Alex Halliday

While preparing for the launch of SocialGO, on issue that has been a source of much debate has been how are we going to handle the customer service side of things. We tried a number of different services including Kayako support ticketing system and a few others but something wasn’t quite right.

Then we started to use Get Satisfaction, a new, fun and extremely open support system that allows companies, employees and customers all get involved in the customer service discussion. I love it because it makes me feel great as a user and as an employee.

First of all, everthing is public. This is interesting because it makes your customer service that much more critical. Perform well, and potential customers will feel encouraged that you provide a good service. Perform badly on the other hand and you will air your dirty laundry for the world to see.

The effect of this super-openness is interesting. From a customer point of view, brand loyalty is built as customers can see their problems in a public place. As fellow customers  watch the issues they feel like they are contributing to the service and a quasi-celebrity status within the brands commuity. From a company point of view, it puts serious pressure on them to perform. No longer, can Norma  the moaning accounts manager from Middlesborough be ignored. Everyone gets an answer and by the way if she really is being unreasonable other customers will tell her. I have noticed everyone in the company react positively to the pressure that our GetSatisfaction presence has started to place on us.

GetSatisfaction turns your support dialog into a public advert for your business, a self-ranking suggestion box for new ideas, a knowledgebase for all and a self-help area for your users to help other users so you can spend your time more productively…

One concern that the CRM-traditionalists have had is that it could expose the bugs in the system. But in all honesty, I think you can have as many bugs (in the early stages) as you like as long as you fix them quickly enough. An evolving exciting service is a million times more exciting than a stale perfect one. I remember using GetSatisfaction.com myself in the early days and it being very buggy but they reacted quickly and continuted evolving the service. That kind of energy around a web service turns me on. Quick evolution, quick response to problems and an eargerness to please…. all qualities that make consumers excited.

Ok, so I am turning into a bit of a fanboy. But it’s not just me! Their traffic is going through the roof and more and more big brands are hiring “community liason” officers to get involved in the conversation. My final thought is about the openness of the service. They a full API allowing you to recreate the entire GetSatisfaction website on your server……and someone has. ‘Sprinkles’ (after their obsession with muffins?) is a PHP based application allows you to do just that.  We are currently working on creating a SocialGO support commuity with full GetSatisfaction integration. It’s a few months off but I’m excited……… 

Image by orwellsvision