Six Steps to Writing a Notification of a Product Recall

Michael Roennevig reports:
 
“Failure to act quickly if a product your company sells is found to be faulty or dangerous could turn into a legal and public relations nightmare. As soon as you're alerted to a problem with one of the products your business sells, you'll need to move swiftly to make sure your customers…are informed about the issue and know how to return any offending items. One of your first steps will be to write a product recall notice…Gather your management team together when you receive information that one of your products might be faulty or dangerous. Establish which product or products are affected, and whether the problem is isolated to a single batch of goods…Contact the regulatory authority that governs your industry. It might have specific product recall procedures. It also might want to issue a joint notice with your company…Draft a press release with ‘URGENT: [PRODUCT NAME] RECALL’ written at the top of the page along with the date. Include a detailed description of the product and any product codes or serial numbers that appear on the item itself or its packaging. Write a description of the problem. Warn customers not to use the product and retailers not to sell it. Explain how customers or retailers can go about returning the product for a full refund. Include a reproduction of the product's label and a picture of the item itself. Add a telephone number and email and postal addresses where customers can contact your firm about the recall notice…Send the press release to news wire services for distribution to media outlets and post it on your website. If you have a database of email and postal addresses of customers that bought the affected product, send them a version of your press release in the form of a letter or an email. If you've supplied the affected product to retailers or wholesalers, send them a copy of your recall notice and contact them by phone to arrange returns…Produce large posters containing the same information you put in your press release to display in your stores if you also have a retail operation…Design a print media advert containing your recall notice. Put it on your website. Buy media space in local or national newspapers or magazines to display it. You might also want to consider hiring a public relations agency that specializes in crisis management.”