In this age of Web 2.0 and social networking, providing excellent customer service is paramount. Just one bad customer experience can quickly blossom into a major headache for an organization once word gets out on Facebook, Twitter or on the many blogs, message boards and wikis out there on the Web.
The challenge for most organizations is figuring out how to deliver customer service the “right” way in the midst of all these changes. The strategies used for providing good customer service in this age of Web 2.0 require continuous updating and modification: The approach you take today might not be the right one by the time 2011 rolls around.
Not only is this frustrating for the organizations looking to deliver good customer service, but also for the customers, who in many cases think the companies they’re dealing with “just aren’t getting it.”
To help organizations stay abreast of the latest customer service trends – and how best to react to them – Interactive Intelligence, a leading provider of contact center technology, has launched its “Ditch the Frustration” campaign. The goal of the campaign is to provide customer-facing organizations with a wealth of up-to-date resources they can use to improve their customer service.
This includes anecdotes taken from real-life customer service scenarios which will help organizations see things through the eyes of customers in the “Web 2.0 Age.” These resources are available through a new microsite, www.ditchthefrustration.com. In addition the company is inviting everyday consumers to share stories about exceptional -- or painfully bad -- customer service experiences they have had, so that others can learn from those experiences.
“There’s a ton of existing customer service-related information out there, but it’s incredibly time-consuming to sift through it all to find the items that are really useful,” said Interactive Intelligence Chief Marketing Officer Joe Staples in a release. “So we’ve taken some of our own resources based on over 15 years of experience developing customer service software, along with resources from a select group of experts in the field, and created a single user-friendly place for people to easily find the most useful and current information available.”
The “Ditch the Frustration” microsite features articles, white papers, blog posts, videos and podcasts covering a range of topics including how to properly handle customer service interactions; tactics consumers can use to receive better service; and guidance about incorporating the latest Web 2.0 technologies into a customer service strategy.
Visitors to the site can also submit their own tips, with the chance to be selected for a monthly prize drawing. They can also “rate” the usefulness of the tips by giving them a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” What’s more visitors can submit questions about customer service, with answers provided by experts from Interactive Intelligence.
All of this information is offered for free and without any “sales pitch” -- there are no capture forms to fill out when accessing the various resources -- the campaign is not designed to be a “lead generation” tool. The goal of the campaign, according to company officials, is to “educate – and in some cases to entertain – through content that is informative, unbiased, and timely.”
The site even features a "Weekly Funnies" page that includes a cartoon each week related to customer service!
Interactive Intelligence plans to announce highlights from the campaign, including giveaways and awards, at Technology Marketing Corp.’s ITEXPO East conference taking place Feb. 2-4, in Miami, Fla.