I had an issue with my cable provider, Comcast. Over the course of six weeks, I made three calls. Starting with one simple problem, it quickly compounded into three. This led to an in-office visit, then a mailed letter that detailed with my call notes.

Issue Resolved via Social Media

Still no action was taken to address my service issues. Finally, I went to social media to complain, and within three hours got a response to everything I’d been asking for.

All of that cost the company an estimated $300-$600 in customer service calls, time and expense of at least two social media managers to manage my complaints, and approximately $289 for the loss of my business.

It took little to no time at all to uncover multiple social forums of angry customers who aren’t getting the customer service they need from the largest mass media communications company in the world. All of this is exacerbated by more and more options for cutting the cord, further complicating satisfaction and retention strategies.

The Cost of Poor Customer Service

As outlined in a recent customer engagement webinar from DNN, bad customer service is costing US companies $83 billion/year. Apparently, I’ve been part of this growing trend of customer service reviews on social channels increasingly influencing the buying decisions of others.

Online Customer Communities to the Rescue?

And go figure: all along, Comcast does in fact have an online forum for connecting with its customers. Perhaps they should promote its existence a bit more; at any one of these touch-points with customer service, I could have been encouraged to access their branded, online community where I could research solutions, engage with other community members, and save the company (and me) time and money.

In their online customer community, Comcast has the opportunity to address product and service-related issues in positive and constructive ways, and most importantly, retain me as their customer.

They could leverage my activity and involvement for a better understanding of customers overall, and drive product development and marketing activities.

Note: For related best practices on online customer communities, check out this Customer Support Community eBook that we developed.

Maybe Next Time

By the time I received a resolution to my issues, however, so much time had passed and frustration built, that no manner of incentive would keep me as a customer.

5 Ways Customer Communities Address the Needs of Customer Support Managers

By Dennis Shiao

Buyer knows best, and in fact, buyers have more power than ever. So why is it so difficult to find good customer service? If you were looking for a solution to a customer service issue, would you be inclined to join and engage in an organization’s online customer community?