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Comcast cares....using twitter to give great customer service
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Comcast cares?…No seriously it does.
I have to be honest with you. If I saw that headline 4 or 5 years ago I would have laughed out loud. But the world has changed and so has Comcast’s customer service. Comcast started making changes in October 2007 with the hiring of Senior Vice President Rick Germano. I actually noticed this change when I sent an email to him about a billing issue. I was shocked when later that day I got a call from a service representative who was empowered to solve my problem.
I think the biggest change has come with the use of Twitter. In a conversation I had with @comcastcares (Frank Eliason) who started twittering for Comcast in April 2008.
“Part of Twittering success is being personal, being natural.” Eliason said. “If all you do is Twitter about business you will find that no one connects with you. Even with only 140 characters you still need to be you, to personalize and build rapport. The most successful ones are like Zappos that really does a great job of being engaging.”
He likes the “searchability and timeliness of Twitter”
Eliason finds that he can solve some problems with 140 characters. But if he needs to understand an issue, he will ask the person to share their story in an email. With regard to customer service Eliason said, “It all comes down to the story.”
Comcast has a daily newsletter that they send out to 3000 people, which Eliason finds is a great way to share stories and document the answers. Using a newsletter is a great way for everyone to be aware of what the customers are saying and how their issues were resolved. This newsletter breaks down what they see and hear. They cover what is on Youtube and blogs. They share the compliments they hear and the emails that Rick gets.
Eliason doesn’t just twitter by himself. He has a group of fellow customer service Twitterers who Twitter as themselves. They run searches to listen to what is being said about Comcast. When asked what he looks for in a customer service Twitterer he responded “I love to hire customer advocates. I look for people who may challenge me, people who are passionate for the customer. If they show that passion I want them.” More importantly, his boss Rick Germano encourages customer advocacy.
Now, I prefer speaking to a company. Comcast has made sure that the people I speak to are friendly, engaged, and helpful. Not everyone prefers this method. In order to communicate in the way that best serves their customer you can contact Comcast in a number of ways; phone, email or through live chats.
Eliason said, “Speed is very important when dealing with customers. We strive to do that with our communication channels.”
How can you use social media to provide customer service to your customers?
Eliason has some great tips:
- Watch before you engage
- Be a proper member of the community before rushing in
- Be personal and natural
- Reach out with forums
- Twitter as both yourself and your company (but if you read an issue about your company while Twittering as yourself, become “superman” and swoop in to help)
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