The Customer Service approach to Social Media

There's an awful lot on the blogosphere about how brands should engage with social media. I thought I would share my view on a great aproach for brands and why it works so well. The approach is simple: Customer Service. Social media is a mass collection of communities. To be a valued member of a community you have to 'add-value' to the community. How can brands do this? Well customer service is one example. Solving customers' problems is a way of adding value to their lives and they will thank you for it. It's an opportunity to turn a negative situtation into a positive outcome. By solving customer problems brands can turn detractors into promotors, demonstrate their open and proactive approach to customer service and use it as a form of word of mouth marketing.

There are an increasing number of brands taking this customer service approach to social media. For example amongst others Twitter includes Carphone Warehouse @guyatcarphone, BT @BTCare and EasyJet @easyJetCare. We also use Twitter for Plebble through @Plebble_Advice, where we help consumers with their issues. People don't mind us contacting them, in fact they are genuinely grateful of our efforts to resolve their problem. So for any brands wondering how to engage in social media, customer service is a perfect start.

Interview with Plebble and the future of the online reputation industry

I've just been interviewed by the blog 'eBay, eCommerce, life' about Plebble and the future of the online reputation industry. The blog is written by Trevor Ginn. He is an eCommerce consultant at VendLab and also runs Hello Baby, his own online baby and nursery business. Hello Baby is also listed on Plebble.

Top 10 Customer Service Mistakes

In a downturn, customer service is all important - losing customers hurts your bottom line. So we've looked at negative ratings on Plebble over the last month to find the top 10 customer service turn-offs which could end up losing you customers.

1. RUDENESS
Rudeness is the biggest complaint of all. Almost a fifth (19%) described experiencing an unhelpful attitude or rudeness when they tried to resolve an issue - a remarkably high proportion and the most commonly cited grievance.

2. BEING UNREACHABLE
18% mentioned companies not answering calls or emails or not calling back. This complaint was not just directed at smaller businesses with fewer resources for customer service, but spread across big brands, SMEs and online companies. Research done by the complaint management software company, CDC Respond, last year suggested that customers who have a problem which is later satisfied are up to 8% more loyal than those who did not have a problem. We've found a similar trend on Plebble - people frequently visit the site to praise a company for solving their problem efficiently.

3. NOT REPLYING
A further 18% complained about not receiving replies to written communication, particularly complaints. In our research for Plebble's AdviceCentre, we are surprised how often it is hard to find guidance on complaints procedures and where to address formal letters. How many people end up writing to the wrong place and then, when they get nowhere, turn online to vent their frustration?

4. BROKEN PROMISES
15% of people described feeling deceived because of companies going back on their word or providing inconsistent or inaccurate advice. The most common of these was companies confirming items were in stock, taking the money for the order and then days/weeks later informing the customer that it was in fact out of stock. This is not unique to internet business, but is one of the more common complaints on Plebble about online retailers.

5. PASSING THE BUCK
8% described their annoyance at companies passing the buck - not taking responsibility for problems and blaming others for their woes. This was not what people wanted to hear when all they wanted was their problem sorted.

6. INSUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE
7% complained about call-centre advisors not having the knowledge or authority to sort their problems.

7. NO CONTACT INFORMATION
4% were frustrated that companies had not provided contact information (especially a phone number) to use to sort their problem. The use of online contact forms as the only means of contact is a particular grievance.

8. PREMIUM PHONE NUMBERS
A further 4% complained about having to pay via premium phone numbers to speak to customer service.

9. AUTOMATED CALL SYSTEMS
4% were irritated at having to navigate automated call systems when they needed to talk to a person.

10. TIMELINES
And finally 3% talked about their annoyance at the length of time and volume of contact taken to sort simple problems.

PlebbleSystems is working on a much larger study on this subject. If you would like to receive a copy when it is published, please email research@plebble.com with your name and company name.

Carphone Warehouse signs up to Plebble

Last week Carphone Warehouse signed up to Plebble. Not only was it great to see another brand sign up but more importantly a brand which has such a poor service reputation. I met Guy Stephens, the man behind Carphone Warehouse's move. He is the online help manager at Carphone and is doing a great job engaging with his customers. Guy is not only looking at Plebble but at other forums where he can engage with customers and resolve their issues. He is actively using Twitter to do this, check out his Twitter profile to see all the hard work he is doing.

What I find so exciting about this is here is a company with poor service rankings that understands how important it is to engage with customers on a peer to peer level. Negative comments can act as deterrent for businesses to engage. Nobody likes criticism and naturally we all try and distance ourselves from it. This however is often a grave mistake. Negative comments offer enormously constructive feedback. Left untouched they can be a threat to business, but dealing with them presents a huge opportunity to turn things around. Carphone seem to get this and that is why they are prepared to roll up their sleeves and get stuck into the hard but fruitful work of dealing with customers problems online.

