Can call centers afford not to care about blogs?

This very moment, thousands of people might be talking about you, your products and services online through blogs and social networks. Can you still rely on your regular channels of customer feedback?

The popularity of blogs and boom of social networks are increasingly becoming a factor in customer perception. The accessibility of the internet has paved the way for concerned customers to channel their gripes and rants through the most accessible means they have instead of the traditional complaints department. The bad news about is they find more "willing ears" to listen which in turn may affect the overall perception of how companies are treating customers.

Blogs and social networks are Web 2.0 properties which are websites that facilitate and encourage participants to exchange ideas better and in turn allow people to make judgments on customer issues faster than most concerned companies can cope with. A good example of a customer-centered blog is consumerist.com, a highly-authoritative blog with high participation from readers usually consumer advocates. Business executives also follow this blog closely because of its consumer clout.

Facebook and Twitter are more powerful Web 2.0 properties. With networks, groups and associations numbering to almost infinity, exchange of ideas (especially negative feedback) can spread faster than wildfires and can substantially affect consumer perception. Everyday, people are using whatever, resources they have online to look up company information, feedback and alternative ways to channel their grievances. On this call center blog alone for example, many have found their way here from searches engines by searching Sears call center according to my website analytics. Those people end up writing about their bad customer experience with Sears. The bad news for Sears is that more and more people will be doing the same thing, getting similar complaints and finding more negativity written about their organization without them having the slightest clue about it.

This current trend presents outsourced call centers with a dilemma of possibly losing their contracts with a client if it is found that the source of real risk to client reputation have stemmed from their locations. Many unsatisfied customers will find alternative ways to air their bad experiences if regular channels for complaints are hard to reach or unresponsive. Technology has once again left behind contemporary CRM. According to surveys, over 50% of customer today have used Facebook, Twitter and Google to find answers to their problems rather than calling call centers for help.

The good new is call center technology giants like Cisco and Salesforce are already collaborating on a technology that will effectively penetrate these new channels and deliver proactive service where the customers feel most comfortable in. This is relatively new and they haven't gotten around to prove anything with it. Until such time they create credible results, call centers and their clients like Verizon will do good if they ensure customer resolution through their traditional channels and monitor customer feedback through blogs and social networks. How? Go to twitter (for example) and search relevant keywords to find out what people are talking about regarding your services.

Posted in: Call Center Technology