Carriers combine social networking with customer service

Part 1 of 2.

Verizon’s Community Forums have generated more than 10 million page views since they were introduced last July, but it’s not the only company that’s seeing the benefits of merging social networking with customer service. While there is still little documentation to support the business case for community forums, Forrester Research analyst Natalie Petouhoff, for one, is sold on the opportunity. Social media can provide a large return on investment in a short period of time while delivering superb customer experiences, she said.

“I see social media as the opportunity for customer service professionals to own the customer mindset and the customer loyalty,” she said. If done right, Petouhoff’s conservative estimate for the return on investment for online communities is upwards of 130%, a number that will only increase as more people join over time.

Community forums leave the troubleshooting to the customers, encouraging them to work together to solve issues with their products and services. They can ask questions and share advice with other consumers, while also leaving the company feedback. Verizon also monitors the Forums for ideas to improve its product offerings. For example, when the carrier saw a consumer question on the bright lights from a FiOS TV set-top box, it responded by accelerating the delivery of a light-dimming feature in its next STB software upgrade.

“The online world has evolved so much that consumers expect the ability to go in there and find out more from other consumers,” said Verizon spokesman Kevin Laverty. Verizon won’t remove negative or unflattering comments, he said, but it will move individual customer complaints or issues to customer service to resolve.

Verizon created its site with online community platform provider Lithium Technologies, which also counts AT&T, Sprint, Qwest and Comcast in its extensive customer list. In many cases, sites like this have been around for 10 years, but the problem until recently has been that companies weren’t implementing them in the right way, Petouhoff said.  These forums typically ranged from strictly peer-to-peer to some moderation by the company to company-moderated conversations between consumers – what Petouhoff believes is the right strategy to transform the business. To incentive participation, both Verizon and AT&T distinguish their most active members with the label ‘super users’ on Verizon or ‘mobile gurus’ at AT&T to show status and reward participation.