social networking continues to change the game of customer service. gone are the days of writing a complaint letter to higher ups with little hope of receiving a response. today, good experiences are touted on twitter (i myself have complimented the staff at the papersource in tyson's and sephora in chevy chase with an "@" mention to their corporate twitter accounts.) and bad ones are blasted out to the universe through blogs and facebook.
my first job was renting and washing cars in a suit for enterprise rent-a-car. it was there that i learned that even great companies that ingrain service in their culture come under fire for mistakes, both internal and external. i quickly found that a completely satisfied customer might tell one friend but a frustrated one will tell 200.
well, things have evolved since 2004 when i was in my management trainee days, and twitter has facilitated the ability for customers to praise or crucify companies in the service industry. continuing with enterprise as a test case, i ran a quick search on everyone's favorite micro-blogging site and found the following:
@matthewpardon Enterprise rent-a-car is amazing, y'all. Best customer service experience.
@carmiepqfc Never rent a car from Enterprise. Horrible customer service. And they don't really care that they suck so much!
@macpbr98 Had an great customer service experience @ Enterprise Rent A Car. Now that's how it should be done! They'll be doing business w/ me again!
@Shelly1125 Enterprise Rental Car's customer service, especially the Baton Rouge location on Florida Blvd has been impeccable!
@angelaglenn Horrid experience with Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Customer Service has no knowledge of online reservation system. Having a Seinfeld moment.
@lyonshare Enterprise car rental has some of the most pleasant customer service peeps...and I got a free upgrade. Much better than Dollar!
whichever side of the fence they're on, these customers were compelled to communicate their experiences and twitter is where they turned. so while the power may have always belonged to the people in terms of service, do you think the emergence of micro-blogging may force companies to return to the times of "the customer is always right"?
Barack Book
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Lawrence Lessig suggests that the social media world has made more
information available and google can generate the hits on the information
so fast. He fu...
I definitely think it will affect how companies approach customer service. However, I think they (as well as those of us who read the commentary) need to take micro-blogging comments with a grain of salt...I think that many (but certainly not all) people who share comments through this medium have extreme opinions that aren't always accurate reflections of the company.
ReplyDeletedefinitely a good point! for every bad company-bashing website out there, there is another singing its praises. i suppose it's more the speed and viral behavior of internet-based complaints that make me wonder if it's causing companies to want to step it up!
ReplyDeleteThe customer may not always be right but if there are consistent gripes about a particular product/service or even a service rep, its a chance for the company to correct those issues and then use the same platform to tell their customers that they appreciate feedback enough to make changes.
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