Firms must listen to different consumer groups to ensure that they are hearing what customers are saying and how they are perceived as responding to their complaints, concerns, and ideas. They need to listen to three types of customers: external customers, competitors' customers, and internal customers (employees).
Everyday on the Internet, customers are talking about products. Newgroups and listservs provide forums for consumers, throughout the world, to pass comment on a company's products and services. Furthermore, bad news travels at megabits per second to millions of customers, as Intel found when the flawed Pentium chip was detected. Companies can eavesdrop on these conversations and respond when appropriate. In addition, they can collect and analyze customers' words to learn more about their customers and those of their competitors. Internally, an organization can set up electronic bulletin boards to foster communication from internal customers.
Traditional focus groups meet same time and same place. Our early work with electronic focus groups indicates that the chains of time and space can be easily snapped. We have successfully operated electronic focus groups spanning seven time zones and three countries.
Cyberservice means listening to more customers more intently and reacting electronically in real-time. It also means everyone in the organization can listen to customers. Key insights can be broadcast on internal bulletin boards so that everyone understands what the customer truly wants. There has never been a better opportunity to get closer to customers and stay focused on their needs.
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