ComcastCares is listening — and not only to Michael Arrington

28 Apr

Posted by: BryanPerson in: Microblogging, Online monitoring

A few weeks ago, Tech Crunch’s Michael Arrington blogged about a phone call he received from a Comcast executive, just 20 minutes after “tearing into [the company] on Twitter” over his extended Internet outage.

Probably not a coincidence, right?

And as it turns out, the cable company/Internet service provider is routinely following and responding to complaints and questions posted on Twitter through its @ComcastCares account — and that’s true for customers whose names aren’t Michael Arrington (otherwise known as the No. 2 blogger on the Technorati Top 100), too.

Shortly after hearing the Arrington story, I decided to throw Comcast some feedback of my own on Twitter — partly out of frustration with a billing issue and partly out of curiosity. Frank from @ComcastCares responded within 15 minutes, kicking off this full exchange:

Twitter exchange between Comcast and Bryan Person

Last weekend, I took Frank up on his offer and e-mailed him more details about my account and billing dates. Again, to my pleasant surprise, I had a reply within a few minutes — this time via his BlackBerry.

We made some progress on the invoicing front — Frank is going to recommend that Comcast put the actual late-payment date on future invoices — but probably more importantly, I came away impressed that my cable provider really does care about its customers.

And for a company that doesn’t exactly have the best reputation on the customer-service front, Comcast could certainly do plenty worse than mending some fences through a site like Twitter. I know I’ll be sharing this story in future presentations that I give.

It isn’t just Comcast

Comcast isn’t alone among businesses that are smartly monitoring and responding to mentions on Twitter.

Disqus is, too. And Southwest. And Zappos.

What about your company?

9 Responses

Alpha Mind Blog » Blog Archive » ComcastCares Michael Arrington Tech Crunch Twitter
28|Apr|2008 1

[...] Person blogs about Comcast’s efforts to use Twitter to improve customer [...]
Ontario Emperor
28|Apr|2008 2

I think the jury’s still out. While some have had success with Comcast, others (Dave Winer) have not.

And I just heard a story about someone who had problems with JetBlue.

It appears that, in many cases, the social media account is just a bolt-on to a customer service system that may be mediocre at best.

I will grant that Disqus has outstanding customer service (I like Louis Gray’s story the best). However, we need to remember that Disqus is a very small company, much smaller than Comcast or JetBlue. Will they be able to provide such personalized service as they grow?

I should also note that Biz Stone once left a comment on a blog post of mine that had to do with Twitter. My blog certainly isn’t a leading blog, so Biz should be praised for reaching out. However, this again appeared to be a personal effort, not an institutionalized corporate strategy. If the pundits are right and Twitter is about to grow astronomically, will they be able to respond at all?
Daryl Tay
29|Apr|2008 3

I gave the Delta example from Joseph Jaffe’s book “Join The Conversation” at a conference two weeks ago. 90% of the room look so shocked that Twitter is something other than something teens use to tell each other what they’re eating.
¡Usa la red para escuchar a tus clientes! 1ra. Parte Cómo aprovechar las herramientas virtuales para hacer inteligencia de mercado
28|May|2008 4

[...] de la compañía y ser contactado en menos de 20 minutos. De igual forma han estado monitoreando blogs y convirtiendo la queja de sus usuarios en oportunidades de marketing y servicio al cliente [...]
Defining The Obvious » Twitter as a customer service tool?
21|Jun|2008 5

[...] where Comcast has reached out to the blogging community to smooth over some bad spots here and here and others [...]
Communication 2.0 - How Comcast is using Twitter to care - an interview with @ComCastcares, Frank Eliason
25|Jun|2008 6

[...] Bryan Pearson had a late payment billing issue resolved. [...]
Daniel
06|Aug|2008 7

If anything, this gives Comcast a pretty good hand to play in the social media space. Like it or not, bad customer service seems to be the norm these days, so if there’s something — anything — a company can do to give customers another touch point, it’s a good thing.
CX and Micro-experiences
03|Nov|2008 8

[...] its early days, she uses Zappos as the benchmark for how its done, T-mobile for how its not done, Comcast for how to breathe new life into battered CX brand and overall has some good thoughts to add to the [...]
How Twitter is Affecting Major Brands Online | Sharing at Work
26|Jan|2009 9

[...] Eliason (@comcastcares) has been profiled in the New York Times and USA Today as well as plenty of blogs, and all in the last three weeks. I hope Mr. Eliason’s employer appreciates him as much as [...]