Experience Planner

NPR’s Talk of the Nation recently did an interview w/Emily Yellin, the appropriately named author of “Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us,” a book about customer service.

The interview was very interesting … partly because of some of the work I’m doing right now. I’m preparing a business case and strategy for my clients who are interested in participating in social media, particularly that high-octane buzzword: Twitter.

The team has recommended Twitter b/c it is a very unique and very direct way for the company to interact with consumers. The best examples are @Zappos and @ComcastCares. These are my go-to examples b/c they put a face to the brand and humanize the relationship. They also take advantage of that desire to be in-the-know that early adopters tend to have. And, best of all, it’s fast and CS requires speed and freedom to respond. You may not know this, but depending on the workflow and requirements … it can take a good long while to put together a site. But, Twitter? I can drop a tweet in 2 seconds.

At any rate, during the interview, Ms Yellin mentioned that “customer service is the new marketing.” (She and the interviewer were talking about all the sharing/reviewing that is going on online with customers.)

I think that is very powerful b/c, to be honest, I do not believe that customer service is the new marketing. Great service has long been an important key to success. My personal belief is that you shouldn’t be in biz, if you can’t support the product/service usage by the customer in a civilized manner. (Which sounds really doofy and old fashioned … like it might smell like old books.)

However, digital communications platforms have not been around forever. And I do believe that they are changing the CS game.

Proactivity Rules
Take Comcast. Being a CSR at a cable company has to be rough–but they’re doing a good job chasing down complaints and irates. In addition to the Twittering, the co. also has a team that scours the internet (or at least has a Google alert set up) for any mention of Comcast. And, the resulting stories of Comcast’s customer svc are epic … nearly heroic. They’re EXTREMELY proactive–they’re going where the consumers are.

Facilitating Discussion and Listening to It
Brands/companies, in addition to participating in a dialogue with individual consumers, should also seek to facilitate consumer2consumer discussions. Sometimes, a brand doesn’t have to be talking to communicate. Listening is a key component of customer service. So, if you start a Facebook page, you should definitely tend to it and review the discussions going on.

Transparency, Honesty, Authenticity
Whatever you want to call it, social media and customer service require a firm commitment to honesty and accountability. I’m surprised too, but people take what you do and say seriously. If you hire a freelancer to write charming tweets for you, but position it as a charming, real person who really works at Brand X … someone is going to find out and say you’re a fraud.

Nothing Is Deleted
Just a little reminder: Whatever you say and do online, stays online forever and ever and ever. Nothing is ever deleted

[Note: I've not blogged in so long that I think I have a case a blogarrhea ... the next post will be more sensible.]