8 Twitter Examples of Companies Nailing Customer Experience
The concept of customer experience management has been steadily gaining traction in recent years, as noted in this Harvard Business Review (HBR) article. In fact, 85% of executives who participated in a recent Accenture research study consider customer experience (CX) to be “very important” to their strategic priorities; another 70% believe CX-related considerations will play an even larger role in the overall corporate strategy over the next two years.
But for all of the emphasis placed on customer experience, many companies still lack mature CX programs. Whether they fail to adequately fund customer experience efforts or are not committed to the process transformation required for effective CX management, HBR states that these organizations “lack the long-term focus required to make fundamental changes in how they manage customer interactions.”
Here at Hallmark Business Connections, we believe that our customers are what matters most. In fact, making our customers feel good about being our customers by offering them exceptional customer experiences (at every point of interaction) is just part of what makes us who we are!
To showcase how other companies (B2B & B2C) are driving customer centricity in the so-called “age of the customer,” we searched the hashtags #CustExp, #CX, #CustServ on Twitter and came up with the following list. We hope you enjoy reading about some of the companies who we feel have done the best job of managing the customer experience this year!
H.E.B. (@HEB)
The 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings report shows consumers rank several grocers and fast food chains as the best providers of overall excellence customer experiences. According to a Direct Marketing News article, the report, which evaluates consumer response to 268 companies across 19 industries, asked consumers to consider three elements when rating each business on the customer experience—functional (can customers do what they want to do?), accessible (how easy it is to work with the company?), and emotional (how do consumers feel about their interactions?).
Grocer H.E.B. was ranked #1 for customer experience, due in large part to its ability to connect with customers on an emotional level. “The emotional piece is the one that’s highly related to brand advocates—who don’t just like your brand, but love your brand,” says Bruce Temkin, managing partner of the Temkin Group. The screenshot above shows H.E.B. engaging with a customer on Twitter, responding to a question with a specific solution, which can go a long way to building customer loyalty and brand advocacy.
Amazon (@amazon)
Amazon has set the standards that digital customers now expect from all their online interactions. Forbes notes that “the advent of social media and real-time interactive feedback via the Internet allows every customer to build and expect a relationship with the business, rather than just touchpoints.”
With an impressive Net Promoter® Score (NPS) of between 50 – 80%, Amazon drives loyal enthusiasts to keep buying from them and urge their friends to do the same. In the example above, Amazon responds to positive feedback from a satisfied customer, showcasing to its entire Twitter community that the company views its customers as individuals, not simply numbers. Such an approach doesn’t just make the customer feel valued (which is important in and of itself); it’s also critical to maintaining customer loyalty.
Cisco (@Cisco)
As one of the winners of the 2014 Innovation Awards, Cisco has demonstrated that even the most customer-focused businesses can encounter issues with customer experience from time to time. When the company determined that their customers had a hard time understanding the jargon they were using (impacting business, sales, and the brand), Cisco decided to start using language that was simpler and more distinctive.
“Now, we think of our audience first,” notes Cisco in a CXPA article on the awards. “[This includes] who they are, what they care about, how we can connect with them and inspire them to act. This improves customer experience across the board and has built a customer-first mentality into everything we do.”
The tweet below shows an example of Cisco using specific language that appeals to its younger customers, an approach that drives customer engagement and inspires loyalty and retention:
Tintri (@Tintri)
Typically, customer experience is defined by the value that companies provide to customers at every step of the customer journey. But, as Forbes points out, a company’s ability to deliver customer-defined value is closely tied to its company culture. So, in other words, the expression “happy employees lead to satisfied customers” is true.
Ken Klein, CEO of Tintri, a smart storage technology provider, maintains that “there has to be congruency between how [companies] treat [their] employees and how [they] treat customers. Employees should be treated like customers.” At Tintri, this goes beyond posters, free lunches, etc. “It means explaining to employees about how they act directly impacts customer and the company’s success,” says Klein.
The tweet below showcases a Tintri employee promoting the company’s “outside-in” approach to the customer experience, illustrating the concept at work:
TDBank (@TDBank_US)
When it comes to TD Bank’s customer experience strategy, there’s no shortage of ways the company has invested in showing its customers their long-term value. A CustomerThink article, for example, cites the “Automated Thanking Machine,” in which an ATM delivers special “thank you” moments for customers. “The transformed ATMs [speak] directly to customers who [have] been recruited by TD Bank staff, awarding flowers, tickets for vacations, and other unexpected goodies.”
The tweet above showcases TD Bank’s #MakeTodayMatter hashtag, which illustrates the company’s push to bank human. “Bank Human is all about people—our customers and employees,” says TD Bank’s Chief Marketing Officer Vinoo Vijay. “The new marketing campaign viscerally communicates TD’s attributes of unparalleled service and convenience, and our customer-first culture.”
Intuit (@Intuit)
According to management consulting firm Bain & Company, 80% of companies believe they deliver superior customer service, yet only 8% of customers agree. Because true customer retention and loyalty begins with establishing a personal connection with customers, it’s critical for companies to include social service and proactive social engagement as a part of their overall CX strategy.
Intuit understands that social engagement can have a big impact on the overall customer experience. Through its Twitter account, the company provides small businesses with news, resources, and product information. Not only does this educate customers, but it also engages them with Intuit.
The tweet below illustrates how Intuit tells their story in a way that helps their customers relate to them, encouraging social engagement.
Staples (@Staples)
As demonstrated by Staples, one of the best ways to continually improve the customer experience is to keep the focus on the customer at all times. “Staples continues to innovate and develop new technology to improve the customer experience, whether it’s providing convenient shipping options, making checkout faster or adding mobile platforms,” says Faisal Masud, executive vice president of global e-commerce at Staples. Here’s an example of how Staple’s delivers one-to-one social service to customers:
Hallmark Business Connections (@HallmarkBiz)
At Hallmark Business Connections, we believe engaging the hearts and minds of customers and prospective customers is one of the most important components to gaining brand awareness and retaining loyal support over time. In fact, we pride ourselves on being able to provide the types of experiences that make our customers feel like individuals and we strive to develop deep, meaningful connections with customers at every step of the way.
The tweet above shows how we value the customer experience. To truly get a sense of customer values, pain points, and priorities, we make it a point to “walk in our customers shoes” and engage them throughout the customer lifecycle.
Final Thoughts
Accenture research shows that, although the business outcomes from customer experience investments are widely mixed today, executives believe customer experience will change the way in which B2B companies sell and service customers in the future. As 2014 draws to a close, we’ve taken some time to reflect on the companies we feel have provided their customers with the best experiences this year.
Do you agree with our assessment of the 8 companies’ CX strategies highlighted above? We’ve love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.