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The retailer relies on free listening tools to keep up with online shoppers.
Allison EnrightSenior Editor
A variety of tools can help multichannel and web-only retailers process and understand the online conversations about their brands or services. Though some can cost tens of thousands annually, consumer electronics giant Best Buy Co. says free tools such as Google Alerts and HootSuite work just fine.
Gina Debogovich, Best Buy’s senior manager of communities, says most free tools operate in real time, which means they quickly alert Best Buy to customer concerns and helps the retailer get in front of issues that could impact sales. “They give you information that is actionable in the moment,” she says.
Best Buy, No. 10 in Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide, also uses free monitoring tools from TweetDeck, which follows Twitter posts, and RSS feeds to monitor the broader web, and hosts several of its own community forums through BestBuy.com and Twitter. Forum members number in the millions, Debogovich says, and the retailer hosts a robust Twitter page (@twelpforce) that the team watches for customer service issues. Given the many online mentions of Best Buy, Debogovich says her team prioritizes conversations that gives the retailer’s staff an opportunity to address problems or answer questions first. Her team is organized by subject matter so that questions or comments about computer games, for example, are answered by the team’s gaming expert.
A variety of tools can help multichannel and web-only retailers process and understand the online conversations about their brands or services. Though some can cost tens of thousands annually, consumer electronics giant Best Buy Co. says free tools such as Google Alerts and HootSuite work just fine.
Gina Debogovich, Best Buy’s senior manager of communities, says most free tools operate in real time, which means they quickly alert Best Buy to customer concerns and helps the retailer get in front of issues that could impact sales. “They give you information that is actionable in the moment,” she says.
Best Buy, No. 10 in Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide, also uses free monitoring tools from TweetDeck, which follows Twitter posts, and RSS feeds to monitor the broader web, and hosts several of its own community forums through BestBuy.com and Twitter. Forum members number in the millions, Debogovich says, and the retailer hosts a robust Twitter page (@twelpforce) that the team watches for customer service issues. Given the many online mentions of Best Buy, Debogovich says her team prioritizes conversations that gives the retailer’s staff an opportunity to address problems or answer questions first. Her team is organized by subject matter so that questions or comments about computer games, for example, are answered by the team’s gaming expert.
Monitoring online communications helps Best Buy to respond quickly when problems crop up. For example, in the spring of 2009, Blockbuster Video retained the services of Kirkland & Ellis, a law firm with a reputation for helping companies with bankruptcy filings. Rumors that the video rental chain was going to file for bankruptcy spread like wildfire across social media. In the melee, one Twitter post used Blockbuster’s stock symbol, BBI, to report the rumor. Reading it, another Twitter user asked, “Is this Best Buy?”
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