Web 2.0 generation gives power back to the customer

The customer is fighting back against poor service with the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and in response, customer services departments are creating a new job role - that of ‘Social Networking Supervisor’.

Web 2.0 is radically changing the way organisations interact with customers and is giving power back to them as they use it to communicate with each other creating large communities of like-minded individuals.

“Prior to Web 2.0, it was the case that each customer had one line of communication between him/herself and customer services, but was unable to talk to other customers in the same position,” said Tim Easton, Director, Numero.

“However with the advent of social networking sites like Facebook, blogs and wikis, it’s now possible for customers to share their experiences - bad or good.

“So, for example, where a customer may have an issue with the customer service they’ve received, they’re now able to find others in the same position and create a more powerful argument to drive a solution to the problem.

“By creating online communities to work together for the good of the collective entity - it’s effectively ‘ganging-up’, 21st century-style!”

Web 2.0 is the term for new technologies and techniques that enable users to drive greater personalisation and interaction - giving the customer the ability to post information online on websites, blogs, wikis or other shared ‘communities’.

“More and more, customer services departments are dedicating time to monitoring sites like Facebook where it’s possible to create a group of customers who are experiencing the same problems as each other,” said Easton.

“We’re witnessing the creation of a new job role in the customer services department - that of Social Networking Supervisor - whose job it is to track blogs, social networking sites and other online sources for any disgruntled customers airing their views.

“The supervisor is then able to post their own helpful response to the problem directly back to the customer on his or her chosen online site.

“Customer services departments really can’t afford not to recognise that the customer has more channels through which to express themselves online than ever before, and that it’s giving the power back to the customer.”