In 2005, the term Dell Hell was coined. Jeff Jarvis complained to consumers about the unsatisfactory customer service he received from the company. By posting the comments on BuzzMachine, his message soon reached millions.
At first, Dell chose to ignore the problem, which devalued its brand and customer loyalty. In 2007, Dell chose to embrace new social media and began to engage its customers by inviting them to actively participate in the Dell community.
Dell joined in the conversation with its customers; and encouraged collaboration and participation. The company created three platforms, which have led it to become a leader in social media: Dell Ideastorm, Direct2Dell, and the Dell Incident Collaboration Center.
Direct2Dell is a company blog about Dell products, services, and customers. Employees, executives, and the CEO post to the site. They answer customer questions and release the latest information from the computer industry. The success of the site requires interaction between the company and the customer.
According to the Dell Ideastorm site, the Dell community has contributed 11,456 ideas, promoted a product 656,521 times, and posted 85,371 comments. Dell Ideastorm allows customers to post their ideas and vote for the best in the community. The winning idea is implemented in to the Dell product line. As a result of collaboration, each of these participating customers have contributed to the success of Dell, and the future of its products and services.
Dell has embraced the use of external collaboration and internal collaboration. The Dell Incident Collaboration center was created to coordinate crisis management. According to Can You Collaborate During a Crisis, guidelines posted by Dell, the center allows them to:
- Collaborate during crisis events via a central, virtual location
- Monitor the recovery status with collaborative incident log
- Organize and assign tasks to effectively direct effort
- Share secure information
- Keep the company informed with an external website
Dell has successfully used social media tools and online collaboration to expand its brand and customer loyalty. Other companies have followed the guidelines to join the online conversation with their employees, customers, and stakeholders.
I will never get tired of hearing this story because it’s a true testament to the power of social media. It is commonly known that bad news has a viral effect. The whole “a satisfied customer tells 5 people, a dissatisfied customer tells 500″ is seen in Jeff Jarvis’ case. Even more of a testament is the fact that Dell finally made the connection between falling customer satisfaction and Jarvis’ news spreading is just a brilliant example. And to follow the event with a comeback like Dell IdeaStorm- this example will always be used I’m sure.