What Does The Internet Say About Your Company?
February 19th, 2009 // 11:57 am @ Aidah Omar
photo credit: karla kaulfuss
This post was prompted when I read an article on ChrisBrogan.com about customer experiences. Now this story is based in the US but I think the relevancy is very important back to customer service in Singapore.
Beth Ziesenis from Life on Avenue Z was unhappy about her experience with her SanDisk player which died on her while she was jogging. Using Twitter which is a micro-blogging service, she fired off a less than 140 characters post (also called a “tweet”) about her unhappiness with her brand new Sansa player. Within hours, someone from SanDisk saw the “tweet” and immediately replied. The SanDisk PR manager who saw her tweet managed to get Beth’s Sansa player replaced after exchanging a few emails and trying to understand the source of the problem of the player.
That simple “tweet” got the attention of over 600 people and when Beth shared the news of her excellent customer experience with SanDisk on her Twitter account – the message got retweeted (mentioned again by her followers) thousands of times. SanDisk has clearly understood the power of the Internet and closely monitored the online world for mentions of their products.
Not only that, SanDisk has gone beyond just monitoring but actually reaching out to customers. Its ability to use online tools like Twitter and leverage on it has generated goodwill amongst many in the Twitter-sphere and online world in general. People will remember SanDisk as a customer-oriented company.
Now I’ve been looking for a new smartphone and decided to scan online reviews about user experiences. What I managed to find instead is the large amount of customer dissatisfaction that is written online on the telco companies in Singapore. Most of these posts have their writers seems resigned to their fate, often ending their legitimate complaint that they will never sign another contract with the unfavorable company.
From what I sense is that local companies in Singapore do not really care about what the Internet says about them. It’s a small group of customers who are unsatisfied and air their grouses over the World Wide Web. The impact is currently insignificant. I can see the logic of not focusing on 10% of your customer base that are unhappy.
This may be true… but in the long-run people will turn online to seek the opinions of others before making a decision. In a recent research highlighted in this Wall Street Journal article about online shopping: A whopping 92% of respondents said they had more confidence in information they seek out online than anything coming from a salesclerk or other source.
Now SanDisk has gotten it right but trying to have a semblance of control of its image on the Web. It will matter what people think about companies online. It also means that it is time to start moving from traditional media to the Web. Online advertising will grow and it is up to you to decide when to jump ship.
Yes, your current group of customers may comprise of people who rarely go online to get information. But Gen Y will grow up and be a major marketing force to be reckoned with. Marketers will need to consider their needs to research online first before making a decision to buy. That unhappy 10% will gain greater spending power, and in a few years’ time will be the other 90% customer base.
Companies that are quick enough to catch this trend will benefit.
It used to apply only for big purchase decisions, but now they do research before even buying that bottle of shampoo. It is a trend that is spreading down the product chain.
It will be a broad shift in the marketplace and local Singapore companies may have to start playing catch-up. What does the Internet say about Your Company?
Category : Internet Marketing