At Plebble, we have seen several of the worst big brand service offenders silently listening to customer feedback but not actively engaging with them yet. This shows that they know it's important, but they don't know how do deal with it. Carphone is a good example of a brand setting the precedent and we believe more will follow.

What's the reason for a shift in attitudes by brands? One big reason is the growth of Twitter, but that's a post for another time...

'Two Left Feet' - a cautionary tale

You may have been following in 'In the News' the story of 'Two Left Feet' - the online baby clothing and equipment company - which went into administration on 24 March, leaving expectant parents in the lurch. The story of how they got there is not straight-foward, but is definitely a cautionary tale on what can happen if you do not get customer service right.

'Two Left Feet' (TLF) started as a small independent family business in 1998 and grew fast to a £7 million turnover business. TLF failed to match the growth with investment in the ordering and customer-service systems they needed and customer experience began to suffer. Complaints started pouring in, mainly about missing orders and failure to pay refunds. Customers struggled to get through to anyone on the phone and TLF finally removed the customer phone line all together, accepting communication by email only. Frustrated and worried customers, desperate for their order or money back, had nowhere else to turn but sites like Plebble and the media to vent their feelings.

The BBC's 'Watchdog' programme featured TLF in 2006 and following an unprecedented flood of complaints, aired another feature in February 2009. Already struggling with cashflow because of lack of credit in the retail system, this was the final straw for TLF. The bank pulled emergency funding and the business collapsed, leaving the owner and staff devastated.

It goes to show that there are very real consequences for leaving customers feeling alienated and not prioritising engagement and retention. This was an extreme case, but as the recession bites, I fear more businesses will be tempted to cut or not invest in customer service. I just hope the story of 'Two Left Feet' serves as a caution to those businesses to put reputation first. I cannot put it better than the ex-'dragon,' Richard Farleigh, commenting on TLF on the Watchdog programme: "word of mouth, that's all there is."

And the cautionary tale for the rest of us... Search Plebble and other sites for other customer's experiences before you buy. Installing Plebble's browser toolbar will help alert you of companies with poor performance.

Skittles 2.0? Close but no cigar...

This is fast becoming old news but I thought I'd add my 2c as it ties in with a lot of what we're saying to brands about what's going on on the Web right now.

So, Skittles have embraced Web 2.0 by putting a Twitter search for the term "Skittles" as their homepage? Brilliant, forward-thinking piece of brand-building or gimic? A serious attempt to engage with customers via the 'social web' or a headline-seeking stunt?

I applaud any brand willing to take a chance and throw themselves open to praise or ridicule in equal measure, whatever the social web wants to throw at it. That's exactly what we advocate - because of blogs, microblogs, social networks, etc, information moves instantly from one side of the globe to the other, from 1 blogger to an audience of millions in a matter of seconds. The truth will out in the end - no matter what your advertising budget. Therefore, you might as well be proactive and the rewards from doing so in terms of endorsement from your customer-base are potentially huge.

So, have Skittles taken up this battle-cry? I've noticed three main reactions from people to Skittles' new Twitter-based homepage:

(1) warm welcomes (and congratulations) for a well-known brand entering our world in an apparently open and transparent way - great

(2) attempts to game/understand the system by swearing and/or dissing Skittles to see whether they'd allow it - "Skittlefisting" was on Trending Topics for a while thanks to a coordinated effort by (apparently) some Australian bloggers - interesting and ultimately (I think) great because Skittles were tested for 'authenticity' and passed

(3) attempts by people to get their own messages/links viewed by thousands when they realised that the 'Skittlesphere' was abuzz - by including #skittles in their otherwise unconnected tweets - not great but inevitable

The question for me is whether Skittles' experiment is a success. Personally, I'd be surprised if it is - long-term. This is for 1 very fundamental reason: they're not actually engaging. All they're doing is trying to push their advertising message using a website, Twitter, that's getting a lot of attention at the moment from the mainstream media. Notice the big ol' banner ad sitting on top of everything. I didn't notice any actual responses from Skittles or attempts to discuss new flavours, health issues, etc.

So, in the end they made a nice-looking playground. People Twittered in for a while and then will Twitter away again. No doubt Skittles got a bit of market research from the things people were saying and some dates of birth (hands up who entered their real one??). No attempt was made to keep people interested though by having a discussion or reaching out on a human peer-to-peer level that characterises the social web. Hopefully Skittles will realise its missed opportunity and have another go...

Open feedback for Little Chef

After watching Heston Blumenthal's programmes 'Big Chef takes on Little Chef' on Channel 4 back in January we decided to go down to the transformed Popham restaurant. I would love to spend the rest of this post reviewing the restaurant, but this isn't the place for that. Needless to say they have done a great job. The food is like something out of a gastro pub, the architect has created a funky space and the staff are all really friendly and seem up for transforming the place.

