Customer World

I was recently reading an interesting view on  the need for an online data portability policy & the do's and don't for companies and marketeers to publish such a policy. This kind of a policy, I believe, is becoming very important as we leave a lot of personal information online and users like me must have control on the information that can be shared or ones that must remain private. So is the case with consumers who visit a company website or marketing microsites or social websites where they again leave information about themselves( this is just not an unsubscribe policy!).

Imagine that you are on a social networking site and their revenue model is targeted advertising. Social networking sites today use this information to link marketers to consumers with similar interests/views - both positive and negative across multiple websites. The economic value of such information is huge and it must be left to each consumer to let such sites enhance the online experience in a customized manner using customized content. One cannot assume everbody wants customization of digital experience and intrusion of such sorts is despicable.

With more and more Apps, APIs etc. growing in acceptance and usage, this is a very important step that marketers and companies need to be cognizant of.

If you are a company having a blog where potential or current customers visit, Greg Verdino has some great advice on how to make it interesting and compelling:

"..we put together this simple graphic that presents the 7 Strands of Blog DNA - the key elements that, when combined in a unique way, make any given blog what it is.  Original, compelling and unlike anything else on the web."

I read this interesting piece by Lee Oddeen on content for business blogs  and how corporations can leverage knowledge residing with employees as an important starting point. He writes:

"One of the best resources for blog content comes out of interactions with prospects and customers. If an organization can tap into the flow of dialog that happens between front line employees such as sales people and customer support there is an abundance of valuable content available. If customers and potential customers have questions about certain topics, then it’s pretty likely that many others will too."

Taking-off from this thought, I felt one of the most important areas where such knowledge resides is in the call centre conversations for companies. Many customer service queries get handled during such interactions. Would it not be a good idea to have a section in a company website called FDCs - Frequently Discussed Conversations or even put them in their business blogs? 

This could be customer conversations on product, service, usage issues, new solutions discovered by customers etc. I think podcasts of the same can be made available on the blog, websites etc. so that customers/prospects can listen to them and bring them closer to the brand & the company.

The future of great customer experience is all about converting interactions into information.