When I wrote the recent post on self-service customer service, I didn't think I'd run into a wall of shame and failure so soon.
But I did.
I had an online subscription to Adobe PDF Creator that I wanted to cancel. So first I went into my account thinking that I could cancel right there.
Nope.
Then I scoured the self-service sections to see if I could figure it out.
Nope.
Then I called customer service. On a Saturday. And got nowhere. They said to call back Monday.
I was so friggin' frustrated that I sent out this tweet:
Then I forgot about it, knowing that come Monday morning I'd be calling them again to raise heck.
Then I got this response early Monday morning:
Shortly thereafter thanks to Ed and the others at @Adobe_Care, my subscription was canceled.
Via Twitter.
Not on the phone. Not online in a self-service portal. I may even be back someday because of this customer service recovery.
Call centers and online self-service portals take note: social media pays dividends if you're paying attention.
Call centers and online self-service portals take note: please pay attention. And make it easier on your customers the first time.
Seriously, we've heard the success stories of Best Buy, Comcast, Ford, and others using social media for customer service. Closer to home Monster has done a great job as well.
At HRmarketer.com, we're hearing from more and more of our own customers and influencers via social media networks, for better or worse, and are working to respond just as quickly as we've done for years via the phone and email.
Like marketing, customer service is hard work, so work hard and get it right the first time across all touch points.
Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)
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9 comments:
Hi Kevin:
Great article (as always) and a nice reminder of the importance of monitoring social media. Thanks for the Monster shout out!
Matt Charney
Hi Kevin - an interesting experience. Thank you for sharing.
More and more companies are paying more attention to social media nowadays. Reasons can be quite simple: we have heard several stories when companies lost large market shares because someone of importance posted a comment or blogged about a negative customer experience (e.g. Dell Hell case). Do we know any loud stories about similar issues with call centers? Not really, because call centers, no matter how mighty they are, cannot reach thousands of people instantaneously and they do not carry as much "weight" as a personal nature of a Facebook comment.
Regards,
Sergey
Thank you, Matt and Sergey. More and more it's becoming a critical channel to monitor and market on.
Hi Kevin,
To echo Matt's comment, our @MonsterHelp customer service team on Twitter does do a terrific job. Job seekers want to know someone is listening and there to help, and social really has helped us facilitate this process. Thanks again for the kudos. Much appreciated!
Kathy O'Reilly, @kathyoreilly @MonsterWW
http://www.monsterthinking.com
I had the same exact issue trying to cancel my online Adobe PDF service - but it was before services like Twitter so I did not have the social media option. It took me weeks and several hours of frustrating phone calls and only when I got VISA involved to dispute the charges did Adobe listen.
So even though Adobe monitors Tweets and has an account @adobe_care ADOBE DOES NOT GET IT. I still avoid their products - 3+ years later.
Customer service is about culture, process, training and management leading by example.
Anyone company can participate in social media but that alone doesn't make up for bad processes, customer service, etc.
Kevin,
What you described in your post is, to me, a failure of customer service - not a success.
I've seen this repeatedly with various organizations who shall not be named. Their "real" customer service is attrocious, but if you complain about them in the only value that gives you real power, magically they're uber-service oriented.
Great customer service means not HAVING to complain on Twitter to get your issue resolved.
Chris,
Thank you for your comment. You're right -- it was a failure, then a recovery.
But a win on how social media can be used for customer service.
My final point was get it right the first time across all touch points.
Then it's a success!
Great post...I love reading it over and over again..Thanks for sharing..
That's the point you have mentioned and it is no doubt, the base of the social media importance. We will get the dividend's, but we have to pay the keen attention in the social market. As, it is the very successive, fast and effective way to reach more-n-more readers or the customers.
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