Case study: How Microsoft Xbox uses Twitter to reduce customer service costs

This article from the Socialbeta content contribution Team @lexieliang, welcome reprint, please indicate the translator and the source.

Translator: This article comes from social Media examiner, the data is relatively old, but the service concept in this article is very worthy of our study. I went up to Twitter and looked at it. As of March 8, 2011, the @XboxSupport had 77,325 fans, one more than doubled last July. Using tools such as Twazzup, Twitter search, and so on, mentions @xboxsupport's microblog, with hundreds of them per hour. It's not easy to do every single response like the Xbox Twitter team.

For Microsoft's Xbox customer service, there is no such thing as a "Twitter-free microblog"-no matter how vulgar the microblogging language is. Why would a company worth 58 billion of dollars take the time to look at the faces of the bloggers?

Because a "swearing" microblog is likely to be the first to report major service failures. The customer service department can take the lead to "capture" this information and notify the technical Department to immediately proceed with troubleshooting before any inquiry calls or mails are flooded.

This article reveals how the Xbox uses Twitter to reduce customer service costs.

"When players are in a state of excitement and use that unbearable language, most of the time our services are out of order," said McKenzie Eakin, a project manager for the Xbox Online service, and her other title is the @xboxsupport micro-blogging elite Fleet "Sky Captain" Captain).

"With Twitter it's like putting two of ears on the street, and now we're getting a lot faster at identifying and fixing problems." ”

In less than a year after the start of Twitter service, the Xbox Customer service microblogging Elite fleet has become an important pillar of Xbox Client Services and ranked first in the satisfaction ratings of various service channels.

Their pay was rewarded: The team recently won a Guinness World Record, the fastest-responding brand on Twitter.

Note: McKenzie Eakin, the sky captain of the Xbox Elite microblogging fleet, proudly showcased the Guinness Book of World Records that their team obtained.

Case Information

Company/Organization:
Microsoft, Xbox Customer Service

Social media Statistics:
Website: http://support.xbox.com/
twitter:30,000 Fan (http://twitter.com/xboxsupport)
Weekly microblog use: 91 hours

Strategy and Highlights:
– 5,000 tweets per week
– Maintain the highest level of consumer satisfaction in all Twitter service channels
-Proactive Twitter service avoids phone inquiries
– Create the Guinness World Record of "the fastest-responding brand on Twitter"

customer Satisfaction "straight to the sky"

In the 2009, Microsoft has been using a variety of channels to provide technical support to Xbox players: Telephone, email, online self-service and forums. Since there are so many customer service options, why do you still have a big fee Zhou Zhangdi?

Eakin that Twitter's easy-going, more humane features can complement their lack of team service. In addition, a growing number of Xbox enthusiasts are often on Twitter to send microblogging exchanges.

Eakin also explains that users who express their views on Twitter rarely choose to call the service center for questioning.

The team quietly launched its Twitter service in the fall of 09, with the simplest job of using basic Twitter Search (search.twitter.com) to monitor all tweets that refer to the Xbox Technical support issue. In response, the team responded to users who were willing to help – a surprise to many users.

"We went to Twitter without a word, and then we popped out and said, ' It's okay, let's help you, '" Eakin says. "They're going to say, ' Wow, customer service? This is great. ' It's a very magical experience, and I think it's also a direct boost to our customer satisfaction. ”

Twitter search not only allows the team to spot problems quickly, it can also tell gamers in the quickest way-even before they call the service center to ask what's going on. Fans of the Xbox Customer service team can also be forwarded quickly if they see the relevant notices.

"If there is a major interruption or failure, we can spread the information directly (via Twitter)," he said. Twitter helps us pre-empt and eliminate pitfalls. Eakin continued.

Eakin's team also found that they could use tweets to poll for satisfaction surveys, focus on each customer and their involvement, so the Xbox Weibo elite fleet decided to expand its Twitter service.

"We've found that users on Twitter have a high level of customer satisfaction and problem resolution, which is the key metric for our guest service, and it does give us a green light to expand our Twitter business," he said. ”

uses Tweepstakes (Twitter competition) to increase the number of fans

Note: This is a picture of the Xbox newsletter, designed to encourage players to go to Twitter for help when they are having problems.

When Microsoft officially enabled the Xbox Twitter Client service, the company placed the Twitter logo on Microsoft's Services page, which was directly linked to the Xbox Twitter page (@XboxSupport). The team also spent one weeks tweepstakes to increase popularity and number of fans.

