Crowdsourcing customer service

Crowdsourcing customer service

Published on: May 18, 2011
Author: Epticablog
Crowdsourcing is one of today’s big buzz words with more and more companies turning to their customers or the general public for input on everything from new products to marketing campaigns. The latest blue chip company to embrace the crowd is food retailer Waitrose, which is about to launch Seriously Chocolatey Rose-Infused Chocolate Ganache, a new dessert based on a recipe submitted by one of its customers.

Product development and marketing aren’t the only areas of a business that can benefit from the wisdom of crowds – it is something that can equally be applied to customer service. Here are two ways crowdsourcing benefits customer service:

Share customer answers

Normally, at least 80 per cent of questions asked on your website, Facebook or via email are common to most situations, so use this knowledge to make it easier for your customers to get the information they want. Dynamically display your most popular questions and answers visibly at the front of your self-service pages, so customers can access them with a single click without needing to type a single word.

Analyse your feedback

Analysing the most popular questions asked through your contact centre and website gives you an unparalleled awareness of what your total customer base wants to know, meaning you can tailor content, products and services to their changing needs quickly and effectively. If everyone asks if your new shirt comes in blue, chances are you should add that colour to the range.

Both of these tactics deliver insight direct from your customers when they are actively interacting with your business – rather than through sterile, arm’s length, market research. So use the power of crowdsourcing to learn, better inform and deliver customer service across all your channels.

Tags: Business, Crowdsourcing, Customer Service, Facebook, Market research, Marketing, recipe, Waitrose
Categories: Contact Center, Customer Service, E-commerce, Multichannel Customer Service, Retail, Self-service

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