Your customers are talking. Are you listening?
When you tune in to your customers and respond to their needs, you can win their hearts. But the opposite is also true. Remember the “Dell sucks” and the “Comcast Must Die” campaigns several years ago?
Listenomics is based on an old idea that the customer pays the bills. So we need to stop talking long enough to let him tell us what he wants and needs. By listening and responding, we can improve our product, create positive word-of-mouth and strengthen our brand.
This week I experienced the power of listenomics from the customer’s perspective. Here’s what happened…
A case study in listening to your customers
HootSuite is my tool of choice for managing social media. Let me begin by admitting up-front that I may have missed a notification about their upgrade earlier this week. I have a bad habit of not reading emails that smack of promotional twiddle.
But the other morning, when I opened HootSuite, my “Pending Tweets” panel was empty. All the tweets I had scheduled were gone.
I refreshed the panel.
Nothing.
My first reaction was fear. Would I have to reschedule every post for the day? Had HootSuite stopped working? I posted a comment in Facebook and Twitter, asking if anyone else was having similar troubles.
Here’s the response I got:
- When I reopened HootSuite, there was a message in my “Pending Tweets” panel explaining that pending messages had been moved to a new “Publisher” interface. I found it easily and was relieved see all my “lost” tweets.
- In the early afternoon, I got a direct message from @HootSuite-Help, asking if my scheduled tweets were still missing. Remember, I had never reached out to HootSuite. Impressive.
- Later that afternoon, I received an email notifying me of the new HootSuite Publisher dashboard. A little late, I felt, but this email I actually read.
The fact that I don’t always read vendor emails aside, I believe HootSuite should have announced the change before it happened.
Nevertheless, I applaud them for turning a potentially negative experience into a positive one. They were watching their mentions, saw my question, and reached out to me.
Social media has changed the game
Marketing was time-intensive before we added social media to the mix. With the addition of social, keeping your head above water is a challenge.
But now that social media is mainstream marketing, the marketing game has changed. There’s less push and more pull, less PR and more conversation. We score more points for being accessible and engaging than we do for having cute jingles and creative ads.
Social media has integrated areas that used to be siloed. So, for instance, HootSuite’s tweet was more than an act of good-will. It was PR, marketing and customer service all wrapped up together.
But here’s my point: They were listening for their name, so they heard my whisper.
Are you listening?
Businesses that don’t listen can’t respond. Our world has become so social that you can’t ignore your customer’s voice. No response is considered a negative response.
But that’s not all. Because of social media, you no longer control your story. You, along with your customers, create your story every day.
What story are you creating? Do you listen for your name and respond to questions and comments up-front? Do you engage your customers — or just hope they’ll go away.
Sadly, that’s the message consumers are getting from many companies. And they’re happy to oblige. Don’t shut down your customers. Listen to them, and engage.
Kudos to HootSuite for a job well-done.
photo credit: woodleywonderworks
