These days, everything is done via social media... so much so that all too often, marketers forget the basics! The customer experience involves ALL the contact points where consumers and brands meet - and not just Twitter or Facebook.
Of course, we'll tell you that the shopper who has a spat with the sales assistant at his usual supermarket will most certainly, and very quickly, inform his friends on Facebook, or even post a particularly vengeful Tweet: and woe betide the community manager who doesn't respond within 30 seconds.
But most shoppers don't enjoy telling the whole world about their disappointments: it would be a bit like the Danaides' barrel to denounce the many dissatisfactions we experience every time we go shopping, from products that are out of stock to sales staff who don't live up to the image we have of them...
It's clear that Web listening - in simpler terms, social media monitoring - is very useful for detecting emerging crises, from the consumer who discovers mould in his sandwich to the person who has just missed out on a purchase after being refused a credit card without explanation.
Many marketers will even go so far as to say that satisfaction surveys are no longer useful: all you have to do is read consumer reviews, automatically correct your mistakes and shortcomings, and you're back to business as usual in '14!
Except that the customer experience is also about packaging on which the necessary information is not easy to find; a floor manager unable to help a customer; a tiled floor made slippery by a broken bottle and neglected to be cleaned immediately...
So many little details that keep the customer coming back, because they don't want to go anywhere else... until one day, irritated, they go somewhere else - and never come back.
The customer experience is something that happens every day, not just on Facebook or instant messaging - where brands don't have access.