Anyway back the point of my post and that is feedback. With the re-launch at Popham, Little Chef seem to be making an effort to connect with their customers and gather feedback. They have a Facebook fan page and a feedback form on their website. Popham is just down the round from my Mum's house, so she came along. Even she was incredibly impressed! She wanted to let Little Chef know what she thought about her experience, so she filled out their online feedback form. She was told that she would be contacted by a member of the Little Chef customer services team within 14 working days regarding her comments. Sure enough she received a letter a week later. Again impressive! Little Chef seem to be doing the right things and working hard, but they could leverage their feedback much more effectively. Why not have open/transparent feedback? Open feedback online not only gives a great brand message it also makes other customers feel more vested in the brand. Little Chef can then respond to demonstrate how seriously they take the feedback and what they are doing about it. With a letter to my Mum only she gets this message, if it goes online everybody gets it.

As with many sites Little Chef has a customers comments section. Whilst this is better than nothing, it's not exactly democratic. Perhaps Little Chef do post every comment up but as a customer the cynic in you says they only put the good stuff up. That is where having an independent forum like Plebble comes in, adding value to customers feedback!

I believe Little Chef are now considering whether to roll out Heston's Popham concept across the country. I don't have access to all their info but look at Facebook, their website, press and numerous other sites, the message is a resounding thumbs up for Popham. I really hope they listen.

Should brands engage through Twitter?

Twitter's recent surge has been well documented, just take a look at the last 6m's from Alexa.

The question dominating the blogosphere is how is Twitter going to make revenues? This morning whilst I was on Twitter I picked up a Brand Republic article entitled 'Twitter to begin charging brands for commercial use'. The article reports that Twitter are thinking about charging brands for using a hybrid Twitter marketing and customer service tool. This seems sensible when you consider so many brands are using Twitter for just that (marketing and customer service). The issue then becomes whether brands belong on Twitter. Mashable did a blog post on just that, which sparked some interesting debate. I have to confess I did not read all of the 199 responses to the blog, but from skimming through, many of them seemed to think there is a place for brands on Twitter.

I agree with having brands on Twitter for 2 reasons. 1 because I think active engagement by brands, not just passive monitoring is a very positive step for consumers and businesses and 2 because Twitter's basic functionality works. Take Be Broadband as an example. They actively use Twitter and are incidentally in Plebble's top 10 performers. If I am a Be customer I can choose to follow their updates, I am interested in them because I am customer. If they start filling my Twitter page with duff updates, I can stop following them or even block them. So Twitter is a democratic opt-in service. If brands are not engaging or don't play by the rules they simply won't find Twitter an effective tool. However if they get it right they could have thousands of happy followers acting as advocates for their brand.









That said there are still some outstanding issues for brands on Twitter. Many brand names have already been taken by Twitter users and there is no easy way users can distinguish Twitter usernames as official brands. Twitter is a very personal and social tool. Just communicating with a brand name can be impersonal for users. The alternative is to register employees as representatives for the brand. The issue with that is employees move on taking all their hard work on Twitter with them. As Twitter try to monetise, I am sure they will try and make Twitter more accessible to brands and address these issues. The key to Twitter is its simple functionality. This must remain, but I think Twitter could create official brand/company accounts to deal with this. In the meantime however I don't think brands should hold back. For brands Twitter has its flaws, but they are outweighed by the positive act of engagement.

Digital Mission

Plebble has been selected as part of ‘Digital Mission’ to go to the South by South West Interactive (SXSWi) conference in Austin Texas. We are delighted to be taking part in SXSWi. Digital Mission sends 35 UK companies out to SXSWi. It is one of the world’s leading conferences for emerging media and digital technology. We were selected along with 34 other companies by a panel of industry experts including Mike Butcher the UK editor of Techcrunch, Herb Kim the CEO of Codeworks and Sarbjit Bakshi Head of IT from UKTI.

The conference takes place in early March and accompanies the SXSW film and music festivals, so it should a great time to be there. We cannot wait to go, see the American digital scene, meet some interesting people and hopefully do some business. We will let you know how it goes!

Plebble launches 'AdviceCentre'

Many of your ratings on Plebble are glowing praise - which is great - but there are others where you are obviously completely frustrated at how you've been treated. Your attempts to resolve your problem simply and quickly have failed and you have come to Plebble to vent your feelings to the company concerned and everyone else. This is exactly what Plebble is designed for - to reward those businesses who care, name and shame those who don't, and make you feel a whole lot better.

But we've always wanted Plebble to be more than just a place to rant. We continue to encourage businesses to join the Plebble project and use it to actively listen and respond to the issues you raise. We don't just want to hear about your experiences - ultimately we want Plebble to be a force which helps get your issues resolved. And the more you all rate, the more businesses will have to sit up and take notice.

