Customer service or cold-calling in cyberspace?
On the Societal Web, Alison McClintock examines the reasoning behind modern corporations using software to find disgruntled customers online. As she rightly points out: “There’s no such thing as a lone complaint in cyberspace and businesses of any size and sector should take note.”
I agree with this, and it’s interesting to see this modern take on customer service in action. I’ve bitched about various companies on Twitter, and had responses from support teams, leading to swift resolutions, which is great. There are, however, two problems. The first is when a company’s systems aren’t fully integrated. It’s great for someone to reply to you on Twitter within five minutes, but decidedly less great when they tell you to email a certain address and you don’t get a response. Secondly, if this process is being automated—as is increasingly common—everything goes wrong very quickly.
Recently, I said something on Twitter about the BBC licence fee costing less per month than the standing charges on my BT bill. Taking that text in context, there’s no reason for any company to respond to me. Sure enough, though, a BT ‘bot’ chirpily replied to the tweet, asking me if I needed help with my bill. This is a nuisance, and shows that, as with any other area of customer care, you actually have to take care to make it work. Scouring the internet and helping customers is a good thing; having bots run rampant and respond to vague keywords in an out-of-context manner is not.
Hat tip: Ian Betteridge.
I’ve been sceptical about how Twitter can help business, but this seems like a good idea (in general)… unlike the young cricketer in the doghouse for posting a rant about not being selected, or the phony footballer account congratulating himself on a transfer to Liverpool. But as you say, it does need to be done with care to risk alienating the very people you want to help.