"We Sincerely Apologize"

Over the last several weeks we have examined companies and campaigns that use social media to listen to, talk with, and energize the groundswell.  Most of the companies we have looked at so far are using social media pretty successfully.  Today, we are going to look at Spectrum, a TV, internet, and phone provider which has been much less successful in their use of social media than other organizations we have looked at.  The video below is a typical experience that many Spectrum customers have blogged or written about online.

"We sincerely apologize" and "I am so sorry for the service issue" are two variations of the typical internet response from company representatives that we see on social media.  Has receiving a half-hearted, and probably insincere, apology from a company representative ever fixed a problem you were having? Me neither!  Unfortunately, this is a typical response that Spectrum sends its customers when they complain about problems with their Spectrum service.  Spectrum uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.  And unfortunately for Spectrum, customers are angry across every platform.

In an attempt to corral the negative comments and complaints Spectrum introduced the Twitter profile Ask Spectrum where customers can tweet their problem and receive help from the Spectrum customer support team.  However, the response from a customer service representative is typically a "copy and paste", generic-looking response asking the customer to direct message their account information to receive assistance.  For example, the response below was sent to several different customers who tweeted that they needed assistance with different problems.

It is possible that the customers who tweeted their problem on Twitter had their problem solved in the privacy of their Twitter direct messages.  However, seeing as the rating of Spectrum services earns only 1.3 out of 5.0 stars on Facebook, I think it is safe to say that Spectrum customers are not satisfied with the service or support they are receiving, at least not in Worcester.

We know from Groundswell that one way listening to the groundswell changes your organization is through the "no-more-being-stupid factor" (97).  As we are seeing here, Spectrum customers are ruthlessly exposing Spectrum's stupid, unfair, or useless policies, procedures, and products.  Li and Bernoff state that companies must listen to the complaints from the groundswell and stop being stupid!  However, many cable companies, including Spectrum, can get away with continuing to be stupid because they hold a monopoly in many areas.  Therefore, no matter how much their customers complain, there is likely little competition in the area, and few, if no other providers for the customers to turn to.

Poor customer service, half-hearted online apologies, and the continuation of stupid practices despite anger from the groundswell are just a few reasons why Spectrum has built an online community of anti-Spectrum enthusiasts.  Spectrum may be able to salvage their online presence if they recognize the importance of having the groundswell on their side and commit to strengthening their customer service practices.  However, until they realize the importance of having positive buzz, the groundswell will continue to mercilessly expose Spectrum's stupidity.

Reflection Two

In chapters 5 through 8 of Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, we learn the importance of talking with, listening to, and energizing the groundswell.  Li and Bernoff also provide us with helpful advice on how to successfully use a variety of tactics to tap into the groundswell to market our brands.  These chapters include a lot of very helpful advice, but I am going to focus on 3 main points from this chapter that I think are the most important in marketing our brands today.


First, we need to make an effort to listen to and energize the groundswell.  Li and Bernoff state that one way we can listen to the groundswell by setting up a private community.  As mentioned in my post last week,  Zox is one company which set up private communities for their customers.  Harley Davidson is a second brand that has created a community specifically for customers, the Harley Owners Group.  Membership is reserved for Harley owners and riders and includes many benefits including access to the members-only website, H.O.G. merchandise, and admittance to exclusive rallies and events, to name a few.  These private communities are a place for us to listen to our customers in a 'mini-groundswell' while connecting with and energizing our most loyal customers.

Second, Li and Bernoff explain the value in energizing the groundswell by encouraging our promoters to market our brand through word of mouth.  In the digital age, trust comes from the ground level, so word of mouth is very important in marketing our brands.  One way to build connections with our promoters is through ratings and reviews.  Including a ratings and reviews system has many benefits from increasing purchases to providing feedback to your company on their products and services.  According to Li and Bernoff, 96% of customers use online reviews to help make purchases (p. 138) while 62% of online North American consumers trust ratings and reviews (p. 132).

Amazon is one company which utilizes ratings and reviews for their products.  Not only can customers view the total star-rating for a product, but they can also view star-ratings by feature or ratings from certain customer groups.  For example, take a look at the rating breakdown for a JanSport Right Pack Laptop Backpack.

In addition to Amazon's rating feature, they have introduced the ability for customers to ask and answer questions regarding the product.  This feature takes the ratings and review feature one step further and allows customers to directly ask questions they have prior to purchasing the product in question.

Finally,  implementing support forums is one tactic to help the groundswell support itself.  According to Li and Bernoff, an average customer support call costs an organization 6 to 7 dollars while a technical support call costs between 10 to 20 dollars.  In addition, customer support lines can be incredibly frustrating for customers.  Community support forums are one option we can consider to reduce the volume of support calls while still ensuring customer's questions are answered.  PlayStation is one company that has implemented community support forums for their products. 

I personally use the support forums anytime I have a technical issue.  As a result, I personally have never had to pick up a phone and actually call for technical support.  The ability to ask questions on the community support forum saves PlayStation money on support calls and saves customers the frustration of having to deal with customer support lines.

Do you know of any other brands who have used one of these strategies? Were they successful? Share your thoughts below!