#PRWIN - Carphone Warehouse gets social
April 22nd, 2009 by Jon Clements 
Companies using social media to become customer service champions seem to be flavour of the month right now.
Econsultancy has carried its fair share of insightful pieces on the topic, and businesses are really beginning to wake up to its benefits.
And not before time. Last December, I wrote about a personal customer service trial I was going through with a mobile phone company, whose name was spared in the hope the sorry mess would be resolved without resorting to name calling.
Needless to say, it wasn’t and - 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. You can read the specifics about the company’s approach in Guy’s own words here, and he agreed to field a few questions from PR Media Blog on why embracing social media is important for the company. In customer service? Read and learn…
What prompted CPW to get involved with customer care via social media?
I think it’s more a recognition that our customers are taking part in that space. They’re conversing about us on Twitter, Facebook and the various feedback-type sites such as GetSatisfaction, ComplaintCommunity and Plebble. Regardless of whether we choose to ignore the conversations or take part in them, people are going to continue talking about us.
How good/bad would you rate CPW’s customer service reputation previously?
Like many companies we’ve got both advocates and detractors. You tend to be more aware of the negative comments, and a company like CPW has no shortage of them on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. But, I see negative comments in a positive way, as it’s the customer telling us directly what we need to change. They’re the ones experiencing or living the process, not us.
How did CPW management deal with accusations of poor customer service online?
I think businesses have shied away from getting involved in this space. However, the landscape has changed so much now, that everything is happening out in the open. Businesses have the choice to take part or ignore it. Either way, customers will do what they want, write what they want, and we’re probably heading to a time when actually customer service may well be co-created or engineered by customers themselves between customers on sites such as Plebble or ComplaintCommunity.
Is the social media customer approach part of an agreed management strategy or a dipping-toe-in experiment?
We weren’t sure what the response would be. We’ve learnt quickly on the job and I would say there’s a definite appetite for it. We recognise that Twitter has a part to play and we’re still defining what that is. New skills are required, or should I say a new mix of skills is required - part customer service, part PR, part maverick. Not a happy combination for any company.
How well has the social media activity/customer service activity been received so far?
There is an increasing awareness of the opportunities presented by social media and certainly a momentum for it within CPW. The key is to understand what each channel does well, and then see if it fits together. Social media won’t be for every company and that’s okay; companies shouldn’t feel the pressure of having to integrate it. But they should at the very least do their due diligence to see whether it’s something their customers want and, if so, how to use it.
Have you been able to measure the results of your social media activity to date?
We’re still at the early stages of using it and understanding it. However, Twitter is great for a customer to initiate a complaint and a subsequent dialogue with a company, though it’s not a resolution channel. Because of the nature of twitter and Data Protection Act requirements, it does take slightly longer to get to the complaint to deal with it. But that’s simply a process issue to overcome and we’ve simply got to find the best way to deal with it. And what you’ve got to remember with Twitter is that there are entry requirements - knowledge, propensity to tweet, requisite technology, etc. It’s not for everyone; it just gives those who use it another option.
How does it compare to what your competitors are doing?
We’re all doing different things but our angle is very much centred on customer service, whereas mydeco, asos or geek squad will be doing their thing. There’s plenty of room for everyone.
What does the future hold for CPW’s social media engagement?
Onwards and upwards, more learning, but always being honest, transparent, open and feeling empathy for the person complaining. Stephen Covey calls it ‘empathetic listening’. It’s also understanding what this new world looks like: customers are setting the agenda almost, and with Twitter we have the possibility for real time customer engagement in both a positive and negative way, and we have the break up of centralised information held by companies. Companies are having to go out to where customers are; in other words, as I read somewhere, fishing where the fish are.
Tags: Carphone Warehouse, Customer service, EConsultancy, Facebook, Guy Stephens, twitter
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:11 am
I’ve found their instore service to be fantastic and I’ve been following their online attempts too. Both cases they’ve been incredibly helpful compared to the likes of Orange and now I wouldn’t pick up a phone or accessory without visiting them first.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:15 am
Craig
CPW has certainly upped its game and not only is social media enabling the company to solve customer hassles, it’s starting the process of creating brand evangelists online. How valuable is that?!
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
Nice customer experience insight Jon, but in my view the headline “Carphone Warehouse is blazing a trail in social media customer service” is total bunkum.
The intro to your piece, digested, is: employee responds to a customer who found that employee on Twitter.
Would be discussing this if Carphone Warehouse had decided to respond to a customer letter by sending that customer a letter in return? Or if a disgruntled customer called their customer services team who… picked up the ringing phone and responded?
This story makes for an interesting piece only in respect of how you navigated through to customer services at x company. In the same way a decade ago we’d be interested to know that this person had an email address we could reach them on directly.
Truth is, if Guy Stephens at Carphone Warehouse gets x thousand Tweets over the next few months from customers who have a complaint, he’s not going to be able to cope. And the brand suffers because of it.
The point being, Carphone Warehouse isn’t “blazing a trail in social media customer service” just because it responds to a few customers via Twitter. Now, if it said it would respond to *every* customer gripe via Twitter, then maybe we have something. Even then, it only becomes useful in generating positive chatter if all customers’ complaints are resolved to their liking. This isn’t going to happen.
My guess is that large organisations like Carphone Warehouse would simply not be able to monitor, manage and respond to that level of demand from customer services Tweets. Nor should it.
I applaud Carphone Warehouse for engaging in social media, but my view is that using it as a tool to respond to customer services is a very rocky road to go down; it would be better channelling that enthusiasm to engage with customers – and potential customers – online through purpose built, creative, word-of-mouth campaigns.
