I was recently listening to a podcast that is focused on pop culture and politics. Prior to this podcast, one of the panelists had been having difficulties with his internet service provider.
The panelists spent fifteen minutes discussing the situation, repeatedly naming the company and reviewing everything that company did wrong. This particular podcast has a sizeable audience, but they were not the only people who heard about the issue. The panelist with the problem has more than 150,000 followers on Twitter. The other two panelists have around 50,000 followers on Twitter combined. So not only were the listeners of the podcast treated to an in-depth examination of this company’s poor customer service practices, but those practices were then amplified through other social media channels.
There are two powerful ideas in this anecdote that I think are relevant for companies worried about improving customer experience. The first is the democratization of broadcasting. The second is the amplification provided by our connected world.
In years past, a disgruntled customer had little recourse, other than abusing whatever unfortunate call center worker took his call. With the new creative culture created by the internet, you never know what reach a customer might have. That unhappy customer might have a million followers who love the landscape photos he posts on Instagram. That network can be easily repurposed to push that customer’s complaint in front of millions of people. Once that complaint goes out into the social networks, the amplification effect comes into play. Each one of those Instagram followers has followers, and may cross post on other networks.
In a matter of minutes, that complaint can end up on the front page of Reddit, which is not where you want your poor customer experience practices to be featured.
As the power of the bullhorn has shifted to customers and away from companies, effective customer communications and effective customer experience become ever more important. One bad customer experience no longer has a limited reach, but can quickly become a problem seen at the highest levels of your company. In the new networked world, a company that does not value customer experience may not understand the true risk they are running.
