Companies Test Twitter Inside CRM Applications

Twitter blends the casual communication of instant messaging with the permanence of blogging. Although it started off as a fairly simple website, this powerful tool connects to a variety of desktop and mobile clients. More importantly, your customers are starting to use it to document the quality of your products and services. Marketing experts believe that integrating Twitter into your company’s customer relationship management strategy acts as a distant early warning against product defects and underperforming service representatives.

In a society where frustrated customers tend to share their experiences online instead of contacting companies directly, top companies extend customer relationship management beyond inbound communication. Looking to Twitter for problems to solve can improve individual relationships with customers, while offering public evidence of a company’s commitment to quality. Companies already building strong, interactive presences on Twitter include:

* JetBlue
* Dell
* Southwest Airlines
* Kodak
* H&R Block
* Whole Foods

While it makes sense for technology companies like Dell to track customer comments on a niche publishing service, what draws the attention of businesses like General Motors and H&R Block? Twitter users include thought leaders from all walks of life. They represent the most vocal and connected customers for their companies, often helping to uncover entire pockets of discontent from an entire customer base.

Right now, many companies approach Twitter as a challenge for customer relations departments, responding to complaint tweets the same way that they would respond to angry letters or blog postings. However, a growing number of businesses have opened up to the idea of offering traditional customer support on Twitter by blending online tools with their CRM applications.

It’s no surprise that CRM application vendors are at the forefront of this trend, especially since many of their customers are well-connected CIOs and network administrators. SAP recently opened an early test of their new Twitter module to clients and to the press, while developers have launched numerous in-house projects to connect customers’ accounts to their Twitter streams. Heavy Twitter users may be more likely to request help via a “direct message” to a customer service center than by calling or visiting a company web site. Even passive compliments and complaints from customers can be logged into CRM applications by “following” a user’s account or searching for company references using Twitter’s search tools.

Along the same lines, some companies have discovered the benefits of using Twitter in their own enterprise. Other businesses are building their own private versions of Twitter tools, to enjoy the benefits of timely, but trackable, conversations. For company leaders who wonder whether Twitter has the traction to stay around for the long haul, experts point at AOL’s IM platform. Ten years ago, it was something that maybe the office intern had running in a background window. Today, IM and live chat are integral to numerous customer relationship management strategies.