I was in an endless loop of telephone branching logic last week, uncertain whether to Press 2 for this, 3 for that, 4 or 5 or…. Then I forgot what Press 2 was for and got into another branch of logic and dead ends. I finally did what I often do: I tried #0, then *0 – and got a live person who tried to connect me with the proper department. She couldn’t explain what my correct choice should have been, but did transfer me and wait until the call was picked up.
This got me to thinking about the same company’s web presence and “Social Media” efforts. They are spending a lot of time, and tying up a lot of resources, setting up communities. Communities are all the rage. One simply must set one up! Listen to the voice of the customer! For most companies it is more about following the crowd, and the crowd wants you to know that you can natter away 24/7 on their site.
Meanwhile, in the voice response, and call distribution, and email response part of the customer service experience, organizations are unable to provide that experience of immediacy. Wait, search, try, fail, repeat, try, fail, repeat.
How long before your customers catch on that your social networking effort is bogus? Until they figure out that weaknesses in your customer service experience point to your true colors?
Here is a great exercise for your social networking / community sites: have someone suggest that they set up a map of your phone system so frustrated customers can navigate your phone system. Think about it: why enlist highly-paid personnel, or use sophisticated software to unravel the roots of your telephone routing issues when you can use the power of the community to map your system, rate the system, comment on what, exactly, is wrong from their perspective, and then rate you for your efforts? The fact is, when you enlist them in the effort, you acknowledge that it is not simple and you empower them to make a difference. And you can rate your effort from your customers’ eyes.
Social networks can have some real power even without solving a problem: the act of opening up to customers and acknowledging areas of challenge is important. Sometimes the best way to earn trust is to show your flaws.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Bill Odell // Sep 29, 2009 at 9:33 am
Great post Michael. Those of us in the social CRM space often forget the demographic that is simply comfortable with using the phone and talking to a live person. Unfortunately the endless efforts of the contact center to use IVR routing schemes does little to add value to customers seeking help. In fact it seems as though this approach primarily serves the vendors. I like the idea of posting IVR routing information in a customer service community.
This approach simply recognizes that if the community can’t provide a solution, then there is a way to reach the vendoro for help. In the Helpstream solution we allow customers to open a case directly with the vendor through our community for exactly this reason. Adding the IVR information would be easy and give another access point to help.
2 Esteban Kolsky // Sep 29, 2009 at 12:42 pm
This is what I miss the most about Gartner – being able to say truisms like that and be recognized for it, as opposed to being told I am antagonistic.
great post, and great point – and one that most people don’t focus on. just looking a the new and shiny does not make problems go away. nicely said.
3 Rob Hilsen // Sep 29, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Thank you, Esteban, for using your presence on Twitter to alert me (and all of your “followers”) to this article and for reminding me Michael’s blog is a “must read” site for the customer-centric Web strategies set (if only Michael was on Twitter too*).
I remember a keynote presentation not too long ago when Michael recounted a story about leaving his daughter a voice message only to have his daughter say, “Dad, please…voice mail?”, the implication being no one of a certain age used voice mail anymore; she preferred other, more suitable communications channels (such as texting), as ways of keeping in contact with her friends and family and with the places she shopped.
Enthusiasm for the acquisition and use of new technologies is understandable and it stands to reason companies will make efforts to be where their customers and prospects are: telephone channels and on-line channels.
Michael’s case of one company’s enthusiastic embrace of social media is not about a company picking the wrong channel to support (or, as Bill Odell comments, “the endless efforts of the contact center to use IVR routing schemes do(ing) little to add value to customers seeking help”); it’s about earning customer trust and good way of doing this is by ensuring companies adequately support (all of) the communications channels they use with their customers. I do agree with Bill there are some pretty good applications (and some pretty bright people) available to help companies do just that.
*I wonder what Michael’s daughter would say about her father not being on Twitter.
4 Haim Toeg // Sep 30, 2009 at 12:56 am
Michael – thanks for an interesting post. There are two themes we can pick on from your post, first, many IVRs are designed explicitly to allow only the most stubborn customers penetrate its maze of endless options. Second, seems like Social CRM, or whatever else companies may call it, is the new magic pill, we just establish a group on linkedin, or facebook, tweet a few times and we’ll not have to worry about all those channels like phone, e-mails and such. In reality, going social will more likely than not expose and amplify the weaknesses in the service organization.
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