How Online Community Transforms Customer Experience

How Online Community Transforms Customer Experience An Inside Look on Sprint’s Social Community - BuzzAboutWireless.com www.buzzaboutwireless.com/BuzzExperience Speaker: Tristan Kime Product Manager, Sprint Go to: In partnership with Social Media Group

www.BuzzAboutWireless.com

Demo

Context - Sprint/Nextel

Beginning of an Idea - BuzzAboutWireless.com History

Vision/Goals/Objectives

Stats & Facts

Buzz Today

Conceptual Framework

Improved Marketing

Enhanced Customer Service

Public Relations

Good Business

Architecture - Hardware, Logical & Team

topics

context A long history as an innovative, visionary company. In past, most of the innovations centered on operation, business model, technology. Recently there is a renewed focus on customer services Customer defection, dissatisfaction and bad press. ‘ Customer Service Hall of Fame’ Source: Zogby Poll Sprint/Nextel is one the world’s largest telecommunications companies with over 50 million subscribers

beginning of an idea Source: Sprint Virtual Strategy It started with key insights from web analytics, industry trends and the change in nature of customer shopping habits along with new understanding of the power of community. Observations: People were discussing Sprint products and services elsewhere (Amazon, C|Net) and Sprint was not effectively engaging them. Online communities drive higher levels of customer loyalty. Belief: Drivers: Internal & external customer dissatisfaction measures and lack of trust on traditional media channels Insight: The most common reason customers visit Sprint.com is to "research/find information."

our goals and objectives Generate Loyalty More Loyal Customers through - transparency, honesty, and trust Enable eCommerce Support customer’s buying behavior with peer generated content (influence buying decision). Serve the Product Ecosystem Integrate the community into the product ecosystem all the way from research, user feedback to sales and ongoing support Facilitate Change Become a more competitive company by listening to our customers, engaging in conversation and making real change based on their feedback Enable eCare Enabling individuals to get the most out of their devices and services (content) Destination Site Trusted source of relevant information that’s dynamic and compelling. Become the one-stop shop for information on living the wireless lifestyle. To increase customer loyalty by engaging members in honest discussion about Sprint’s products and services. 6

stats and facts 7 Source: Alexa.com/Compete.com

buzz today Functional Blogs Ratings/Reviews Forums Executive chat Micro communities

Processes

Moderation

Integration With Chat Reps

Order Support

Customer Feedback

Stakeholders E-care

Marketing

Corp Comm/PR

Product

Strategy

eCommerce

Reporting Ratings Syndication Monthly Community Insight Analytics Weekly Forums Monitoring

conceptual framework of buzz Returns: Discussions chat Advice Ratings & Reviews Referrals Customers Prospects Advocates, Brand Ambassadors Customers

Improved Marketing

Superior Customer Service

Effective Public Relations

Good Business

Intelligent. Engaging. Extension of Brand.

improved marketing SEO for corporate web is greatly enhanced by community sites by improved search referrals & multiplicity of conversation Buzz Community sites improves the overall traffic to the site by integrating & supporting new Micro-Sites and retaining their forums and new user even after the event Buzz Community sites performs better for search engine optimizations due to its collective community’s efforts. It has observed significantly more referrals from Google on all searches related to Sprint product & services Multiplicity of Conversation Search Engine Optimization

enhanced customer service Buzz Community site, besides being an online forum for customers, is constantly viewed by support representatives. From all across the globe, support representatives follow the buzz community for 3 main functions: Customers/ Members Prospects Look for any questions and answers provided by forum members Identify prospects or members with issues and provide with one-on-one assistance Look at the theme of the issues and be proactive with solutions to their root causes 1 2 3 Support Reps Customer service for Sprint is greatly improved by communities with the integration of customer care representative operations.

effective public relations Proactively Managing Disaster Bringing Sprint Management & User Community Together Prosumers Help Protect the Brand 6

good business Impact on corporate culture Contribution Margin Tangible returns from Buzz Fixed Cost Higher Contribution Margin Cost Free Buzz, reduced spending on marketing Growing Top-Line by: Trimming at Bottom Line with Accelerating diffusion of value added services Acquiring new customers through viral network Significant reduction in cost for acquiring and managing customer Without community site With community site Empowered Customers -- loyal, advocates and evangelists Public relations and avoiding bad press Intangible returns from Buzz 1 2 1 2 Bigger bang for the buck! Return from the community is the sum of top-line growth and bottom-line savings

logical architecture Logical Architecture Joomla Reviews, Ratings, Chat LAMP Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP Lithium Forum, Polls, Profiles, Tagging, Kudos System, etc. Omniture Catalog Ratings REST APIs Single Sign-on Google Analytics Sprint.com Online Store Lithium Analytics

hardware architecture Web Servers Web Servers Load Balancer Admin. Server Web Servers Database Server Hardware Architecture

team architecture Team Architecture

Product Manager

Community Manager

Moderator

Design/Development/Support

Hardware

Systems Integration

? ’ s Questions Tristan Kime Product Manager, BuzzAboutWireless.com View this presentation online at: www.buzzaboutwireless.com/ BuzzExperience Speaker: In partnership with Social Media Group