Lessons from the launch of Karma Go

Karma Mobility started accepting pre-orders for the Karma Go mobile wifi device on September 23, 2014. They promised delivery that Christmas. I was one of the first to buy, having already been a customer for two years.

In November, Karma revealed that a Christmas launch wouldn’t be achievable. Egotistically, they sent marketing coasters as a ‘gift’ to customers who had purchased the devices as Christmas presents.

Then they said it would ship April 10, 2014. Sadly that didn’t happen either.

Karma Go finally started shipping on July, 17 2015. Cause for celebration, except…

Karma say they are shipping a ‘few hundred’ a day and that everyone will receive their device with 45 days. Later tweets have suggested that a ‘few hundred’ actually translates to 100 devices right now.

Unsurprisingly, a number of people aren’t satisfied with ‘anytime in the next 45 days’. After waiting up to ten months for the device, they want to know when it will arrive. Unfortunately Karma isn’t sharing, largely ignoring or deflecting tweeted requests for more detailed information. So much so, that users have created their own spreadsheet in order to try and estimate when devices might be shipped. Karma has described this well-meant endevour as ‘inaccurate and misleading to customers’.

To add insult to injury, Karma has despatched some devices by next-day delivery and others by standard five-day delivery, adding to the perception that Karma isn’t handling the launch in a fair manner.

Karma may have a good product, but they’ve upset previously-loyal customers by failing to put customer needs first. So, some lessons:

• Announce a release date only if you’re absolutely sure you can meet it.
• If the launch date is subject to risk, ensure that customers are aware.
• If you need to stage the rollout, ensure every customer knows this and inform them where they stand within it. “You’ll get it some time in the next 45 days” is not good enough. “Given when you placed your order, we expect to send yours out in two weeks at the latest according to our current plan.” is much better.
• If customers create something intended to help other customers, treat it as a gift and make use of it. Alternatively, answer the underlying need. (In this case, tell customers when their device should arrive.)
• Treat all customers equally. (If you offer next-day delivery to some, offer it to all.)
• Answer questions via social media directly and honestly. Don’t ignore or half-answer. That’s just frustrating.
• Be consistent with your answers on social media. Don’t say ‘at least 100’ via twitter, and ‘500 a day’ via medium. They mean different things.
• Above all, be transparent. Treat your customers as friends, not pawns. Respect their loyalty.

Update: Karma co-founder Steven van Wel has been kind enough to comment on this article and via twitter. His responses suggest that Karma is promising delivery only within a certain number of days as they got burned previously by promising specific launch dates and then failing to meet them. I don’t think that’s a valid concern. The context is different now. The product is clearly being shipped, and if the company presents a despatch date as an estimate, customers will accept it as such.

Update 2: Complaints about Karma’s continued vagueness over despatch dates continue on twitter and elsewhere.