21.10.2009

Tweeting with Customers

By: Christiane Stagge

Whether it’s Xing, Twitter or forums – in online communities, people exchange opinions, experiences, and criticism 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This presents an opportunity companies would be ill-advised to miss.

In Online-Communities companies can learn what customers really want (photo: Jupiterimages) (Foto: Jupiterimages)

What do customers think? What do potential purchaser groups expect of certain products? To answer such questions, many companies conduct surveys by conventional or electronic mail. But what happens when customers fail to send back the questionnaires? Did they not have the time, or are they simply not interested in the product in question? In order to learn more about what customers really think and want, companies need to maintain a presence in the channels their clients use. This is where social communities, forums, and partner Web sites come into play. 

It’s a cat’s life

“The customer is a cat,” says Franziska Weißbach, head of relationship management consulting at the consultancy Ogilvy Brains. Weißbach believes it is not enough to simply throw the customer a bone, as one would do to a dog. Customers are curious and strong-willed; they are exploring options; and they are deciding independently when and what they want to communicate and, finally, when and what they want to buy. They obtain information on the Internet and browse forums to read about the experiences others have had with products. This places new demands on customer relationship management departments: No longer static, CRM has become a round-the-clock activity.

Online communities are not only helping marketing employees learn more about what customers think and want; they are making communication with clients faster and more direct than is possible by e-mail.

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