Social Media Madness
The Three-Card Monte of Customer Service?
Having read all the white papers, heard the webcasts, visited the sites of “Social CRM” providers and end-users…and with the acknowledgement that social media has intrinsic value and is here to stay (with or without Google Sidewiki)…I’m left wondering if the current social media feeding frenzy is not – at least in part – a convenient distraction for an industry that’s failed to deliver on the most widely used customer service channels: phone, chat and email.
Is there no obligation to address the shortcomings of the tools most consumers are presently offered before the industry moves on to promote its new higher calling? Last month’s RightNow / Loudhouse research showed that, on the purchase side, 50% of consumers prefer online self-service, compared with phone (18%) or email (19%). If the industry offered true self-service on the customer service side, consumer preferences would likely be similar.
Chat, IVR and most Knowledge-Based Systems, however, do not really deliver customer self-service solutions. Neither does fancy technology. Another newly published study – underwritten in part by Cisco – showed a continued decline in customer satisfaction levels with IVR-based speech recognition systems. Apparently, people have figured out that automated voice is more of a cost saving for companies than it is a convenience for customers. Or maybe they’re just tired of screaming into their phones.
I’m all for consumers having greater voice through community. But based on market sentiment, if customer service were a Broadway show, it would flop faster than Brighton Beach Memoirs. And Social CRM will not fix customer service shortcomings.
Gartner’s CRM analyst Michael Maoz, in his recent blog (“Press 3 for more options (and other signs your social network is insincere”), may have landed on the perfect solution for challenges the industry hasn’t yet figured out for itself: apply social media to let consumers solve them.
Like this:
This entry was posted on November 2, 2009 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Communication Channels, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Online Self-Service, Social CRM, Social Media. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: #customerservice, #scrm, #socialcrm, futurebiz, linkedin
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November 3, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Yes, and No.
Social CRM is 9 parts hype and 1 part value (today).
Companies need to at least consider their social business design/strategy and should be considering Social Support Communities (SSC). Check out a recent post of mine on SSC:
http://johnfmoore.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/who-needs-ssc-you-do-and-time-is-running-out/
I continue to argue the industry needs to focus on success rates, as you are too. The majority of CRM roll-outs fail so no amount of social interaction will fix that….
Thanks, good post.
John
http://twitter.com/JohnFMoore
November 3, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Thanks John,
Social CRM issues aside, one reason customer service is failing at basic blocking and tackling is because companies have not invested the time and attention to select, train, manage and inspire the people who pick up the phones. And they have not yet scratched the surface of the internet’s potential to deliver self-service solutions. Companies are failing on both counts because those tasks involve hard work; there are no plug-and-play solutions. But there are exceptions out there: Beryl Companies, the healthcare industry outsourcer, has built a culture where agents are valued and motivated. Ideal Dialogue Company is a technology company that focuses on the core of customer service, which is human communication. There are true customer service evangelists out there.
November 3, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Very complex issues involved but we can achieve results, just have to get enough people focused in the right direction.
Great read, glad I saw this today.
JOhn
November 24, 2009 at 5:52 am
The trouble with three letter acronyms is they attempt to boil down complexx issue into simple banners but they end up meaning different things to different people.
CRM to a software company meant a chance to repackage old sales force automation or helpdesk software as something innovative. To consultants it gave the chance to look like some old sage who’d been spouting this theory for years. For the business manager it was a tick box to complete on the route to a senior role – the big mistake was believing it would be easy.
On the plus side in all this fug some people took the customer seriously – including software companies, consultants and managers.
Social CRM has the same issues written all over it – and a lot of new ones. Loads of ‘experts’ but not a lot expertise and experience.
So keep up the good work and spread word.
M
http://twitter.com/marklturner
November 24, 2009 at 8:27 am
Thanks, Mark. One of my favorite fairy tales is “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The moral of that story may also apply here.