The TwelpForce promise to help shoppers make a quality purchase is admirableons. Best Buy ran many commercials since summer promising a stadium full of employees ready to tweet assistance at a moments notice.
The ability to fulfill this promise is questionable. I had several pending purchases,and thought it would be interesting to test the power of Twelp Force to assist me in my decision.
The first purchase related to my 2G iPhone. I have been thinking about upgrading,but I am hesitant. Six months after I bought my phone,Apple introduced a 3G phone at a cheaper price. So,I was curious if it is worth upgrading to a 3Gs or is it better to wait until June 2010 to see if Apple will release a 4G phone. To this question,I tweeted TwelpForce for assistance. I didn’t receive much help.
@egbowe:
I currently own an 2g iphone. should i wait until 4g comes out or buy a 3g now? @twelpforce6:00 PM Aug 25th from web@Lodenk:
@egbowe There have been no announcements about a 4G iphone,I have the 3GS and the upgrade from using Edge to 3G is great. via @Lodenk
Although I appreciate the honesty (and endorsement for 3G),it became apparent the stadium of TwelpForcers were not any more in the know about Apple’s future plans than I was.
My second attempt at Twelpforce was in reference to purchasing a new HDTV. My current Sony was dieing a slow tubular death, so I was in search of a replacement. I planned on spending about $1,000. I did a little research on Best Buy’s Site and CNET to get a feel for different features. I quickly realized I had no clue which features were most important for that price range,and which features weren’t worth buying. I thought this was a good question to ask TwelpForce. The following is the twitter exchange:
@egbowe:
I am looking for a new LCD HDTV from $1k to $1.2k,What features are “gotta have”versus “nice to have”versus “not worth it”? @twelpforce@agent3012:
@egbowe Here’s some initial HDTV feature tips,if you haven’t already read:http://bit.ly/3KCEJM via @Agent3012@agent3012:
@egbowe The features I generally look at 1st are contrast ratio,refresh rate (Hz),and the number of inputs. via @agent3012@BBYCiaran:
@egbowe 1080p and 120hz should be priority via @BBYCiaran
Several initial thoughts on the exchange. First,the immediate response was impressive. I do like the information received,although I didn’t find it very useful. Another point relates to the first tweet response –sending me to a page on Best Buy which lists a glossary of terms and industry jargon doesn’t help. My goal of talking to someone is to answer my question,not learn it for myself (I already tried that).
I was going to continue the twitter dialogue,but I felt it was fruitless for several reasons. First being,it is not practical to exchange knowledge in 140 character bits of info.
Secondly,I don’t think Best Buy Tweeters can truly answer my questions. Although TwelpForce did a part of my question,the one question I would like to know is “what features are not worth it?”when spending $1,000 on an HDTV. I could have re-asked the question,but I was losing patience. So I tried a different tactic,and I did get my questions answered in about two minutes —at a Best Buy. The store personnel were very helpful. This is not a surprise to me. In my experience I find Best Buy Employees helpful and most are knowledgeable about the products they represent.
I think the TwelpForce is more PR play than a true customer service option. Look,Best Buy has brain power to answer the question,when you consider their knowledgeable workforce (including Geek Squad). So,this is not a function of desire,rather a limitation of Twitter as a customer service tool.
An opportunity for Best Buy would be to not restrict TwelpForce to the twitter channel. Having Twitter as the end all be all limits customer interactions to micro-conversations. Rather TwelpForce should be a mechanism for introduction. If appropriate,an introduction which follows re-routes people to their different service channels:The Unboxed Community, Email,Phone,or the nearest retail outlet. I think some agents have already figured re-routing is the way to go. I did notice some interactions which re-routed people to another channel.
A better opportunity would have been to create (and market) TwelpForce page on facebook. Although the Twitter feed is a tab on the current Best Buy facebook page, socially,it deserves more prominence. Possibly it’s own facebook page. A facebook page would solve some of Twitter’s limitations like the 140 character limitation. Also,conversations can be threaded (and followed) better.
My name is John Bernier,and I lead the Twelpforce initiative here at Best Buy. My email is john.bernier@bestbuy.com,for anyone who is interested.
I appreciate your candor,and we welcome feedback. Most say stuff like that,but do nothing with it,and I assure you,we’re listening.
The point of this platform is to help customers know all we know,as fast as we know it. Twitter has it’s limitations,absolutely,but within those limitations,we are providing a valuable service to customers at an intersection of their purchase decision or need. We’re there immediately,24/7 for quick hit answers to quick questions. We do our best to help connect customers to the right information,whether it’s a link to a more comprehensive overview of a products features and specs,or a POV from one of our employees. Stores are another channel,as is the web,and phone channel. Each person will want to interact in their own manner,but we’re just saying that were here,we’re connected,and we want to help,however you wanted.
