Bernaisesource

My wake up call came last year.  Do you remember the private exchange made very public between former AOL customer Vicent Ferrari and a soon-to-be-fired AOL rep?  Calls between customers and company call center representatives can be amplified loudly in the blogosphere. It made me realize how new media had put immense power in the customer’s hand.  It also made me realize that companies could use that same social media to redefine and improve the customer call center experience.

Communications is fundamentally changing.  People want control of their user experience.  Think Tivo.  Tivo frees viewers from watching a program on television with commercials at a set time.  Similarly, there is no reason why customers need to always rely on a service rep in a set way in real time.  (For account and billing questions, calling customer service is appropriate and recommended.)  Why can’t customer service be asynchronous, transparent, unfiltered, rely on multiple sources of information and allow employees and customers to answer questions?

Several companies have begun looking at new media to better support customers.  Intuit has been particularly successful.   DirecTV is another. There is even a new company Satisfaction that helps companies or their customers set up Satisfaction pages where they can ask and answer questions.

In that same spirit, EarthLink is planning a service that lets customers use an alternative channel to get answers to questions relating to the Internet, computers, software, products, and service.  We are hoping to create a community where employees answer questions, and customers help each other.  It will be an interesting dynamic.  Most communities are designed to bring people together keep, facilitate engagement and forge lasting relationships. 

Generally, customer support is for people with problems.  Resolutions should be quick and easy.  Customers with multiple visits are not the ideal.  However, online support forums and networks are an ideal way for customers to optimize their experience.  It also creates an outlet for customers who enjoy problem solving and helping others. 

This effort is not about defraying costs; (it may).  It is not about putting the onus on our customers.  It is recognition that social media allows companies and customers to use the Internet to best meet their needs.  It is also a way to assemble a body of practical knowledge that may not be possible from call center reps alone.

As with any social network, there will need to be rules of engagement.  Censorship and failure to acknowledge mistakes are recipes for criticism and ultimately irrelevance. 

Creating such an online customer community is not without risks.  Will employees participate?   Will customers use it?  How will they use it?  What kinds of questions will they ask?  Will it become a forum for customers to complain about our service?   Will all questions be answered?  Is it worth the investment?   Will it solve problems or create new ones?   

Clearly, difficult questions, and we don’t yet have the answers.  If successful, we will have created an employee platform for greater customer engagement.  We will have created a community. Most importantly, we will have improved the customer experience. 

Why Corporate Communications?

Traditionally corporate communication has focused on media relations.  In the past, we have also coordinated with customer service to make sure reps had FAQs on important announcements. 

But helping create online communities and advising customer support on the use of new media are terrific opportunities for corporate communications to extend its influence.  As the AOL experience demonstrated, new media is drawing (or perhaps propelling) customer support directly into the realm of public communications.  How we speak to a customer is subject to the same public scrutiny that once only existed when speaking to a reporter.  For better or worse, customer support reps are all public spokespersons and therefore it behooves corporate communications to use their expertise to update the customer support communications process.

Technorati Tags: Customer Support; Call Centers; Social Networks; Tivo; DirecTV; Intuit; Satisfaction; EarthLink; PR;

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