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Digital channels offer more than the opportunity to sell products – turning customers into loyal customers, ones that will refer business, are more profitable than the one time buyer. Managing customer relationships and offering customer service in the channels preferred by the user offers some insights that cannot be obtained in traditional customer support situations. For example, shifting primary forms of customer service to a digital sphere indicates weaknesses in your company even if the commentary is not directed at your support staff.
Shoppers don’t want to wait on hold on the phone, they do not want to have to go into the store to be frustrated in person and clearly they do not want to send a letter via snail mail. If you can even still buy stamps. This is all common sense, right? Making a shift to digital channels is a logical and potentially very effective solution to the customer support dilemma.
Customer Support and Social Media
Here are some social media statistics to illustrate my point:
Community users remain customers 50% longer than non-community users. (AT&T, 2002)
Community users spend 54% more than non-community users (EBay, 2006)
In customer support, live interaction costs 87% more per transaction on average than forums and other web self-service options. (ASP, 2002)
Cost per interaction in customers support averages $12 via the contact center versus $0.25 via self-service options. (Forrester, 2006)
Customers report good experiences in forums more than twice as often as they do via calls or mail. (Jupiter, 2006)
Answer Questions to Boost Sales – Best Buy USA and @Twelpforce
Best Buy USA is using Twitter to help boost sales and increase interaction with consumers:
Best Buy’s “Twelpforce” will search Twitter posts to find people seeking information about flat- panel televisions and other electronics, Chief Marketing Officer Barry Judge said in a telephone interview today. More than 500 employees at stores and at the company’s Richfield, Minnesota headquarters are signed up to participate, he said.
In addition, shoppers and customers can Twitter TwelpForce with their questions. It is important here that Best Buy makes a real effort to focus on the customer relationship building as opposed to spam marketing. There are some criticisms to the “service”, but I think that this is a good move in the right direction. Best Buy is making a real effort to participate within the digital space, and it is clear they are looking to increase the one to one contact consumers can have with Best Buy associates.
Pitney Bowes and the User Help Forum
What I find interesting about Pitney Bowes is not necessarily the use of the user forum. This is not an innovative or new idea, but it how the value of the forum was quantified that caught my eye. The Pitney Bowes example illustrates how companies can cut back on support costs by providing self-serve online options, as opposed to a call center format where the cost of each call can range from $5 to $10. They reported that:
the main question “How do I update rates on my machine?” was viewed upwards of 37K times, which would equate, according to the industry benchmark, of about a $70K support cost savings just for that question alone.
In addition, they have a Think Tank where customers can submit ideas or suggestions for products and services. These ideas are reviewed monthly by an executive steering committee.
Online Support Not Just For Online Retailers
Once again, it is time for brick and mortar retailers to take their cue from internet retailers and take advantage of the lower cost alternative available through digital channels. Interactions can occur quicker, and in some cases, no interaction is required and answers can be obtained quickly through self-service user-powered solutions. Either way, offering these alternatives increases a company’s ability to turn potential or one-time customers into loyal, referring brand fans.