The thing that I’m most proud of is that in your questions above were answered immediately,and correctly. Unfortunately,we don’t get any more news from Apple that customers get,and if you dig into it,it’s Apple’s way of handling things. They build up announcements about new product releases to get the most PR momentum they can. With the TV question,I’m sorry you got frustrated…I think if you had posed the question to get to why not to buy,you would have received a fast,and accurate answer. Again,the limitations of the tool…we can only provide answers to questions we are asked directly,and context is difficult. If we had given you reasons why not to buy a particular product,and you weren’t looking for those,you can see the catch 22…we would have given you needless info.
Connecting customers to different channels is a great idea,and one were working to figure out. Right now,one thing we are leveraging is our Best Buy Community Forums to direct people to longer form discussions:http://bit.ly/4dZiZA
Much of this is new,and some of the technology to actually leverage some of the other platforms (like Facebook) require tools to be built,which we are exploring. So,with some patience,customers will see this service evolve. It’s not the be-all-end-all,but it’s not attempting to be…for now,it’s simply another way to connect with customers,and share our knowledge freely.
I love the dialogue,and that you cared enough to share your POV. If you have any other ideas for us,you can reach out to me,or you can even tell us at http://www.bestbuyideax.com. It’s a cool place to share ideas that get to the right people…
Thanks
John
John,
Thanks for your input. I will definately check out IdeaX.
I agree with you this is new territory,and I believe experimentation is necessary to develop worthwhile experiences.
I also think Best Buy can continue to differentiate their brand through social channels. My belief is Best Buy’s Brand stands for a “smart”buy,and maybe not the best deal. This works. Many shoppers want quality information to make the right decision. Especially when they are dropping several thousand dollars on an HDTV or computer.
Best Buy can fulfill this by leveraging its helpful sales staff,brain power,and low pressure sales environment. This is where social networks,including your online communities can be very helpful.
One last thought we,as an industry,are struggling with customer service synergy. I work for an agency on the Ford Account and we are constantly trying to improve synergy between channels to assist shoppers in buying a new Ford vehicle. Like a major electronics purchase,buying a vehicle is complex,emotional,and full of industry jargon. Information usually is not the issue —knowledge to answer the shopper’s questions is lacking and therefore at a premium. Our goal (as seems yours) is to humanize the shopping experience. Provide accessible customer touch points to assist the shopper in making right decision.
Thanks again.
Eric
Hey Eric,
I’m a social media manager at Best Buy and work with John. My gig is focused on Facebook and IdeaX as well as larger social strategy.
My friend and colleague beat me to the punch as first commenter,as usual Bernier is on the ball. I agree with his sentiments that this is a worthy dialogue. I’m thankful for people like yourself who take the time to consider and publish their points of view.
John covered most of it related to Twelpforce,but I wanted to chime in on the Facebook side since I’m trying to wrangle that chimaera. I’m not entirely thrilled with how we’ve represented twelpforce so far in Facebook. Mostly thats a limitation of time to develop something more social and usable. First off be assured that we are thinkning hard about this.
As regards Facebook i’m working with John to conceive of a way we could enable the same type of public question answering that Twelpforce offers. There are any number of concepts that would work including those you mention above. The key is working through the technical considerations of the Facebook platform while ensuring an experience that is still truly useful. Oh yeah,and we have to make sure the Best Buy employees who are offering ideas have gone through some training similar to what John has put together for Twelpforce. Then there’s the whole authentication thing too. This is made easy in Twitter because of Connecttweet;an app written by Ben Hedrington,a colleague of ours. An app of some kind that is similar is possible in Facebook,we’ll see. The general openness of Twitter makes that much easier of course.
The other consideration I would say is how to enable the Twelpforce concept,across the internet (or beyond). The magic of it is the permission mechanism facilitated by the #twelpforce and also the ability for connecttweet to enable/authenticate mutliple people tweeting through a single channel.
It’s interesting,when we put the Facebook ‘twelpforce’tab up on the Best Buy page,and announced it via wall post,we got quite a lot of negative commentary toward Twitter in general from the Facebookers. Perhaps we’ll have to call it something different,FaceForce is my running joke.
Thanks again for the commentary and the time you took to put it out there.
Joshua,
Every channel has its pros and cons. Like yourself,we (on the Ford Account) are experimenting between communities,facebook,twitter,and other social tools trying to find the right mix to assist shoppers,help customers,and fuel advocates.
Twitter is a 140 character megaphone that can reach people quickly (and also quick response as you are using in TwelpForce. We like the ability to broadcast content about Mustang,Fiesta or other Ford Vehicles to thousands about thousands of fans. Obviously,this is Twitter’s strength. On the other hand,twitter is difficult to send complex messages due to it’s limitation.
This is not an issue with facebook. And maybe this is where the rub is —mixing social streams (twitter and facebook). Like you noted,we also hear negative feedback when twitter feeds are piped into a facebook’s news feed. There may be many reasons,but I believe it annoys people to decrypt truncated language and tiny URLs,when there is no restriction in facebook.
Anyway,I like the fact Best Buy is experimenting and moving the social space forward.
BTW:I like “FaceForce”. I may use it in an upcoming blog about social buying on facebook (giving you full origination rights).
Thanks.
Eric