Hearts & Minds: How to tell your customers it’s safe to go back into the water

In Jaws, the mayor of Amity Island describes the shark as a ‘large predator that supposedly injured some bathers’ and declares the beaches ‘open for business’. The movie poster should be hanging above comms desks as a reminder of how not to handle a crisis.

There is always the dilemma after a disaster as to when to declare it safe to return. Especially difficult is the cyber-attack. The enemy, and therefore the danger, is unseen – customers have no idea if they resume shopping online their data is protected. They trust the company to tell them it is.

But how to reassure without scaring them away? That was the issue facing M&S as it overcame the recent ransomware hack. The retailer was losing tens of millions per week in lost sales and was under pressure to restart. During the six weeks hiatus it supplied updates, one of which was to inform customers that some personal details, including names, addresses, dates of birth and order histories had been taken. There was no cause for alarm but to provide extra reassurance, shoppers should change their passwords.

M&S handled the episode well. It did not say too much, was not flippant and came across as resolute and calm. They were working flat out to fix it. That one bulletin, which had to be made, did provoke consternation.

So, when the IT experts finally gave the green light, the chain chose to keep it simple, posting a message on the company website that customers ‘can now place online orders with standard delivery to England, Scotland and Wales’. The issue now is that not all the stock is available and it will be a while before everything is completely back to normal, but that is minor, compared with a complete shutdown.

Sticking to the facts works, provided they are the facts. If that seems trite, consider it this way: there is only one approach to be followed and that is total honesty. Anything less will backfire. The slightest hint of obfuscation, cover-up, dissembling will rebound and be far worse than the original incident.

The job of the comms advisors is to hold up a mirror, to show how the company will be seen, what will be the consequences, intended and unintended. What they say may not always sit easily as the financial demands increase. They must never forget the mayor in Jaws.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.