy.
Marketing ploy or mistake?
Just when people started thinking that this was a genuine error, Swiggy announced that this ‘Suryakant’ situation was basically a marketing ploy.
Dear Preeti, Nancy, Farhan, Arjun, Naushad, Rasika, Simran, Vaishali, Anushka, Akash, Imran, Naina, and everyone else who is not Suryakant. We’re sorry. Here’s what happened: https://t.co/c3r2f0wQbf
— Swiggy (@Swiggy) March 10, 2021
This was their way to launching their new membership program. This membership program was based on the understanding that every customer who had subscribed to Swiggy’s Super Plan was different. Their new Swiggy Super plan would be customized to the unique needs of every foodie because every Swiggy user is different.
To sum it up, this ‘Suryakant’ error was not actually a mistake but a clever marketing tactic adopted by Swiggy to introduce their new customizable Swiggy Super subscription.
