Would your customer support mix be improved if you offered customers the option of consulting 'customer experts': crowdsourced, volunteer users of your product who are eager to share their expertise? Probably. I suggest add this approach to the mix (for my customer support and customer service consulting clients) because while these types of customer evangelists will never, and should never, replace your paid professionals, it's an approach that appeals, interestingly enough, to both the recipient of the crowdsourced support and the unpaid, civilian “experts” who provide it.
JD Peterson, the former VP of marketing for Zendesk, the prominent customer support SaaS platform, gave me one of the most interesting takes I’ve heard on the customer desire for recognition and feedback that drives the push toward crowdsourcing. As quoted in Your Customer Is The Star, my new eBook from Forbes, JD suggests that you
Let your power users be the voice [of your brand]. Customers these days are more willing to do this kind of work for your brand, but they want recognition for doing it—they would like to be given that badge or stamp that says, ‘You’re the power expert in Applegate bacon.’ Giving power users that recognition, a badge, points [or] some sort of title, giving them something they can stamp on their resume or their LinkedIn profile that says they’re an expert or a power user, I think, is really important to customers today. It’s certainly a win for [the] business as well: You’re not having to take on all the burden of support costs because your users are able to do some of that for you—and your customers get closer to the brand at the same time by assisting you.”
The reason JD mentions Applegate as his example is because the well-known organic meats company makes use of a community software platform called “Get Satisfaction" in order to provide a crowdsourced self-service approach to customer support. Because Applegate regularly fields specific, detailed and emotionally charged questions about both the meat and the packaging in which it is conveyed, Applegate openly crowdsources commentary and advice from other customers to answer these questions, rather than solely rely on its employees. The idea is to use the feedback from customers who have already explored these kinds of questions, or/and who are passionate about the questions and answers, to provide a richer version of customer support.
Think about whether a similar approach would provide value to your customers as well. You might find that not only does it provide a deeper variety and higher level of customer support for your customers, it binds your civilian experts more closely to your company. Customers want to interact with, and contribute to, the brands that they love. Allowing them a venue within which they can do so can only increase the love. And the customers they assist you in supporting will appreciate it as well.
Micah Solomon is a customer service consultant, customer experience speaker and bestselling business author, most recently of High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service
