Image from www.munters.com
About IKEA
Well, who doesn’t know
about IKEA? It’s a vast place filled with new opportunities to make your home
look amazing with high-quality products at affordable prices. Most people I
know get giddy with excitement when they head on over to Ikea…in fact, I’m
going this Friday with my friend and we have already planned a girls day out of
it!
So, IKEA offers a wide range of well-designed and functional furnishing products for your home. This enterprise prides themselves on their product range and low prices, which flourishes their overall business vision of 'A Better Everyday Life'.
In this blog post, I will
be discussing the functional area of Customer Service as derived from The 10 Social Technology Value Levers published by McKinsey Global Institute in 2012. The Value Lever associated with this functional area that will be focused on is Customer Care.
Implemented Social Technologies
According to an analysis last year on 'The Most Effective Retailer on Social Media' by Blueocean Marketing Intelligence, IKEA is the #1 most effective retailer on social technologies in their industry category of Supplies/DIY/Decor, and are placed at #5 overall in the retail sector.
IKEA have implemented a presence over numerous Social Technologies including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, though because Pinterest is used primarily as a Marketing and Sales tool, I will focus on Facebook and Twitter as these two Social Technologies are the key platforms used for Customer Care.
Facebook
Through Facebook, IKEA has separate pages for each country or territory in which it operates. IKEA UK's Facebook page at present has 732, 958 likes whilst IKEA Australia's Facebook page has 270, 628 likes. Focusing on the Australian page, IKEA uses this social technology platform to not only market their products, catalogues and upcoming competitions, but they also use this technology to engage deeply with their customers, particularly in terms of Customer Service.
The McKinsey Report mentioned earlier states under their Customer Service functional area that "A social platform can act as a dedicated customer service channel, taking on some work normally performed on the phone...(e.g. answering question's about product features)" (The McKinsey Report, 2012, pg. 39). It is evident that Facebook is definitely a tool that is used as a dedicated customer service channel, where this organisation deals with numerous questions and content. See below: (snapshots taken from the IKEA Australia Facebook Page)
A young boy, after experiencing the wonders of IKEA created a 'Light Drawer Robot'. IKEA loved it so much they sent the young entrepreneur a little reward!
A customer's table had unfortunately broken, and she could see the inside of the table. Curious, she popped on over to the IKEA Aus Facebook page and asked what was inside the table that she could see.
Two customer's had a question on stock. Instead of calling through and risk being on hold for minutes or hours on end (some customer's on the UK page complained of this!), these ladies asked on this Social Technology, where the IKEA Customer Service team could respond within 24 hours. Though these responses did take a longer period of time than you would expect over a phone, these customers could ask the question and go about their day, and would be notified once they had received a reply. Moreover, these answers became part of a database, so to speak, where other customer's could easily view and perhaps gain the knowledge they were seeking without picking up the phone or even asking a question themselves. One could not derive the same information from a private phone conversation between consumer and enterprise.
Twitter
The IKEA USA Twitter account uses are more relaxed approached to Customer Service, though this doesn't mean there is no Customer Care. Customer Service Twitter staff respond not only to pertinent question's but also to silly and fun tweets. See below for examples of this Customer Care and engagement:
And below are some examples of customer questions and concerns. Again, answering these online creates a searchable and visible database available to numerous customers. The concerns also gives Twitter "...a way to listen to customer conversations, identify customer issues and act on them before they harm sales or reputation" (The McKinsey Report, 2012, pg. 39).
So there you have it! IKEA and their use of Social Technologies. Though they have implemented technologies to assist in the Value Lever of Customer Service, I do believe it would be worth while making the use of these technologies consistent throughout more platforms and more dedicated social accounts - meaning having an IKEA Australia Twitter account (as there currently isn't one, nor is there a UK one) and also using Pinterest as a Customer Service platform as well as a Marketing and Sales platform.
What do you guys think? Do you think it would be beneficial to implement numerous Social Technologies, or would adding more just be too overwhelming for both customers and enterprise?
Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment :)
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Yea I agree to have more social technology to implement in businesses! Like what you said, it def aids in customer services. I don't know about others, but for me I don't really "call" for customer service anymore, internet is much more convenient, and I could get back the replays much faster! :)
ReplyDeleteI don't really call either! Unless it's exceptionally urgent, but even then, it still takes a long time to get through nowadays. Internet is definitely more convenient, especially with a smart phone at hand and easy access to those social technologies too. Thank you for your comment!
DeleteIt is beneficial to implement numerous social technologies. However, without a clear social strategy is it regarded useless towards the business.
ReplyDeleteIn today's world, more and more people are using twitter and facebook for customer care. I've covered this in my blog in some detail ... http://andrehitchman.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/the-worlds-best-brand-in-social-media-customer-care/
Ashley, good blog! - look forward to reading your others.
Thank you for your comment, Andre! I've checked out your blog and left a comment too :)
DeleteHi Ashley, a great post on IKEA. To answer your question I do think it beneficial for enterprises to implement numerous social technologies so long as they meet enterprise objectives. As you suggest IKEA could launch a Pinterest page; that makes sense as retail is a visual experience.
ReplyDeleteI can see why IKEA have reached the number 1 spot in their field, they actually interact and create custom responses. So few enterprises embrace social media as a two way communication channel.
Hi Wendy! Thank you for your comment! I agree, as long as they meet their objectives, perhaps follow a framework to do so and keep on top of their social technologies, I think having numerous platforms is definitely beneficial. And yes, they're great at engaging via social media, they've embraced it quite well!
DeleteYes, social media is definitely the way to go for better customer service and communication. IKEA have the right idea and I think more popular businesses need to follow suit! It makes the company itself seem more human somehow, haha!
ReplyDeleteGreat article Ashley, well done :)
Thank you, Shannon!
DeleteHey Ashley, that was a good read on IDEA!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrew! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
DeleteHi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteWell done! I like the way you attached pictures for explaining how IKEA is using Twitter. And I think it would be beneficial to implement numerous Social Technologies for IKEA, just don't post the exact same content on its different social platforms.
Please check my latest two posts and give me some feedback, thanks!
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Thank you, Jodie! I'll go check out your posts now :) Thanks for reading!
DeleteHi Ashley, This is so good I wish that I read it sooner!! I am going to look for your other blogs straight away!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Ashley! A great in-depth post, with appropriate images to back up your reasoning. Yes, I think its beneficial to implement numerous Social Technologies into a business. I believe social technologies are being used more frequently by the general public, and I think it’s a great way for businesses to communicate directly with their customer's.
ReplyDeleteHey nice post Ashley.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too surprised by the quality of the IKEA social media department, huge enterprises have the resources to get these things right.
IKEA also do a really interesting and engaging blog where they post photos of failed furniture attempts - a great way of engaging their customers.
Renee
Hey,
ReplyDeleteNice post I agree with you social technology is one of the most important needs in people's life, because of that companies should benefits from social technology to improve their business.
Regards
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! IKEA obviously knows how to use social media right and they clearly have a clear plan about how to use it. The screenshots of their social media use helped showcase each of the points you were talking about.
Feel free to drop by my blog and leave a comment. https://meganelizabethlewis.wordpress.com/
Thanks,
Megan