Similar to Starbucks (mentioned in my last post), Zappos has been considered a distinguished brand for quite some time, with a one-of-a-kind company culture. Zappos has been nationally recognized for their outstanding customer service, and their social efforts are a big part of their success. The company created an online community where dedicated customers are able to voice comments and concerns, interact with one another, share favorite products and foster the Zappos brand. But in Chapter 5 of Branded!, Brennan and Shafer describe how Zappos took social media and customer service one step further than most companies.
With the growth of social networks, Zappos decided to expand their brand and customer experience beyond the original website. The company expanded through blogs, Facebook and most importantly, Twitter. For Zappos, "Twitter is easy, inexpensive, and quick" (p. 89). It's also perfect for the company's word-of-mouth marketing strategy. Zappos' Twitter activity started as an outlet for employee-to-employee communication, but when customers began to see and appreciate the internal transparency, more and more customers started interacting with the brand on Twitter. Today, Zappos not only responds to customer service inquiries on Twitter, but the company proactively searches for ways to engage with customers. For example, "If someone says they are going to a wedding, someone from Zappos may send them a link for interesting wedding shoes" (p.89).
In a blog post from 2009, Zappos employee Tony Hsieh said: "At Zappos.com we decided a long time ago that we didn't want our brand to be just about shoes, or clothing, or even online retailing. We decided that we wanted to build our brand to be about the very best customer service and the very best customer experience. We believe that customer service shouldn't just be a department - it should be the entire company" (p.80).
For Zappos, Twitter is a way to share this customer-centered company culture in a transparent, real-time and fun way.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
What's more social than Starbucks?
For many people, Starbucks is part of a daily routine. Between work and home, avid Starbucks drinkers stop in to the specialty coffee shop for their favorite morning beverages. Since 1981 when the coffee shop became an international brand, Starbucks has formed such a unique environment and social experience that customers have formed strong emotional attachments to the brand. However, Starbucks executives had to figure out a way to rekindle customers' emotional attachments following a period of decreased sales in 2008, at the same time as a great shift in social and technological advancements. In Chapter 4 of Branded!, Bernie Brennan and Lori Shafer provide an interesting case study of Starbucks' digital development.
Starbucks created a new website in hopes of giving customers a "voice and a place for conversation... in a way that's relevant and adds value to their experience" (p. 58). My Starbucks Idea became the brand's online community where customers can share original ideas about menu items and specialty drinks. They can also give feedback and suggestions regarding the stores' atmosphere and customer service programs. After comments and ideas are posted to My Starbucks Idea, other community members can vote on the ideas they like best. The most-liked ideas are actually considered by Starbucks executives, which truly gives customers the feeling that they have a voice and a say in their Starbucks experience. This site was launched several years ago, but the community is still active and relevant today.
Going social for Starbucks was all about hanging out with their customers online. With the creation of this online community, Starbucks has branded their business not only as a unique coffee shop, but as an organization that cares about what their customers want, first and foremost. They took the unique social environment they created in their stores and moved it online, where customers were already spending their time.
Starbucks created a new website in hopes of giving customers a "voice and a place for conversation... in a way that's relevant and adds value to their experience" (p. 58). My Starbucks Idea became the brand's online community where customers can share original ideas about menu items and specialty drinks. They can also give feedback and suggestions regarding the stores' atmosphere and customer service programs. After comments and ideas are posted to My Starbucks Idea, other community members can vote on the ideas they like best. The most-liked ideas are actually considered by Starbucks executives, which truly gives customers the feeling that they have a voice and a say in their Starbucks experience. This site was launched several years ago, but the community is still active and relevant today.