Adrian
@adrian_johnson
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Adrian,
Any organsiation that is using new networks to engage with customers is breaking new ground. To say that is bunkum is …well bunkum. I agree with your point about engaging via purpose built online channels but why wouldn’t they listen to chatter (and respond) wherever they hear it? The other great thing about openly discussed customer service online is that it sets a tone for the organisation and may answer other consumers questions. Volume will become a problem as more people engage through twitter and other networks - but that is a challenge for customer service generally it isn’t dictated by the channel.
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Adrian
Thanks for your comments.
My contention about CPW is founded on the premise that most organisations with call-centre based customer services get it wrong a lot of the time. CPW is wholeheartedly included in that bad bunch, which is why its foray into social media (and it’s not only Twitter - that’s just the route by which I found help) is very encouraging. A cursory search on other phone companies on Twitter reveals a good portion of pissed off customers being ignored in a social space and passing on their dissatisfaction with gusto. At least CPW is monitoring and tackling its fed up punters on Twitter, as well as other online locations.
I’m not intimate with the company’s other online strategies and maybe its Twitter activity will become overwhelming (they could hire other people, however) but in its sector, I stand by the claim that CPW is “blazing a trail”.
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Adrian
Some really valid observations and ones that I’ve thought about also. You’re absolutely right in that if a customer wrote in or called would such a song and dance be made about it, and the answer is ‘unlikely’. But we also need to consider the channels that are being used.
Letters and phones are essentially for a private audience, between the person writing and receiving, between the person calling and being called. Twitter by its very nature is a far more public medium. That’s not to say that someone can’t copy a letter onto the internet and then blog or tweet about it.
You’re right about your next point also. If I am suddenly inundated by tweets, how would I handle it? Probably not very well. But this is something I’m looking in to at the moment:
>How can we formally integrate Twitter as a valid customer service channel into our existing offerings?
>How scalable is it, if required?
Whether we’re breaking new ground or not - I’ll leave that one to our customers and critics alike. All I know is that our customers are making complaints on Twitter, Facebook, ComplaintCommunity, Plebble etc. Our challenge is to find not only a way to resolve these complaints, but also as a business to recognise that such channels are increasingly becoming more mainstream for customers (beyond the traditional company web site), and we have to find a valid mechanism to integrate them.
We’ve also got to remember this isn’t an all or nothing approach. Some customers will call, some email, others tweet. Our challenge is to provide the best customer service we can by recognising the unique qualities of each channel and how they all fit together for the customer. If you want to discuss this more please feel free to contact me - @guy1067 - I’d be only too pleased to do so.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Hi all, some additional comments on an interesting and healthy debate:
Rob – my bunkum comment (“bunkum-gate”?) is specifically to do with using Twitter to respond to customer gripes. I believe it will simply become too onerous on a large organisation to react to potentially thousands of complaints.
I’m fully behind the concept of monitoring online chatter in all its guises. If a topic becomes popular, with many comments made, then respond; it’s become an issue. But responding to every single personal gripe creates, for me, public dialogue in an area where it’s not always needed.
Having spent the last six years overseeing the PR for a low cost airline, if they were to engage with every single customer service Tweet, the company would grind to a halt! Maybe a bad example sector-wise, but you see my drift.
Jon – I absolutely agree with your point about companies with call centre-based customer services getting it wrong. I’d just say that Carphone Warehouse is merely opening up an additional channel through which it is dealing with customer complaints. For me, that’s not particularly trail-blazing.
For example, would they not be better aiming to improve their call centre experience or sign-up to a company-wide commitment to reduce the time taken to address customer complaints by x %?
That all said, I don’t wish to detract from your general point that it is really interesting to see a large, High Street brand embracing social media – let’s see how it all plays out.
Guy – I’m genuinely interested to see what you are doing through Twitter et al, and how this develops. As mentioned, I just worry that you’ll end up doing nothing but reactive Tweets to customer services questions and queries of all descriptions. If it does become an all-consuming task, perhaps you might have to traffic-light the gripes, responding, say, to just the red light ones.
To finish, no one can knock yourself/Carphone Warehouse for at least wanting to engage in dialogue with your customers. It’s a concept many low cost airlines would do well to follow.
Adrian
@adrian_johnson
April 29th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
So in brief, “well done to CPW because a near-random contact over twitter got someone interested enough in your problem to solve it.”
Could I ask the obvious question? Why didn’t Guy know you had a problem and get involved in sorting it out at any point during the 3 months BEFORE you turned to twitter. Those of us who think twitter is not for us won’t use that, we’d quite like senior CPW people to avoid being distracted by it and make sure people in the call centres do their jobs. A bit Luddit I know…
May 1st, 2009 at 7:07 am
Ian
The point is, I use Twitter and view it as a legitimate way of engaging with companies - it’s certainly not random. Thankfully, so does CPW. I don’t really care how an organisation sorts out my complaint, I just want it sorted, and CPW has identified another avenue for making that happen. It doesn’t excuse poor call centre service - but maybe the feedback CPW gets via social media will help make it clear to the company that all their customer service channels have to perform much better.
May 25th, 2009 at 7:22 am
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May 26th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
CIS Systems
No problem - thanks for your visit.
May 27th, 2009 at 6:50 am
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July 3rd, 2009 at 5:35 am
great tips. I enjoyed reading this,
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:07 am
Very interesting!I?d like to see how far he goes and how well the word will get out.,