I understand that social media is the hot new kid in town, with hundreds of blog posts per day, emerging stars like Gary Vaynerchuk, and Webinars and conferences springing up like wildflowers after a Spring rain.
Hell, I make my living as a social media consultant and trainer, so I’m certainly contributing to the boom.
But, let’s not forget that social media does not – and cannot – exist in a vacuum. It’s not as if your brand can overcome a litany of other deficiencies just because you’re engaging customers on Twitter, or blogging every day.
If your product or service is inadequate, social media won’t fix that, it will highlight it. And more importantly, if the way you treat your customers within the social media sphere is inherently different than how you treat them elsewhere, you’re playing with fire.
@GreatDivide
That’s one of the concerns I have with some of the brands that are using Twitter well. Comcast, for example. Frank Eliason and his team have doubtlessly helped thousands of customers in a very real and tangible way through their @comcastcares Twitter-based customer service program. People that have interacted with Frank and Co in that channel invariably rave. But, does the customer experience elsewhere meet the same standard? Do customers that access Comcast customer service via phone or email also rave?
(I’m not a Comcast customer, so that’s a semi-rhetorical question. If you have some insights, please comment)
Are we inadvertently creating a Customer Chasm, where those who are socially media active are receiving preferential treatment compared to those who are not? And not just in customer service, but in customer acquisition too?
Papa John’s gives discounts for online pizza ordering to their Facebook friends. The aforementioned Gary Vaynerchuk sends out periodic free wine shipping offers via Twitter. I’m working on a project where a company would provide priority appointment setting opportunities to friends and followers.
Is that great marketing and killer customer service, or is it unfair?
Are we disproportionately rewarding customers just because they are using the newest technology? Are customers that interact with companies by telephone and email not cool enough to matter?
I think there’s three possible approaches:
1. Equality: We should be treating all customers equally and ensuring a consistent experience with the brand
2. Segmentation: We are purposefully providing social media active customers a different experience, one that’s optimized for their preferred method of brand engagement, the same way that some mobile phone customers get their bills via, and some get them via postal mail
3. Relationship Value: We are intentionally providing customers using social media an enhanced experience. By doing so we will create profitable relationships that generate a higher lifetime customer value than would be generated by customers not using social media
Which of those is the best justification for creating a social media divide among your customers?
(photo by mio_please)
What is wrong with rewarding customers who are engaging is a process that is possibly more efficient and cost effective? But more importantly with customers who through their participation in social media are automatically promoting the brand and possibly providing content. When I complement someone on the phone they – that is where it stops. When I send that complement on Facebook or Twitter – hundreds or thousands see it. – That is worth “preferential” treatment.
That is not new – companies have provided “reward” programs to their most valued customers – even in the “old” days.
Jason,
Excellent post and questions. The facts are that 81% of all consumers use either the telephone or store visits for customer service, leaving a small percentage of consumers using all other avenues. (A post of what that means follows soon at the Fix.) The other fact remains that people choose products and services, when possible, based on customer experience, as consumers believe that products and services of similar kind are the same.
Therefore, the only way to differentiate a business is through the customer experience it creates. Comcast is a great example: I recently switched all my services from a popular brand to Comcast. Why? When I called the Sales Department, I was treated like a VIP, and the sales person quickly understood what I wanted, and she created a package that exceeded my expectations.
In my experience, culture has more to do with customer service than do the media we use to provide that service. In most cases, I suspect, if service is outstanding in new media, it is equally good throught the company.
Jason, good discussion today.
Most companies don’t know who their most valuable customers are. They haven’t spent the time to implement a comprehensive data management program and build an analytical infrastructure that could give them this valuable information. As such, it would be a mistake to assume that a company’s most valuable customers are those using social media tools to interact with each other and business entities. This could be the case, but ultimately most companies simply don’t know.
In a sense, I think it almost the same technique used by shops that charge more for people that use credit cards- becasue it costs the shop more to process their order. Why not reward customers that use online contact points. Its cheaper and more efficient to cater for them. Its also interactive and fun. Not all customers are equal and good behaviour should be rewarded.
Thanks for the post
Very provocative, Jason. I think on “relationship” grounds we can justify the preferential treatment because the word-of-mouth value in social media is likely to be enormous. However, if the preferential treatment becomes known and resented by other customers, we have to be ready to serve them in ways that will endear them to us as well. It’s likely that they have distinct needs we can meet in other ways. Key is to identify what they want and satisfy them.
For years now, newspaper subscribers have enjoyed better coupons and discounts than those who don’t subscribe to the print edition. At least most social media sites are free to use. I don’t think it’s a problem at all.