Going social for Starbucks was all about hanging out with their customers online. With the creation of this online community, Starbucks has branded their business not only as a unique coffee shop, but as an organization that cares about what their customers want, first and foremost. They took the unique social environment they created in their stores and moved it online, where customers were already spending their time.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Social Customer Service and Twitter
Chapter 7 of Delivering Effective Social Customer Service by Blunt and Hill-Wilson discusses the use of Twitter as a service channel. Twitter is becoming an "instant" channel, where users can send public complaints or praises to brands and companies in 140-character messages. I think Blunt and Hill-Wilson summed up Chapter 7 perfectly in these few sentences:
"Social Customer Service via Twitter is fast becoming an expected norm. Ignore it at your peril. Moreover doing it really well is essential to encourage customers to leave positive commentary in your Twitter stream. Otherwise suffer whatever consequences this has on new customers warming up to your brand or existing customers wondering if the grass now looks greener elsewhere" (pg. 124).
Basically, customers are on Twitter talking about brands whether those brands are on Twitter to respond or not. Twitter provides so many opportunities for companies to increase customer service initiatives, and in turn increase customer loyalty and word of mouth buzz. It's up to those companies to figure out respectful, timely, compassionate and creative ways to reach out to their customers and display positive social customer service.
Just after reading the title of this chapter, "How to Use Twitter as a Service Channel," a specific Twitter account came to mind: @HiltonSuggests. The @HiltonSuggests Twitter account is a little bit different than the type of customer service discussed in Chapter 7. In my opinion, Blunt and Hill-Wilson's tips were mostly for reactive customer service initiatives. On the other hand, @HiltonSuggests is a proactive customer service account. Instead of monitoring their account for users mentioning their brand, they actively search for travelers in new cities and give them suggestions on everything from dining to tourist attractions. The @HiltonSuggests account even recommends competitor hotels if their facilities don't meet the needs of a Twitter user. Delivering Effective Social Customer Service provides great advice for responding to brand mentions and customer service issues on Twitter, but I think that the proactive customer service @HiltonSuggests provides is just as effective, if not more effective. The Hilton brand has gone above and beyond customer service norms by providing helpful suggestions to Twitter users who aren't necessarily Hilton customers. If Hilton will go out of their way to help an individual, even when that individual isn't benefiting the Hilton brand in any way, imagine the extent to which they'll aim to please the valued customer who directly contacts them with a specific complaint or need.
"Social Customer Service via Twitter is fast becoming an expected norm. Ignore it at your peril. Moreover doing it really well is essential to encourage customers to leave positive commentary in your Twitter stream. Otherwise suffer whatever consequences this has on new customers warming up to your brand or existing customers wondering if the grass now looks greener elsewhere" (pg. 124).
Basically, customers are on Twitter talking about brands whether those brands are on Twitter to respond or not. Twitter provides so many opportunities for companies to increase customer service initiatives, and in turn increase customer loyalty and word of mouth buzz. It's up to those companies to figure out respectful, timely, compassionate and creative ways to reach out to their customers and display positive social customer service.
Just after reading the title of this chapter, "How to Use Twitter as a Service Channel," a specific Twitter account came to mind: @HiltonSuggests. The @HiltonSuggests Twitter account is a little bit different than the type of customer service discussed in Chapter 7. In my opinion, Blunt and Hill-Wilson's tips were mostly for reactive customer service initiatives. On the other hand, @HiltonSuggests is a proactive customer service account. Instead of monitoring their account for users mentioning their brand, they actively search for travelers in new cities and give them suggestions on everything from dining to tourist attractions. The @HiltonSuggests account even recommends competitor hotels if their facilities don't meet the needs of a Twitter user. Delivering Effective Social Customer Service provides great advice for responding to brand mentions and customer service issues on Twitter, but I think that the proactive customer service @HiltonSuggests provides is just as effective, if not more effective. The Hilton brand has gone above and beyond customer service norms by providing helpful suggestions to Twitter users who aren't necessarily Hilton customers. If Hilton will go out of their way to help an individual, even when that individual isn't benefiting the Hilton brand in any way, imagine the extent to which they'll aim to please the valued customer who directly contacts them with a specific complaint or need.
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