Use with extreme caution.

We have written before on the perils of Twitter, and now must add some more cautionary notes. A recent report from researchers at the University of Illinois “Mapping The Global Twitter Heartbeat” says that whilst there has been prolific growth - nearly three percent of the entire global population among its active users, Twitter activity is highly concentrated among a small subset of heavy users. Among the highlights of the study was the revelation that:

The top 1% of Twitter users accounted for 20% of all tweets. Expanding that out a little, the top 5% accounted for 48% of all tweets and the top 15% accounted for 85%.

So it is not quite the universal communication tool some would have us believe. Nor is it the creative platform for 23.9% of tweets included a retweet notification!

In another study, this time by Carnegie Mellon University in January 2012, they further highlight issues with the content:

Twitter users say that only 36% of all Tweets are worth reading.

Clearly Twitter has a place BUT businesses that devote too much effort to developing social media relationships through Tweets or assuming Twitter is some form of online complaints or engagement platform might look at the facts and, in the words of John Cleese:

 I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

1)    89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience. Source: RightNow Customer Experience Impact Report 2011

2) Even in a negative economy, customer experience is a high priority for consumers. 60 per cent say they often or always pay more for a better experience. Source: Harris Interactive, Customer Experience Impact Report

3)    Only 26% of companies have a well-developed strategy in place for improving the customer experience.  Source: Econsultancy MultiChannel Customer Experience Report

The last one says it all – a huge opportunity to improve profits as a result of simply HAVING a customer experience strategy.

Remember, every single customer experience counts.  The better the customer experience a company provides, the more likely their customers are to purchase again and to recommend your company to friends – and the less likely customers are to take their business to a competitor.  Differentiate your brand based on the experience you deliver to your customers, not on the products you sell.

A recent Consumer Pulse study of over  1,400 U.S. consumers conducted by Boston-based custom research firm, Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB) and iModerate Research Technologies, looked at why customers complete customer satisfaction surveys, and what they expect from companies and brands in return.

This is one of those Myth-busting moments when the ghosts of dogma concerning respondee types can be laid to rest. Two ghosts in particular.

The study found customers give feedback as part of their “job” as a consumer, 57% say they give feedback to help improve the company.  And customers don’t see themselves as passive consumers but rather as empowered—actively participating in helping companies improve how they do business. So the surveys are simply NOT just taken by the whingers – rather a more representative group, actively concerned with all things good and bad. In fact, the good news for companies is that half of customers complete satisfaction surveys to share a good experience, versus 35% who do so to register a complaint against the company.

“If the business wants to know how they are doing for their customers, then it is good to help them by giving them feedback, whether positive or negative. And that makes you feel like perhaps you have helped them.” —Male, 40 to 44

So far so good – but here is the problem AND the second ghost, specifically that businesses do respond to feedback appropriately. When customers do have a negative experience they expect feedback or a response from the company, and most often this is not what they receive. The research shows that only 35% of consumers recall getting a response from a company the last time they shared a negative experience.

“If they’re going to respond, I’d like it to be specific enough that it looks like a person read my comments and is responding to what I said. Not just a “thank you, have a nice day” kind of response.” – Female, 45 to 49

Seems like surveys are powerful data collection AND retention tools.

Procuring reliable customer feedback is one thing — implementing an improvement based on that feedback quickly enough that a dissatisfied customer won’t jump ship for another service company is quite another.

According to Matt Selbie, that’s where Opiniator comes in, a multi-platform customer feedback technology intended to prevent customers from deferring. Selbie, the company’s founder and president, says Opiniator allows customers to deliver real-time, actionable feedback to a service company. “Our key purpose is to prrvent customers from deferring,” Selbie said.

“Most customers are solving the wrong problem when it comes to loyalty,” Matthew Selbie, President of OPINIATOR, says. Selbie points out as many as 36 percent of customers never come back, with restaurants having the highest defection rate.

They conclude that it’s no surprise many small businesses are learning the value of customer retention. Loyal customers can provide a steady stream of income that can sustain a business through both good times and bad. Many technology solutions are geared toward attracting new customers, but what about tools to help small businesses keep the customers they already have?

Delighted to be included.

Surveys are a critical method for capturing key information on your prospects and customers, but they can also be a tool that’s misused and provides data that drives your business in the wrong direction. Not to mention the fact that everyone seems to be trying to poke consumers and businesses for data today to develop programs that segment and target with improved precision. The deluge of requests is actually having an impact on the industry… survey takers are running low on patience….shocker!

So those wonderful guys at Zendesk have come out with a great Infographic that’s an easy read but a slap to the face at the same time. The infographic is here. The catchy title is:

Are Your Customers Sick of Surveys?

Customer Surveys – Wasting Time?

The big conclusions:

1. Too many surveys
2. Too many BAD surveys
3. So keep the survey short
4. Keep it interesting

OPINIATOR takes two minutes MAX and easy for the customer..and we think very interesting.

Top Reasons Why Customers Switch:

• Interaction with rude employee
• Unexpected charge or fee
• Poor quality of product or service

Effects of Bad Experiences

• 82% of people have stopped doing business with a company due to to bad customer service

Happy New Year and looking forward to Customer Retention improvements.

They’re not seen as having genuine business influence. The CMO’s power has been rapidly eroded and the CMO is dead. Nobody has a clear idea of what marketing is. It’s fuzzy. Ask 20 senior managers what marketing is and they will give 20 different answers.

This seems a but harsh, but he concludes that CMO’s are effectively moribund with most are simply executing a communications strategy. So where is the data? Well, from his research, it seems that ninety per cent of chief executives trust the chief finance officer but 70 per cent have lost faith in marketers’ ability to deliver growth. The conclusion is a new role (and a new acronym!) – the CCO, or Chief Customer Officer.

The CCO would be the voice of the customer in the organisation, taking views and messages from the market and spreading them internally.

Not everyone agrees, and it was ironic that in the same journal we get a new title – the ceo (small c) from Dave Coplin who is Microsoft’s chief envisioning officer. Sounds like another chocolate teapot to us.

As many as 4 out of 10 online reviews are phony or biased in some way

This is according to a computer science professor at Chicago’s University of Illinois. The full article is here. The problem with this ease of instant universal publishing is precisely what we is called the Yelp Conundrum: just as you can’t believe everything you read on Yelp, you can’t believe everything you read in social media. More than that: Even if you know that you can’t believe everything you read in social media, you don’t know exactly what’s accurate and what isn’t.

Who is a wolf and who is not.

Until it’s possible to know who’s getting what, who’s in whose pocket, who’s simply ignorant, and who’s transmitting whatever message their controllers want them to, social media should be viewed with skepticism by wine consumers seeking truthful information. What is needed is an absolute way for the consumer to know the context of the information he or she receives.

The CRM article is worth reading and concludes with some sage advice:

If customers are genuinely unhappy with a company, “fake reviews won’t fix the problem,” adds Nathan Chaney, CEO of WebStar, a Web site design and reputation management firm. “You can purchase 100 reviews, but those aren’t 100 customers, and your customers are still mad,” Chaney says. “If a company has a ton of bad reviews, the best way to fix it is to fix your way of doing business.”

The last sentence of ‘Fixing your business’ is worth repeating. It does not matter how much you spend on social media and other acquisition tools. They will only provide an ROI if the new customers remain loyal.