This is a quick update to a recent post.
I wrote here last month, about the added importance of customer service these days – because of the growth of social media and the massive reach this now gives your customers. My blog post detailed the poor experience I had with o2 customer service – my mobile / cell phone provider.
I explained how a disgruntled customer today has access to thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people, via social media tools like; blogs, Twitter, FriendFeed, FaceBook etc. Just a few years ago, an unhappy customer typically had very little influence or reach. The power was all with the provider – but that’s all changed now!
Update
Since writing that post, I started noticing lots of people arriving here from Google, after searching for the term “o2 customer service.” At the time of writing this, my o2 post appears on page 2 of Google for that search term!
I have no idea how many people have since read about my experience, but it certainly shows the influence consumers have right now and why great customer service is more important than ever.
I would like to give o2 the chance to respond, but I have heard nothing from them since publishing the original post.
Related posts:
I have to say I think the customer service has gone downhill. They support you with minor things and even their support forum answer is better than calling them – and the answers are from OTHER O2 customers! I feel disappointed with O2. Apple chose the wrong people.
Jake,
I hope the service you receive improves. Companies really need to rethink the way they look after their customers.
Great article. Just finished praising BT with their attitude on twitter. Love it!
http://www.volkerballueder.com/bt-british-telecom-customer-service/
Brands MUST embrace social media, monitor and respond to it.
I wrote about fitness first a while back and never got a response. However, hits increased and people found the blog using keywords like “fitness first” – sure they saw it but didn’t know how to respond to it.
good post, I don’t understand why only a very few companies use Twitter/social media to provide customer service.
Mark,
I agree. I just posted to FriendFeed, asking if anyone recommended the Disqus service. Within an hour, the Disqus team had found my comment and replied to it.
Other companies could learn from the Disqus team.
There’s software out there, which makes it really easy to monitor your brand / company name. There’s no excuse to miss out on social media opportunities.
Props to Disqus!
Jim.
You are now on page one of google for “02 customer service.”
How come your blog scores so high and so quickly. This post was only posted yesterday??!!??
Hello Ed,
I just checked and it seems this post and the previous one are both currently on page one of google for that term.
I’m guessing the reason the posts went to page one so fast is because of two things.
Firstly, this blog as around 18,000 inbound links – none from directories, all from ‘real’ sites / blogs. Some are from very highly respected websites and blogs, which carry a lot of weight.
Secondly, the phrase “customer service” is relevant to my blog, as I am a keen advocate of world-class customer service and mention it regularly.
I also SEO title tags using the ‘AllInOneSEO’ plugin for wordpress.
I agree that social media and SEO make a powerful force.
Mind you, if you’d used your meta description and header to say why you’re writing about O2 (poor customer service), it might make O2 take notice more
Check Logan Movers Toronto on Google for an example.
Cheers Jim!
Hello Danny,
You make a good point, though other brands have been able to find posts here easily enough. An example being Seth Godin, who has commented here when I’ve mentioned him in a post.
On my tech news blog I get comments from tech companies and journalists when I write about them. I can’t think of many influencers within the tech industry who have not commented on the blog at some point.
I suppose my thought is that its easy enough to monitor your brand or your name, so long as you want to.
Thanks Danny.
The development of centralised anonymous call centres shifted power from consumers to corporations. The effort required to complain to a call centre supervisor had become herculean.
But the development of social media such as blogs and twitter mean consumers can let the world know their feelings. Power has shifted back to the consumer!
I agree, and I think that’s where companies are falling down, more from monitoring as opposed to customer service (even though that’s still bad).
Godin should know when something’s being said about him, as should tech companies and journos that are active in this space.
The problem with larger brands is that they’re not using alerts or monitoring tools, and possibly not even searching for their own name in organic searches.
So the ones using this type of space will be aware; the others are the ones that need educating.
I recently wrote a blog post about how US Airways was not paying attention to their Twitter feed or their Facebook Fan Page, and in fact, how one of their employees had written a really nasty comment to someone on Facebook.
http://imamerchants.org/blog/
Last time I checked, the offensive comment their employee had written on Facebook was still there.