I’m glad you raised this issue and I think it gets at the deeper issue of being able to leverage social media tools to better serve ALL. Diversifying the tools used to provide quality customer service across the board is one way to do this.
If companies want to reach a wider market, they *should* promote offers and services through more than just one social media platform – for example, Hispanics in the U.S. are using mobile technology way more than other populations and are probably easier to reach that way than through Facebook.
What we really should be asking is how we want to treat our customers overall. What is the customer strategy? Most companies don’t have one, so they use whatever is easiest and cheapest (read: most convenient for them) to interact with customers. Treating different customers differently is a great strategy, and one which we used with our clients when I worked for Peppers and Rogers Group (1 to 1 Marketing approach).
I applaud the customer interaction opportunities that social media brings to an organization. However, as I have said both in my blog and to my social media students, it is only one channel of interaction. Encouraging and rewarding customers to use a channel that is more cost efficient is a fine strategy – if that is indeed the strategy. If we are interacting with customers via social media just because it is the new, cool, hip thing to do, what will happen when something else comes along? Will we continue to keep up the social media interactions?
The real question to ask is where our customers want to interact with us. Listen, then use those channels to reward them for their business and for referrals. Thank them for being a part of your organization. Intentionally create a rockin’ customer experience. When we do this, whether those interactions were by phone, mail, or online, the word of mouth will spread!
I’ve been noticing a patten in general where consumers simply will rail on a company online at the first sign of trouble.
It’s because they know that on the Web (through social media, preferably), they are able to be heard and cause a lot of noise for marketing folk at the company.
Gone are the days of rallying support from your local television or print media. Gone are the days of sending certified letters to attorney generals for service issues.
Consumers (rightfully) have the upper hand in their experience and are apt to share their experience with others.
Personally, I’ve found more instances of customers completely bypassing the customer service department just to get help. I’ve implemented processes to give help and support to customers that need it equally online and encourage all customers to provide feedback to us so we can improve.
Overall, I’ve seen another trend where people are becoming empowered to leverage self-service more frequently. This is good, because if better content is published that empowers customers, support costs can be streamlined to focus on improving the delivery of service.
Great post! These are topics that any social media curator, consumer advocate and customer service manager should be talking about.
~Joseph
Social media is an excellent laboratory for your customer service efforts. These technology platforms move fast and let you experiment. The key is to take your discoveries, both good and bad, and apply them to your other efforts.
@Rick – I agree that reward programs aren’t new. But creating different levels of customer service based on platform, not purchase history is new. I’m a Marriott Elite member because I stay in tons of Marriotts, not because I’m their Facebook friend.
@Lewis – Thanks very much. Always good to see you here. Glad to hear that Comcast is employing similarly grand customer service in the real world.
@Paul – No question you are right. Even now, decades after the concept was devised, almost no companies have a handle on lifetime customer value and how to calculate it. Instead, they just keep plugging away on unprofitable customers.
@Mara – Very interesting analogy. I hadn’t thought of it like that, but I believe it’s legit. Banks charge fees for going into the branch sometimes. Maybe it’s just more efficient to do customer service, etc. via social media, and thus worth the reward to the consumer. Thanks for that. Great thinking!
@Roy – Thank you. That’s really my premise. Sure, you can justify over delivering in social media for now. But do the customers that aren’t in social media create a backlash? We’ll see.
@Jessica – Good analogy on newspapers with subscribers. Thanks.
@Ana – Good point. Maybe the idea is to purposefully kill social media customers with kindness so that more customers will want to interact in that fashion. Assuming social media is indeed more cost effective for the company, it’s a solid strategy.
@Becky – Thank you for the thoughtful comment, I’d expect nothing less. Thanks also for the RT earlier today. I agree. If it’s a strategy, bravo. If it’s a fishing expedition, it scares me.
@Joseph – Howdy, big guy. You hit it right on the head. Customers aren’t dumb. They are figuring out that if they interact in social media with the company, they magically get better and faster service. If that becomes the norm, the financial and efficiency benefits discussed above may evaporate, and it erodes the whole model.
Excellent post!! Twitter is like a breath of fresh air on the Social Media scene. I have been on it for just a few weeks now and I have met several interesting people. It is a platform to network with people you would like to meet in real life. Check me out!!
http://twitter.com/spryka
Should we teach kids using books, visual aids, or speeches?
Should we be reaching customers via print, TV, radio or web?
This isn’t multiple choice; the answer is “yes.”
Your most valuable customers are the ones who pay promptly and (as a secondary concern) drive additional business to you. And all of them find their own way into your store. Worry less about how they’re getting there and worry more about making sure they enjoy themselves and want to come back (and, maybe, bring a friend).
