The internet has empowered consumers to share stories, making word of mouth archivable for the first time, according to Paul Galantis, marketing director and co-founder of Yuppiechef, an online kitchen retailer.
Galantis told the Customer Experience Management (CEM) Conference in Cape Town how the internet is a key component for connecting with customers, allowing a “powerful global conversation” between businesses and consumers,.
Quoting the Cluetrain Manifesto, Galantis said: “A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the internet, people are discovering and investigating new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a result, markets are getting smarter…
“Through the entire twentieth century, a bunch of things started happening: large scale print media came along, radio started to come along, TV came along. These incredible channels have allowed businesses [with] a big enough budget to spread stories to millions of people in an amazingly powerful one-way fashion.”
He said, however, the internet had started to change the power of those businesses, with consumers now empowered to share their stories.
Yuppiechef, according to Galantis, values customer experience over profit and turnover. In order to further connect with customers Galantis said Yuppiechef has a page on the “soap box” site Hello Peter.
Galantis made use of a personal experience with Computicket as an example of the power of the internet in making consumer voices heard. His experience with the ticket selling site resulted in him tweeting a complaint, which was subsequently retweeted a few times. The following day he received an email from another company seeking to resolve the issue with Computicket.
“…There’s this thing called online, there’s this thing called the internet, which [some] businesses don’t want anything to do with – it’s not going to cut it anymore,” said Galantis.
