RSSMany companies who claim they work in the web 2.0 space listen closely and pay attention to any feedback, issues or comments that their customers may have. However, just calling themselves a web 2.0 company doesn’t mean that a company can forget their most important asset, their customer base. In fact, I would argue that companies who claim to be developing collaborative applications or encouraging customer to create, modify or mash-up content HAVE to listen to their customers intently or face the real risk of losing their credibility totally.
Unfortunately a first-hand example has arisen recently showing that some companies are really dropping the ball in these situations.
The issue involves a product called Twhirl , a Twitter client for the PC which has recently been purchased by Seesmic, a company who encourages customers to create their own video content. Seesmic uses a customer feedback website called GetSatisfaction to track customer feedback, highlight whether they are working on the issues raised, and to provide solutions. Unfortunately it appears that recently Seesmic have not been listening to the feedback from their customers regarding issues with Twhirl.
Sixteen days ago (August 5th) I posted an issue to GetSatisfaction highlighting the fact that the ability to follow someone in Twitter through Twhirl was broken. To date there has been no answer, even though 11 other people to date have flagged the same issue and 5 replies have been posted. In addition, I have tweeted a number of times to Seesmic (see here and here for examples of 2 of the 4 tweets) none of which having garnered any responses.
This is terrible customer service and not good enough in this day and age. In fact, in the spirit of the web 2.0 world, its an EPIC FAIL. Seesmic really needs to pickup their game in terms of customer service or risk bleeding Twhirl customers and destroying the product.
Is anyone listening…..
Update (23/08): As you can see from the comments below, Thomas Knoll from Seesmic has now acknowledged the issue and indicated that they are working on a resolution. I appreciate his acceptance that they should have provided some feedback regarding the issue earlier. If Seesmic had done this they could have saved a whole lot of customer frustration which really just didn’t need to happen. It is interesting to note Thomas’ comment re working smarter, not harder. Sounds like a good topic for another blog post…
August 22, 2008 at 9:00 am
Hi Shane,
This is my fault, and I’m sorry that it took so long to give you (and everyone else involved) a reply.
Unfortunately, we are still a very small company, and it is difficult to keep on top of all the suggestions, issues, and feedback. One of the reasons we use tools like Get Satisfaction is to have some peace of mind that–even though I can’t answer every question as fast as I would like–I can know that they are being captured somewhere, and that our community can add their comments and emotions to the ideas/problems/questions.
All that said, I appreciate the reminder about how frustrating it is to not hear from a company. (I hate that too!!) So, I’m trying to figure out other ways to work smarter (since I can’t work much harder).
August 22, 2008 at 10:09 am
Having seen the email this morning from Seesmic addressing this problem I realise now the power of the Shugg.
August 23, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Thomas, thanks for the response. See my addition to the original post for some additional commentary.
Sealfur, I would say this probably more shows the power of the various feed alert systems that are available (e.g. Google Alerts). I’m guessing that’s how Thomas found this post in the first place!
Regards,
Shugg