One key is what is your/your company’s motivation? Is it to offer your customers something they are asking for? Is it to try supporting them in a new way in hopes that it meets their needs better? Or is it because it meets *your* needs better?
Like the banks and utilities that keep trying to get you to sign up for “Auto Pay” and paperless billing–if you want it, fine, but that’s not why they are pushing it, is it? Customers see right through brands’ attempts to make what is in the company’s interest appear to be in their customers’ interest. If it is, then fine–win, win. But if I smell a rat, I trust your brand less–way less.
I think that’s the key take away for companies engaging in social media generally–be real and it can boost your brand. But act untrustworthy and your brand’s reputation can crash faster than ever before. RyanAir? TurboTax?
It’s interesting that cable was the example here. Turns out 75% of cable sign-ups/ acquisition are, in this day and age, still completed AT A CALL CENTER (which should make them “cool enough to matter” to use your words
Social media is nice and all, but a critical step in any marketing strategy is to align your investments with customer behavior. Seems to me that customer data management and call-rep scripting ought to be higher on Comcast’s punch list than its social media efforts, relatively speaking.
@Justin – That’s just the point. I worry about customers enjoying themselves via social media, and the expense of the customers that aren’t engaged in those communities.
@Jay – Bingo. Motivation is a huge factor. I believe the folks I cited are motivated by trying to help their customers and also growing their brands. But, it’s in that order.
@Kevin – I agree. I’d hope Comcast is delivering the same quality service on the phone as they are on Twitter. Otherwise, the social media divide I fear will become all too real. However, I don’t agree that they necessarily should be emphasizing call center performance OVER social media customer service. Simply because every time they do it right on Twitter, thousands of people see it. Every time they handle a phone call right, one person hears it. The potential impact on the brand via great customer service delivered publicly is incalculable.
Jason,
Had a great divide experience recently… Have experienced & witnessed engagement and thoughtfulness and insight from Ford on Twitter, @ScottMonty in particular. Went to test drive a Ford Flex and actually left two dealer lots because of no service. Was a rainy, cold day and no one would exit the building to cone show us a car. I was tweeting this… At third dealership help did appear. Took a phone call from me to dealer, placed while standing on their car lot, asking them to send out a salesperson.
Point is not to rant, it’s that my expectations were higher because of my social media interaction… So my disappointment was deeper in the experience. Must deliver on the promise if you’re engaging via social media… Has to translate to real world execution.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with offering those who use social media a discount over those who do not. In this industry, some will see your marketing, some will not.
Is it fair that some will see a coupon in a newspaper and others won’t?
Marketers need to get the word (and sales) out anywhere and any how possible.
Good thinking – you are correct. While the goal is to hopefully move more and more customers over to social media platforms, there are still a bunch that don’t care and won’t move so do you choose to drop them or market to them.
I think a significant part of the question around social media is NEW customers – great vehicles to become viral, tap into new markets, spread the word, etc. This is where the power is as well and should not be taken lightly but should be totally exploited.
Keeping your current customers loyal is critical – lowest cost of sale, highest margins, great WOM, etc. – can’t forget they are the holy grail to any organization. But SM gives you the opportunity to do BOTH – capture and retain.
BTW, who out there knows of some true, real Blogging success stories – not the Seth Godin’s and such, but true middle market businesses using a blog to generate increased sales (not ads) because people read their blog? I am putting together a paper and would love to hear any input from anyone out there. Thank you. You can send it to bmillet@ceinc.info if you have. Thanks.
Blaine
Jason, great thought-provoking article.
IMHO, I think many companies are using social media as a tool and not necessarily a strategy. It’s another marketing tool that enables them to reach and engage a broader audience. In some ways, I don’t see social media as a far cry from what most companies do to capture new customers or retain their loyal customers, via incentive (sign-up/enroll online & get a $5 credit, or use coupon code ONLINE and get $10 off, etc).
As to ‘unfair’, wiktionary.org defines unfair as: “In a manner that is unfair, which is not just.” I don’t think companies are being unfair by embracing the social media revolution. In general, each customer has the opportunity to also embrace these social media streams (Twitter, Facebook, etc) and potentially use them as leverage. Unfair, from my perspective, is limiting your customers reach or punishing them for what they are not able to readily access; which I don’t believe is true in most instances.
It’s a competitive business environment, if companies don’t start embracing the Web 2.0 revolution, they’ll surely fall behind or not meet their full potential.
[...] to your customers in social media, but disproportionately so? Are you creating a chasm, whereby you treat your social media customers better than your non-social media customers? And is that [...]
[...] may use social media as a way to hijack the customer service process as our Community Manager commented last year on the MarketingProfs Daily Mix Blog. (It’s worth revisiting this topic again [...]