We're about to enter a holiday season like none other with more shoppers bringing their megaphones to retail locations where they will comment on Moments of Trust via Twitter, Facebook, text and more.
I'll discuss the implications Nov. 16 at the Mobile Marketing Association's Forum. Details are here http://forum.mmaglobal.com/losangeles2011/agenda.>
Ping me if you would like a discount code.
Mobile Marketer asked me to name one unexpected thing that may happen during the holiday season.
Here's what I told them:
“Retailers who provide poor customer service will suffer as mobile subscribers armed with what I call megaphones take to their social networks and use messaging to voice their displeasure.
“The adage forever was that you could lose the battle for public opinion in two hours. It is now more like two minutes when experiences at these Moments of Trust touch points get communicated on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.
“How bad can this get for a retailer? Smartphones now have eight megapixels, HD capabilities and near-instant posting options. It can get very bad very quickly.”
The full article is here http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/11257.html
In this space and others, I’ve harpooned those who determine level of customer service by a Klout score. In my recent 140 Characters Conference Moments of Trust presentation http://jeffhasen.com/video-of-my-140-characters-conference-talk-on, I saluted a restaurant that provided stellar service after making an error in food preparation -- not because the patrons had social influence.
In today’s New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/sunday-review/26rosenbloom.html?_r=1, it was reported that more than 2,500 companies are using Klout’s data.
According to the Times, last week, Klout revealed that Audi would begin offering promotions to Facebook users based on their Klout score. Last year, Virgin America used the company to offer highly rated influencers in Toronto free round-trip flights to San Francisco or Los Angeles. In Las Vegas, the Palms Hotel and Casino is using Klout data to give highly rated guests an upgrade or tickets to Cirque du Soleil.
Am I the only one outraged by companies failing to commit to top customer service for all?
““Perhaps we’ve become so used to crap customer service that a tale of excellent treatment is rare, even surprising — it’s actually news,” Gavin Dunaway writes in an Adotas article covering my Moments of Trust mobile/social findings.
Gavin relays my experiences with Comcast and a restaurant in Seattle and suggests that Klout equals clout.
The full article is below with the link here http://www.adotas.com/2011/06/consumer-democracy-now-hipcrickets-hasen-talks-social-media-crm-in-the-smartphone-era/
ADOTAS – If social media is the customer relationship management tool of the early 21st century, then smartphones and mobile devices that connect to the Internet are its portable extensions. Imagine a vacuum cleaner with a hose add-on for those hard-to-reach spots, except this hose can be carried with you everywhere to pick up whatever dirt and debris you come across.
Except (to stretch this metaphor a little further) American consumers aren’t sucking up the dirt, or rather bad customer service or brand experiences, and sharing it on social media as much as they are spreading their positive experiences.
It may fly in the face with the common wisdom that humans harp on the negative, but a new survey commissioned by Jeff Hasen, CMO of mobile marketer Hipcricket, found that while 40% of consumers with smartphones or Internet-enabled mobile devices have used them to spread word to their social networks about an in-store experience, 46% of them reported a positive one versus 40% that cited a negative one.
“Perhaps we’ve become so used to crap customer service that a tale of excellent treatment is rare, even surprising — it’s actually news,” I comment to Hasen, who is in NYC to debut his figures at the 140 Characters conference. “I mean, that’s pretty cynical, but these are cynical times.”
According to Hasen’s findings, 18% used Facebook to report on consumer service experiences in real-time, while 8% used Twitter and 32% used text messaging. In addition, 34% of all survey respondents said they had seen a customer experience posted on their social networks and 48% said they would be influenced by such a post.
The smartphone revolution combined with the power of social media may strike fear in the hearts of people in retail and other service-oriented ventures. No longer does the consumer need to wait to get home to write a scathing blog post or email a brand’s – by that time, the angry consumer may have cooled off. But mobile devices hooked up to the web offer real-time venting regarding customer service. Talk to the manager? Why don’t we talk to the Internet instead?
