A proposal has recently been put forward using an app to connect customers in trouble with those who have answers or at least advice. Many businesses now use social media to communicate with their customers, but very few successfully respond to the large number of comments and more importantly complaints they receive through these mediums.
Many customers have learned that for a quick fix, the best route to take if you have a problem is to ask the web as a whole: do some research through a search engine and see what has been published on the subject. Essentially this proposal is the same; allows customers to respond on behalf of the company, reducing the number of queries the company has to deal with.
The people to look for when establishing this type of community and recruiting those who can populate it, are people who are already active members in the company’s forums. These people are already enthusiastic about the brand, so they can act as good ambassadors for the company and probably already have a very good knowledge of the products. The only additional aspect that is necessary for this hypothetical product to work effectively is a filtering tool that can see when someone is making a serious complaint or needs specialized technical support, that is, something that cannot be provided in what is essentially a community forum.
Another problem is that this study specifically looks at the company’s response, or lack of response, to comments, complaints, and inquiries made through social networking sites. A system will be maintained for customers to contact the company directly, by phone, email or letter, and this proposed software will work to relieve some pressure both from those who work for the company and those who are struggling to keep up with the increasing demand for contact. but also those who essentially work for free in community forums.
This software, if adopted by major conglomerates, would also help existing customer support services. Relieving some of the pressure currently on customer service teams to deal with the sheer number of inquiries would allow them to better serve those who still require traditional customer service.
Outsourcing is something every business looks to do when looking to expand and that is simply all of it: the desire of major companies to outsource their customer service to those who are excited. Also, since the proposed software is internet-based, companies can employ people anywhere and anywhere in the world, so they can actually get the best people for the job because the job is not location-specific.