It seems like consumers today spend almost every waking minute connected to the internet. They research, blog, and buy things mostly, but there's a growing group of people passing judgment online. While many customers who pass judgment can be controlled, most companies have no idea how much power they can have over the whole process.
One of the most powerful tools on the internet is word of mouth referrals, most commonly published in the form of customer reviews. They might not seem to be a valid form of company review considering most online referrals are extremely one-sided and subjective. However, the most influential form of copywriting your business is going to receive likely comes from these emotional, anonymous customer reviews. They can have a major outcome on your online business.
What if all of your customers - both happy and unhappy - had a home base for their commentary? Consumers like the thought of having a place to tell their story about your service, offer suggestions and vent frustrations, and have their questions answered timely and accurately. Businesses like not having to worry that customers are ruining their reputation by writing about some unfortunate bad experience from 6 months ago and having that experience portrayed online as a business norm.
If more online-only companies opened customer support message board forums on their websites, they might have a lot less to worry about when it comes to their online reputation.
Most websites offer 24-hour chat lines that can provide live support for customers, or have detailed FAQ sections that answer customer questions in a long list of "Q&A" format. Companies that open an online forum put their customer support staff to work just like live support by phone or online chat. In contrast, message boards allow active customers to assist the customer support moderators in answering common questions. Forums also create a network of quality and trustworthy brand evangelists who can help you manage your brand online.
Software websites seem to be the source of most customer support forums because web developers often require the posting of coding examples for their specific questions. In recent months, though, subscription-based online companies like GetMyHomesValue.com and RealNetworks have added support forums to their customer-centric websites. These message boards provide a great way to manage subscriber communication in a real time manner transparently.
Answering commonly asked customer questions is often the best way to launch a support forum. Threads from a message board are indexed by search engines quickly and easier to read when compared to live chat or FAQs. Frustrated customers with a competing service provider could potentially learn about your company by reading a support forum answer to a common question they have about the competitor's service. Forums are also generally non-intrusive and can be read on a customer's time, while live support or FAQs can be a waste of a customer's time.
Support forums are also a great way to take the power away from negative review websites when a customer has issues. One easy way to lead consumers to your support forum is to have customer service reps refer commentors to your support forum with a simple comment link. With customer support forums, you can address a customer issue, tell your side of the story, Start a thread on your forum addressing the negative review, tell your side of the story, and provide documentation of a solution to the customer's gripe.
Message boards may seem very outdated to online businesses as everyone is trying to find ways to apply social networking to their business. But these "old school" forms of internet communication can still provide serious benefit to companies that generate income from the web. Support forums not only provide a place to assist the customer service department, they also provide a way to market new products to the best candidates - word of mouth brand evangelists.
Source: http://www.20vn.com/customer-service/customer-support-forums-how-they-help-online-businesses-5c4.htm
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