But the devices also provide opportunities for brands to shine in the customer service department. You could argue that mobile social media coerces better — or maybe appropriate — customer service, but consumer willingness (you could even say initiative) to spread positive experiences presents an earned marketing situation.
Hasen frames it this way — he was trying to sign up for an extras package from a certain cable company infamous for its lackluster customer service but had missed the cutoff date of a super deal by one day. Even though he’d been a loyal customer for years, the phone help refused to throw him a bone.
So Hasen took to Twitter and other social media outlets to complain, and what do you know — a short time later a major higher-up in the cable company’s marketing department actually gets him the subscription package at no charge.
One reason Hasen received such stellar service via social media is that with more than 1,700 followers on Twitter, he’s got some influence. He mentions he was recently on a conference panel where the social media manager of a major brand admitted that his company examines the number of followers a complainant has on Twitter before deciding whether to respond.
But that method is for the big brands, and he suggested that even they don’t think it’s the most effective.
“Can you imagine giving a hotel concierge your Twitter handle so he or she can decide what level of service to give you?” he asks rhetorically. “A help desk asking what your Klout score is?”
Consider this — around the same time, he patroned a fine dining establishment (no chain) near his Seattle home known for its Alaskan Halibut. In the region, the style is to undercook the fish, but Hasen wanted it medium well. When he received a medium rare filet, he expressed his displeasure — the restaurant did not put the fish back on the grill, but cooked him a new one and then comped him for the dish.
Sure, that’s a great way for a small business to get repeat business (and Hasen says he returned the next month), but in the age of social media and the instant sharing of experiences, it’s a smooth move for instant earned marketing. The restaurant had no idea how many followers Hasen on Twitter (strangely, they didn’t ask for his Twitter handle next to his signature on the check). The old adage that you never know who is going to walk in has never been truer, just add “you never know how much social media influence that person has” to the end.
“Customer service should be democratic,” Hasen says ”With social media-enabled mobile devices, the consumer has more of a voice in the service industry. The smartphone is a megaphone.”
At the same time, brands can’t be deaf to the social conversation — 35% of the consumers surveyed said they would want to hear from a brand after a negative incident. Only 10% of those who had posted about a customer service experience received feedback from the brand mentioned.
Founded in 2004, Hipcricket is a relative veteran in the field of mobile marketing, having recently powered its 100,000th brand campaign. Earlier this year the company released version 7.0 of its cloud-based mobile marketing and advertising platform HIP, with new features such as integration with Facebook Pages and the SmartXchange conversational SMS tool.
Trend-wise, Hasen notes that Hipcricket is seeing fewer one-off mobile campaigns and more long-term brand partnerships, which he sees as a signal that mobile has cemented its spot in the digital marketing arena.
“It’s not the year of mobile,” he explains. “This is the year brands choose their mobile partners.”
The subject of nearly 100 tweets, my Moments of Trust survey is making its way onto marketing and mobile sites worldwide.
On Mobilegroove, Peggy Anne Salz, a well-regarded mobile industry expert and commentator, called it “must-read analysis that should spark marketers to listen in and answer back.“ http://www.mobilegroove.com/watch-out-listen-in-connected-consumers-can-damage-your-brand/.
(Full disclosure: as many of you know, I write a weekly column on Mobilegroove)
Peggy’s take on the results:
“Connect the dots, and there is an opportunity (even a requirement) for brands to listen in to what people are saying about their retail experiences and — more importantly — respond. No doubt this approach would go a long way toward solving issues before they balloon into full-scale social media meltdowns.”
The study is also featured on Technorati http://technorati.com/business/advertising/article/mobile-phones-become-megaphones-in-intersection/ and IMedia Connection http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/06/19/megaphone-effect-as-consumers-use-mobile-and-social-in-moments-of-trust/.
Mobile Marketer and sister online publication Mobile Commerce Daily covered the Moments of Trust survey findings. Reporter Rimma Kats asked me where I see the megaphone effect going in the next year.
