Last Sunday we launched “Twelpforce,” a new service that enlists the passion and knowledge of Best Buy’s vast employee base to bring assistance directly to customer computer screens via the micro blogging site, Twitter. Staffed by Best Buy employees from across all operations, including BlueShirts and Geek Squad, Twelpforce™ will answer product questions, troubleshoot technology challenges and solve customer service issues, all from the comfort of the users’ keyboard or mobile phone. Twelpforce has gotten a fair amount of awareness as evidenced by blog posts by both TechCrunch and Twitter themselves.
Twelpforce is obviously an experiment. A very public one. And with this publicity comes a certain amount of risk. In my view, it is a risk well worth taking for many reasons.
Clearly, Twelpforce has the potential to be a resource for our customers in helping them do the things they aspire to with technology. To the extent we are able to help, these efforts will build trust. Secondly, I think Twelpforce can be a catalyst to think very differently across our company about customer service. No longer do we need to passively wait in our channels for people to come to us. With Twelpforce specifically and social media in general we can actively seek out the conversations that increasingly are happening outside our channels. I also think this initiative can change our definition of customer service. No longer is customer service a department but something that all of us can do. And Twelpforce begins to really blur the lines between customer service and more traditional one way marketing communications. Finally, this idea raises the visibility and participation of social media amongst our Field teams. This is a very good thing as we think about how to connect better with our local communities. Few mediums can be as local and personal as social media.
With all of these positives, I also know we will make mistakes. Heck, I have made many mistakes in my own use of social media. But, I also know we will learn from them and be a smarter company about how to better serve customers going forward.
I want to personally thank the 1,000 strong and growing Best Buy Twelpforce members. Obviously this effort would not have gotten off the ground without you and it will only continue to be helpful because of you. In order to provide support for your efforts, I am very excited to preview below two new Twelpforce commercials, “Mary Mobile,” and “Annie” that will be airing over the next month or so. I have also included a third Twelpforce spot, “Johnny Laptop,” which is currently on air.
Appreciate your feedback on the Twelpforce program as well as the spots.
Mary – Rough Cut
Johnny – Final Cut
Annie
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Anything you can do to increase the perceived expertise and value of BB’s customer service is a good thing. I know that when an electronics company actually appears knowledgeable about their products (e.g., Crutchfield), I’m more likely to buy there even if their prices are higher.
I also think the new tagline, “Buyer be happy,” is quite good and a huge improvement over the previous tag that I’ve already forgotten.
Barry. The work you’re doing in the social media space is inspiring. You’re humble enough to admit that you’ve made mistakes but I’d question what is a mistake. We’re all learning and what might seem to be a mistake is in fact a huge learning curve which you and many others benefit from.
At least you’re out there, listening to your customers, trying to make a difference, including them, taking them with you on the journey. You recognise that society is calling the tune these days and it’s no longer the PR and Marketing departments that decide what we – the customer – can have or how we interact with you.
I salute Twelpforce -may the force be with you – and hope it’s an outstanding success. With the passion and generosity of your army of social media enthusiasts then I don’t see how it can fail.
One question I have which you may be able to help me with – With all the invovative activities that BestBuy is doing in the social media space, how to you decide what’s the best for you and the customer?
I’m very interested to know as I’m following your journey and taking the first steps on behalf of my company The Carphone Warehouse. We’ve done well with our Twitter accounts @carphoneware (corporate a/c) and @guyatcarphone (customer service) and are taking baby steps using YouTube, Yammer etc but are hungry to know more.
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I’m interested to see what happens: RT @BestBuyCMO: New post on the blurring of customer service and marketing. [link to post]
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Interesting blog from @BestBuyCMO re: how social media is prompting a re-evaluation of customer service [link to post]
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Terrific overview/recap of Twelpforce by Best Buy CMO. Service & marketing converge. [link to post] (Via @RELivingston)
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Great example of SM f/ brand activation RT @BestBuyCMO Blurring of customer svc and mktg. [link to post] #hcmktg #hcsm
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Say questions are more technical, would a person get varying opinions and then face paradox of choice? Spots–do they make the Best Buy employee more of a face in the crowd? What about making Best Buy employee the hero? Look at him. He can answer anything! That sells through to consumer–Best Buy employs smart people.
Barry,
Thanks for stepping out to blaze the trail for the new age of customer service with Best Buy’s Twelpforce experiment. Not only is it important for all employees to understand the significance of customer service but I feel that every employee is a salesperson in their own mind. They help drive sales through their continued effort of pitching their company’s great products and expertise to current and potential customers day in and day out. I feel honored to represent Best Buy through my work at Richard Petty Motorsports as the #19 Marketing Account Manager for Best Buy and the entire #19 Sprint Cup Series team. Follow all of Best Buy’s racing action @BestBuyRacing19 on twitter.