Each week the team publishes an Xbox-related issue. Users can get a variety of rewards (such as games, peripherals, posters, etc.) by using a Twitter response just before the deadline. The winning condition is that these players must focus on the Xbox's "new fans" within two weeks of the issue, and the goal is, of course, to increase @xboxsupport attention.

Now, with 30,000 fans, the Xbox's Twitter team continues to use Tweepstakes to keep fans loyal. In addition, the "Fleet" will publish 6~8 articles or news every day to keep the user and brand interactive.

into the head of a 14-Year-old boy

Note: Members of the microblog elite fleet are closely monitoring any information on Twitter about the Xbox, with a weekly response of up to 91 hours.

Currently, the elite fleet has 10 members, all focused on Twitter service support. Their weekly response time reached 91 hours, including evenings and weekends, because it was the peak period for players to use the Xbox.

When a player sends a question to @xboxsupport, all service representatives respond publicly through the same Twitter account, which accumulates about 5,000 a week.

"We try to keep all the microblogs open. We're going to expose all the skeletons in the closet so we don't have any ' skeletons ' in the cupboard. "Eakin said. "This sense of responsibility is very important. We also ask team members to respond to all the information about the Xbox, unless it comes from a robot message or a particularly rough language. ”

Each member of the fleet adds its own initials and an caret (^) after the reply, such as Eakin's logo is ^MB.

For some bills, paid questions or more complex issues, the elite fleet will transfer them to another service team or communicate with the player in private.

The fleet also actively focused on Twitterverse's various phrases on Xbox service support, such as "flashing red light", "Unable to connect", "Xbox Connection failed", etc. Unlike traditional customer service, the Twitter fleet cannot ask customers to express service categories as they do in telephony ("Press 1 for hardware issues, press 2 for software problems ..."), and they have to predict what players are going to say.

"It's very interesting to think about those questions," Eakin said, "Whether I'm a 39-year-old woman or a 14-year-old on a couch after school, how do I express myself when I have a problem?" What am I supposed to say? ”

Sometimes the members of the microblog elite fleet include some "uncivilized language" in the keyword to find the problem, which also reflects their understanding of the Xbox player.

World War Micro-bo "troll"

Recently, some people went to Twitter and disguised themselves as Xbox customer support. These "trolls" did not violate the Twitter rules because they clearly indicated that they were just a "copycat account".

But these "trolls" will release restricted content or harass the Xbox fleet, and, worse still, harass Xbox users. In response, the team is doing its best to help and educate Xbox users.

"If we see them harassing our customers, we will block them." And we will let our customers know that we choose to block these ' troublemakers '. Eakin explained.

active attack, reduce call

Using tools such as Radian6 and Tweetriver, the team closely monitors all relevant search keywords and collects data to show Microsoft the value of their services. Weekly tweet polls are used to collect information about customer satisfaction.

So far, the Xbox Weibo team has a much higher level of customer satisfaction than other channels. Eakin thanks to Twitter's effective form of providing instant service to customers without having to call.

It is noteworthy that the micro-blogging fleet can quickly find and solve problems, avoiding many high-cost inquiry calls.

"Given the number of calls we can avoid, we've basically made ends meet in terms of ROI," he said. But if you are considering how to allocate your customer service budget and plan different customer service channels, I recommend using Twitter if you are able to handle it. "Eakin said.

Eakin that Twitter offers a unique, human-friendly communication that many consumers now crave.

"Twitter is a very personalized form of communication," she adds, "and I think the level of attention we provide and the services that customers can get are huge." ”

How to create the Guinness Book of World Records through Twitter

1. Reply All @
The microblogging fleet will respond to all public microblogs that contain @xboxsupport.

2. Find and Reply
Learn how your audience will tweet and start using tools to monitor the relevant phrases. Contact them before they contact you-even if you simply introduce yourself.

3. Provide human communication
Twitter can provide one-on-one human communication, which is what consumers crave. Encourage them to participate in competitions, read news, share articles, and forward micro blogs.

4. Timely notification of failure
Use Twitter's bulletin board to inform fans that the service has failed before the customer calls the question.

This article link: http://www.socialbeta.cn/articles/microsoft-xbox-uses-twitter.html
Original link: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-microsoft-xbox-uses-twitter-to-reduce-support-costs/
Translator: @LexieLiang (Socialbeta)