“For 2012, I foresee richer and faster Moments of Trust experiences being sent to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other channels,” I told her. “Devices are more capable – more photos are taken now by phone than dedicated camera and video usage on mobile is on the rise.
Rimma’s take on the results are included in her story - http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/2011/06/17/consumers-increasingly-use-mobile-to-voice-in-store-experiences-survey
Highly enjoyable talk today at Jeff Pulver's 140 Characters Conference where I unveiled new proprietary research on mobile's influence on Moments of Trust. The data is in the preceding post.
The video is here:
Mobile devices have become megaphones for a large portion of users with more than 40 percent telling those in their social networks about negative or positive experiences with brands, according to new research I commissioned and unveil today at Jeff Pulver’s stirring 140 Characters Conference http://nyc2011.140conf.com/.
In a representative national survey of feature phone and smartphone owners, 46 percent reported that they communicated with friends, family and their social network following a positive in-store experience. In addition, 40 percent say they used their phone in a retail location to detail a negative interaction.
For more than 10 years, I have been a frequent analyst and commentator on what I call “Moments of Trust”, consumer touch points with brands that influence trial, sales and loyalty. Mobile certainly now factors into the dynamic.
Of those who used their devices to communicate brand experiences, 18 percent used Facebook; 8 percent employed Twitter; and 32 percent communicated via text message.
In other findings:
· 10 percent said that they had heard from a brand following a post about a retail interaction
· 35 percent said they would want to hear from a store or brand after a negative experience
· 34 percent said they had seen a post from someone in their network
· 48 percent said they would be influenced by a post
What does this all mean?
In my view, nothing has changed while everything has changed. Since day one of commerce, it has been critical to serve the customer. That is, of course, still true today. What is dramatically different is the consumer’s ability to broadcast his or her experiences and to influence consideration and purchase patterns.
During the recession, shortsighted businesses competed on price rather than level of customer service. It turns out that the consumer noticed and in big numbers is reacting now by taking his or her business elsewhere.
According to the American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer, 78 percent of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor service experience. Further, three in five Americans (59 percent) would try a new brand or company for a better service experience. Most surprising and disturbing is the finding that consumers are willing to pay a premium for a good interaction.
According to the study, seven in ten Americans (70 percent) are willing to spend an average of 13 percent more with companies they believe provide excellent customer service. This is up substantially from 2010, when six in ten Americans (58 percent) said they would spend an average of 9 percent more with companies that deliver great service.
As to whether “help” is enough, two in five (42 percent) said companies are helpful but don’t do anything extra to keep their business. Also, one in five (22%) think companies take their business for granted.
The survey is generally in line with global findings from Accenture which reported earlier this year that satisfaction with customer service has decreased since 2009 in each of 11 characteristics measured. Also, 64 percent of consumers have switched companies in the past year due to poor customer service. Accenture findings point to a high level of distrust. Only one in four respondents say they trust the companies with which they do business, according to the survey.
Missing from the survey is detail on what consumers do with their mistrust? Do they use their mobile phones to get on social networks or text when companies fail at so-called “Moments of Trust”? Do individual tweets, blog posts and Facebook postings influence sales and loyalty? I’ve commissioned a study and will release the findings in June when I speak on the subject at Jeff Pulver’s 140 Characters Conference in New York. (Article first published as Paying The Price For Customer Service on Technorati)
I’ve got the number 470 on my mind tonight.
Huh, you wonder? It’s not only the number of years since the saying “you’re known by the company you keep” was first uttered (according to Wiki answers), it is the number of times I smiled today since I got web close to legends Jeff Pulver and Craig Newmark.
Jeff graciously has given us his 140 Character Conference speakers a spot on his highly read blog http://140conf.com/blog. My turn was today http://bit.ly/kY3hKS. Hours later, I shared the page with Craig, the founder of Craigslist. http://bit.ly/j24HW9. I encourage you to read Craig’s post about giving voiceless people a voice.
And, if you’re so inclined, please read my preview of the new Moments of Trust presentation set for June 16.
I also suggest you smile 470 times before bed. I had my reason – I’m sure you have yours.