Also one thought I wanted to suggest for the commercials… have you guys discussed putting a solid black box behind the twitter.com/twelpforce tag at the bottom of your new commercials? Other than the Johnny spot where his dark outfit helps see the website, the only time the website is on a solid background where you can clearly read the entire link is at the end. It sort of gets lost in the yellow circle that the customers are standing on along with the constant switching of camera angles.
I admit it, I’m in love with Best Buy and the Twelpforce concept. So much so that I tweeted and wrote a blog about it when it was first announced (see below).
BIG fan of Best Buy and their Twitterguerrilla techniques: http://bit.ly/O9J52
Also see: http://bit.ly/fqkYW
hi, barry. think this is a great idea so long as other BB employees don’t follow your previous example of a few weeks ago where you pretty much held a public smack-down on twitter with someone who didn’t agree with you. glad to see you admit this (presumably) in your mea culpa re “mistakes.”
agree with ross on calling out the link a little more strongly. and the audio in “johnny” is difficult to understand.
having said all this — kudos for trying something different!
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reading @BestBuyCMO post about launch of Twelpforce [link to post] “Blurring the lines between Customer Service and Marketing” #bwimy
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RT @BestBuyCMO Wrote a new post on the blurring of customer service and marketing. Please read and comment at [link to post]
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I have done some writing about your initiative: http://ramiroamaral.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/twelpforce/.
Congrats guys, you are doing something really good!
I am so impressed with Best Buy’s commitment to using social media platforms such as Twitter to engage and fortify the brand with customers. Freedom + Partners has a new product that will hopefully help Best Buy take this to a whole new level not just in how social platforms can be integrated into the whole brand experience but also drastically making a quantum leap in the entire culture of how we interface with our audiences.
Our meeting is coming and and I am more than super excited to get the product in front of Best Buy and to partner on helping to change the way we do business in this new social economy.
Always enjoy reading your posts and Twits, Best Buy is going lead the way because of its ability to embrace communication platforms that people are actually using.
Bravo!
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RT @BestBuyCMO Wrote a new post on the blurring of customer service and marketing. Please read + give comments at [link to post]
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I’m about 200% sure Crispin Porter + Bogusky developed and came up with this, not Best Buy. Yeah they had the guts to buy it, but where’s the love for the company that actually came up with the idea.
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RT: @BestBuyCMO Wrote a new post on the blurring of customer service and marketing. [link to post]
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RT @Emberr @miketrap @BestBuyCMO Wrote new post on the blurring of customer service and marketing. [link to post] (via @Ideafood)
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@kkostuck Thanks for the RT.
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Really into Best Buy’s twelpforce idea. [link to post]
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Best Buy and Twelpforce – again: Customer Service is the New Marketing! Better Read it
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RT @achtung_social: Best Buy and Twelpforce – again: Customer Service is the New Marketing! [link to post]
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@jayzon277 Thanks for the retweet
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BestBuy harnessing power of employees for social networking – read about it in @BestBuyCMO ’s blog: [link to post]
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this is not about the tech, in this case twitter, but the behavior & expectations of customers. & a brave company [link to post]
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Really find interesting the “integrated marketing approach angle” here. Although its about Twitter, its using broadcast (e.g., traditional) to drive awareness of digital (e.g., twitter) to drive engagement and then back overall to branding. Making the whole equation work.
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RT @pblackshaw: Terrific overview/recap of Twelpforce by Best Buy CMO. Service & marketing converge. [link to post]
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This is exciting! The video’s are clever. The sense I get is that these are used purely for people that already know what Twitter is. Its focused and relate-able.
Thanks for sharing.
Jerad
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The idea of vetting commercials and getting feedback prior to wide release=brilliant. Blog post from: @BestBuyCMO: [link to post]
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RT @Sixteenfifty: Great TV spots RT @BestBuyCMO: New post on the blurring of customer service and marketing. [link to post]
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Service Shock and Awe: Twelpforce! [link to post] We like it-differentiated way to animate Best Buy’s “Dream Support” brand position
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[...] Twelpforce – Blurring the lines between Customer Service and Marketing Says Barry Judge: "Last Sunday we launched “Twelpforce,” a new service that enlists the passion and knowledge of Best Buy’s vast employee base to bring assistance directly to customer computer screens via the micro blogging site, Twitter. Staffed by Best Buy employees from across all operations, including BlueShirts and Geek Squad, Twelpforce™ will answer product questions, troubleshoot technology challenges and solve customer service issues, all from the comfort of the users’ keyboard or mobile phone. Twelpforce has gotten a fair amount of awareness as evidenced by blog posts by both TechCrunch and Twitter themselves. Twelpforce is obviously an experiment. A very public one. And with this publicity comes a certain amount of risk. In my view, it is a risk well worth taking for many reasons." (tags: tv retail advertising socialmedia twitter twelpforce) [...]
