Customer service in 140 characters

Agenda Fish where the fish are The Carphone Warehouse ecosystem Twitter & blogs Future challenges and next steps

‘Fish where the fish are’ …understands the behaviors and locations of their own customers online… …as a result, they are more successful in connecting with customers Jeremiah Owyang Customers have created their own spaces, networks and ecosystems built on the sharing of information, help and trust

The Carphone Warehouse ecosystem

If required the issue is then escalated through to resolution to Fanatical Support. Tweetdeck with searches set up for Carphone Warehouse, Carphone, Tweetdeck 4

How we use Twitter Provide customer service alerts Identify and resolve complaints Early warning system Answer queries about products and service Provide information: help tips, stock availability, store location Carry out quick surveys Monitor / manage brand reputation Lead generation / soft sell Let people know what we’re doing

Why we use Twitter Because it’s there, it’s the future Our customers are there Information is moving outwards Talking in the language of our customers Cost savings for low level queries Speeds up the identification of issues/complaints Listening empathetically and saying ‘I’m sorry’ works Search: The Carphone Warehouse help blog > KANA IQ

Why blog? Twitter and blogs naturally work together Extension of Twitter space Search Engine Optimisation Develop a ‘personality’

Extension of Twitter space Tweets are only 140 characters – but not every question can be answered in two sentences We write blogs about questions our customers are asking on Twitter, and then point them to the blog. For example – Remote locking a Nokia N97 It works the other way too. We write something we want people to know, and then Tweet it out There are lots of Twitter accounts who retweet our content to interested followers – especially iPhone and BlackBerry Great for building our reputation as experts

Search Engine Optimisation Wordpress is brilliant for getting to the top of search engines quickly Whether customers are asking Google or Twitter, our blog lets us answer the question for them For instance a Tech21 iPhone case featured on Dragons’ Den recently

Dragons’ Den blog Our blog is top of Google for ‘dragons den phone case’. Since Dragons’ Den: On Tour showed on 13 September: ‘dragons den phone case’ - 31 visitors ‘dragons den phone cover’ - 24 visitors 212 visitors all together 75 people have clicked on the link to the sales page

Develop an online personality Talk about how we’re using social media Post things that wouldn’t work on the main Carphone Warehouse site Post fun things that are interesting but not necessarily useful! Be chatty and fun

Future challenges and next steps Information trust / integrity of ‘mobile knowledge’ Knowledge: harnessing, reusing Knowledge: local, at source Scalability of service Proving ROI Integration of social media with traditional channels Brand ‘me’ vs The Carphone Warehouse brand The power of hashtags Silos vs collaboration Social media exposes a company’s heartbeat; everything is laid bare

A final word …in desperation - I turned to Twitter to try to penetrate what felt like the huge, uncaring behemoth of Carphone Warehouse. And I found Guy Stephens, the company’s Knowledge and Online Help Manager, who appeared to be tackling customer rage in a passionately empathetic way on Twitter. I tweeted him at 8pm; by 8.07pm, I had a reply, rendering me unconditionally blown away. Three months of periodic call centre torture had got me nowhere, but via social media I felt listened to within minutes and my problem solved within a few days. True, I was a departing customer, but not before being turned from a ”hater” to a fan of what Carphone Warehouse is doing to improve its customer experience via social media…. From:

Guy Stephens Customer Knowledge Manager, The Carphone Warehouse Tweet me: Call me: