Communication is a two way thing – right? Many people like to talk, and some too much but very rarely do people actually listen to the needs of the customer.
Well, listening to clients who are in the midst of introducing “Social” capabilities to their businesses, we are hearing that they are finding that the simple act of demonstrating that they are listening, and want to hear, wins a lot of respect for the Brand.
Most organisations have figured out that the price of not listening is crippling. There are exceptions. A company like Apple can afford not to listen. I am not saying that it does not listen – they happen to work hard at understanding customer needs. But let’s say that one of the Apple products were to have a battery die or screen go blank or software freeze in my house. The response (aside from my own, ignored, whine) is “Hurray! NOW can I upgrade to the new ….. – fill in the blank Apple product!”
Traditional ROI is not the way to measure value. Instead of comparing support costs before Social and after Social look at the change in sentiment. How much less vituperative, surly, nasty, testy and pugnacious your angriest customer is. See how many fewer acrimonious posts they send, or Tweets. See how many more advocates you have for your products and services. Look at the insights in new product features and process improvement opportunities.
With the denouement of human agents in the customer interaction – the slow but inexorable transition from Carbon-based over to Silicon-based (human to computer) interactions, we have lost the connective tissue that gave the enterprise the pulse of the customer. Introducing listening, analysing, responding/engaging in the customer processes restores some of what we have lost and are yet to lose.
Thinking of adopting social media for your company but don’t know where to start – contact us to see how we can listen and get it right for you.