In the meantime, we at Plebble were becoming increasingly frustrated hearing people raise all sorts of problems and complaints, but not being able to do anything to help. So, we have set-up the AdviceCentre. In the AdviceCentre, we will publish articles and links to give you information on things like how best to complain, where to send formal complaints, template letters and company procedures. We are also publishing a series of 'Get Smarter' articles, where we use your ratings and other sources to gather together information to help us all to try to avoid the pitfalls and worst offenders in the first place.

This is a new thing for us and as with everything on Plebble, we rely on your feedback. So if you have any comments on the AdviceCentre, please let us know. And if you have any advice that you think would be useful to share, please email advice@plebble.com.

Best Customer Service and Experience Feature 2008

How nice! An article I wrote at the beginning of the year for MyCustomer.com - the self-proclaimed voice of the customer relationship management (CRM) profession - has just been awarded 'Best Customer Service and Experience Feature 2008'.

It seems it really touched a nerve - apparently it was their most read feature in 2008. This shows to me that things really are changing in terms of customer engagement. Businesses are beginning to realise that what's happening online - essentially peer-to-peer information and content sharing is here to stay and has a big impact on their bottom-line. Long may that continue!

Anyway, you can read the article here: What does Web 2.0 mean for your business?

Supermarket fans

With a Plebble-rating (PR) of 3.41, Waitrose is the 11th highest performing business on Plebble. Not bad for a supermarket. Why? Well they clearly have some passionate brand advocates. Take a look the graph. It shows that 74% of its ratings on Plebble score between 4 and 5 ('very good' or 'brilliant').

When you compare Waitrose to Tesco's you can see the importance of consistency of service. Tesco's has a PR of 0.36 and is behind its rival Sainsbury's. As you can see from the chart Tesco's does have some strong advocates (38% score 'very good'), but the rest of the ratings are spread across all the scores, with 17% scoring between -5 and -4. This suggests Tesco's struggles to provide consistently good service, something Waitrose manages so well. It will be interesting to see if this finding remains as the sample sizes increase. If you think it's wrong, have your say and rate!

Call centre revenge picked up by the press

Just uploaded to our 'In the News' service is the story about George Bates. This story was picked up by The Times, Telegraph, Mirror, Metro, Daily Mail and the Sun. It is hardly surprising the story got so much coverage considering having your bank account sabotaged after giving poor ratings in a post call customer satisfaction survey is a shocking incident. Although many of us haven't experience such extreme poor service as poor George Bates, we can still relate to it because of our own experiences with call centres. I suspect that is why so many of the daily papers picked up the story.

On Plebble we have a press service where every time you rate you can consent to press contact. We then offer your ratings as case studies for journalists. At the moment we have journalists from the Times and the Independent signed up and we are in the process of encouraging more. So rating on Plebble not only gives your experience good online exposure it could also give it media coverage.

The 'KnowBoard'

Businesses are constantly being told that the internet is changing the dynamic of the way they do business. One of problems is that it is changing so fast and there is so much information out there that businesses don't know which way to turn.

We set up Plebble because we believe the way customers interact with businesses is changing, where consumers are increasingly basing their buying decisions on other consumer opinions. Rather than being a threat to businesses, this represents a big opportunity. An opportunity to gain and retain loyal customers through great customer service. Not only do businesses need to improve customer service, they also need to communicate better with their customers, engage with them and improve their online reputation. This is what Plebble is designed to do for businesses.

To help businesses understand the opportunities and how to realise them we have made live a little feature called the KnowBoard. It is a really simple concept where we, our business members and our affiliates can clip relevant articles, links and videos to the board. It is designed to be a great source of guidance for forward thinking businesses and a place to invoke discussion in the field.

Business members and affiliates can clip articles from their members area. If you are a marketing agency, research firm, consultancy or in any way involved in the customer service, customer engagement and online reputation fields then please get in touch and we will sign you up as an affiliate.

Win an iPod Touch 16GB with Plebble.com

Two little new developments on the site - just live - to tell you about:

1. We've just launched a competition so that people who rate on Plebble can win a brand new iPod Touch 16GB.



2. We've also created a "Tell your Friends" form so that people can easily tell their friends about Plebble and invite them to join in. If you help spread the word about Plebble using this form, you will also qualify to win an iPod.The more ratings you do and the more people you tell about Plebble, the greater your chances of winning.
   

Why've we done this? Well, Plebble works best when as many people as possible are providing ratings. The more ratings there are, the more businesses listen to what consumers are saying and the more valuable the information on Plebble is to other consumers. We therefore want to reward those people who contribute most to our community of users and help make a difference to the customer service that people get in the UK.

All ratings and people you tell about Plebble have to be genuine. If they're not, you'll be disqualified from the competion, simple as that (and, of course, the rating(s) will be deleted).

So, good luck to everyone...and get rating!