Hi Barry,
…Loved the “Mary” ad I saw the other night. First viewing though, so even though I saw the “Twelpforce” at the tail end (and dug the play on words. . ), the theme of the commercial (lots of BestBuy employees/Twitter) didn’t click with me as being related to Twitter until I saw this post. Perhaps on future viewings I would have picked up on the mass of people as being tied into crowdsourcing.
Very well done though. . .and funny to boot!
Cheers,
Doc
[...] 28, 2009 Twelpforce – Blurring the lines between Customer Service and Marketing Says Barry Judge: “Last Sunday we launched “Twelpforce,” a new service that enlists the [...]
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Twelpforce – Blurring the lines between Customer Service and Marketing [link to post]
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Great job. I love it and I’ll be sure to stop for updates. Thanks for putting some humor in your advertising.
[...] Best Buy’s CMO, Barry Judge, writes about Twelpforce in a recent blog post. [...]
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People are making it seem like BestBuy jst changed the custserv game: [link to post] – Twelpforce is smart, but is it revolutionary? No.
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Totally true!
My company is a great example. We help bloggers and websites to incorporate visitors into their sites by providing the most natural marketing possible. Visit WebbyChat.com to see “the plan”
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@bestbuycmo [link to post] #bestbuy approach to Twitter and customer service is one that will elevate them above the competition
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My experience with Best buy so far is that the Twelp force must be busy making commercials, cause they are NOT In the store to help me.
Dr. Letitia Wright
The Wright Place TV Show
http://wrightplacetv.com
http://www.twitter.com/drwright1
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This is a great initiative for engaging your people and improving the Customer Experience #CX. Well done Best Buy! [link to post]
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RT: ColinShaw_CX This is a great Best Buy initiative for engaging your people and improving the Customer Experience #CX [link to post]
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RT: @ColinShaw_CX This is a great Best Buy initiative for engaging your people and improving the Customer Experience #CX [link to post]
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Barry -
It is an ambitious and as you suggest risk-laden experiment…
It is terrific to see someone actually thinking different and taking risks in this space and it will be fascinating to see if you continue the venture or decide to explore alternatives?
What if:
You could have incoming Tweets replied to in under 2 minutes? The “twelpforce-like” agent could drill-down on a customer’s query through quick and engaging conversation and also send out consistent information and links?
And, it could be ported to SMS applications?
Appealing?
This would also get your “best and brightest” off of Twitter and back on the floor where we need their assistance the most.
Avoiding any self-promotion here, but, it would be great to introduce you to a different solution that has less risk and can be equally engaging if not exceed current levels and expectations.
-m
I have a feeling this experiment will also create a bunch of “fast followers” in retail, which isn’t a bad thing. Twelpforce empowers employees and BestBuy customers like no way before it.
Keep it coming
Best Buy has to try something out of the box, because their customer service stinks…I bought a “top of the line” laptop with extra warrenty (of course,) it stopped working three months later…Geek sqad can’t fix it, it has to be sent out for 4-6 six weeks…will NOT replace it, OH but I can purchase another one from best buy they would be happy with that…this is all totally UNexceptable…And yes I was talking to a manager…As my son has already left for college and the university will download all class information onto his expensive laptop ( sorry the laptop will NOT be available for 4-6 weeks, BUT in time for fall break) CRAZY…Even crazier people still shop at best buy…They lost me for GOOD…Hello Apple store…Hello ABT…
Goodbye Best Buy!
[...] Best Buy’s CMO, Barry Judge, writes about Twelpforce in a recent blog post. [...]
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RT @BestBuyCMO Wrote new post on the blurring of customer service and marketing. Please read and give comments at [link to post]
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[...] measure, some other cool ways Twitter is being integrated (sans location aware) into marketing, communications, and of course, [...]
[...] for the target audience. They’re often mass in nature—TV, out-of-home, print, and so on. Best Buy’s TV ads showcasing Twelpforce are one example of such a secondary [...]
It seems that Best Buy does not like customers giving each other advice. http://tinyurl.com/y9othom