On Sunday night, Reed Hastings, the co-founder and CEO of Netflix, posted this apology letter on the company’s corporate blog. Since the company announced it was separating its streaming video and DVD services and raising prices, customers were both enraged and confused. Netflix’s poor customer communication following the announcement only fueled the fire. Since then,the company’s performance has suffered, and Netflix’s stock price and subscribers have dropped off steadily (as noted in this CNNMoney article).

While the future of Netflix remains uncertain, Hastings’ letter provides some insights on corporate communications in the digital era.

For one, Hastings’ letter illuminates the need for genuine, transparent and straightforward communications. Corporate communications professionals can over think important communiques such as this or muddle the message with corporate-speak. Instead of talking about “solidifying our future,” “accelerating organic growth” or “shoring up our competitive position” (or any number of other overused corporate buzzwords), reconsider the approach.

When Hastings said, “I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation,” it resonated with customers, investors and other key stakeholders more than standard corporate verbiage.  Of course, the message usually isn’t as simple as “I’m sorry.” In fact, outlining what the company is doing to remedy the situation is just as important as acknowledging missteps. For Hastings, it was as simple as, “Here’s what we’re doing and why.”

Secondly, the fact that Hastings delivered this communication through Netflix’s corporate blog is also telling. The vehicle enabled the company to be as conversational as possible and provided a platform for customers, employees, investors and others to comment and provide feedback. To date, there are more than 24,000 comments and more than 32,000 people have “liked” the blog post on their Facebook page. While many customers remain angry and frustrated (understandably so), others applauded Hastings’ letter and supported the new direction of the company. Regardless, their voices are being heard.

Striking the right balance between making CEO communiques conversational and human – yet direct and actionable –  can be a difficult assignment. While Netflix has a long way to go to win back customer  trust and repair its corporate reputation, this letter is a promising step in the right direction.