Qwest's goals were two fold: i.) engaging customers online where they were already talking about Qwest, and ii.) increasing overall positive sentiment to improve Qwest's MSN/Zogby customer service rating.

Challenge

• Effectively segmenting the volume of online conversation about Qwest
• Educating and enlisting key stakeholder across multiple departments within the company
• Training and integration of customer support personnel to drive timely resolution
• Overcoming the negative customer service perception supported by the MSN/Zogby rating
• Developing a pilot program successful enough to justify additional social media programs

Approach

• Development of over 25 internal stakeholder interviews to identify and educate key groups within Qwest that could participate in impacting the company’s online brand perception
• Segmentation and monitoring of online conversations into five main categories – customer service, technical support, billing, pricing and brand
• Establishment of a baseline to create meaningful metrics for the program’s success
• Deployment of a workflow process and guidelines for escalation to in-house subject matter experts to achieve problem resolution and tracking
• Development of the Talk to Qwest program, establishing a customer service channel on Twitter to interact with customers
• Creation of a supporting social media page with video introductions of the Talk To Qwest team

Results

• Within year 1 (2009) Qwest engaged with nearly 700 customers per month, and reached 100% problem resolution
• Customers engaging with Talk To Qwest demonstrated a 9% better retention rate then premier queues, and a 15% better retention rate than Qwest’s traditional channels for customer service
• Positive sentiment grew by nine points, and negative postings decreased by five points in 2009
• Qwest was the first company ever to be removed from MSN/Zogby’s negative customer survey list
• The success of the program garnered support for additional social media programs to support sponsorship, and the launch of Qwest on Facebook, leveraging “214 apps” Facebook applications