KLM harnesses Twitter for customer service, handling a diverse range of issues and steering customers to other channels when that makes sense. They even provide wait time estimates, updated every five minutes. This is a good example of an organization that meets customers where they are.
Quick recap of a principle I’ve covered in other postings: as channels proliferate, it’s important to have a presence in four main categories of channels.
- Traditional channels (phone, email, walk-in (when that makes sense), et al.)
- Self-service (Web, IVR, et al.)
- Social (e.g., KLM’s example)
- Mobile (providing and supporting mobile-based access)