Evolution: The Eight Stages Of Listening

As Social Customers Become More Empowered, Organizations Must Have A Listening Strategy
As we approach 2010 planning companies need a strategy around listening. Sadly, most companies, and their agency partners don’t know why to listen or how. As a result, they must identify which stage of listening they are at, and then set a goal on which stage they see to aspire in 2010. I originally published this matrix for client workshops and a keynote presentation on developing listening and advocacy programs, and I’m going to continue to share more and blow-out each of my slides.

Web Strategy Matrix: The Eight Stages Of Listening

Stage Description Resources Needed Impacts
1) No objective at all Organization has a listening program but has no goals, nor uses the information for anything resourceful Simple alerting tools, like Google Alerts and feedreaders will suffice. At the basic level, simple self-awareness.  Yet without any action from the data, this is useless.
2) Tracking of brand mentions Like traditional “clip reports” of media relations, companies now track mentions in the social space.  Despite tracking there is no guidance on what to do next. Listening platform with report capability based on brand or product keywords.  Radian 6, Visible Technologies, Techrigy/Alterian, Buzzmetrics and Cymfony, Dow Jones are providers. Improved self-awareness to track volume of information, yet unable to track depth, and tonality of conversations.  As a result, not a full understanding of opportunities.
3) Identifying market risks and opportunities This proactive process involves seeking out discussions online that may result in identifying flare-ups, or possible prospect opportunities. In addition to a listening platform staff must actively seek out discussions and signal to internal teams.  Alerting tools, and listening platforms are required. Organization can reduce risk of flare ups before they become mainstream, identify prospects and poach unhappy competitors customers.
4) Improving campaign efficiency Rather than just measure a marketing effort after it’s occurred, using tools to gauge during in-flight behavior yields real-time marketing efficiency. Dedicated resource to manage reactions, activity, and sentiment to a marketing effort, and the resources to make course corrections nearly real-time.  Traditional web analytics tools like Omniture, Webtrends and Google Analytics are common. Campaigns can be more effective, as hot spots are bolstered, and dead spots are diminished.
5) Measuring customer satisfaction In addition to customer satisfaction scores,organizations can measure real-time sentiment as customers interact. Sysomos and Backtype have focus areas into this space. Customer experience professionals will have to extend their scope to the social web, using a listening platform and sentiment analysis.  Insight platforms like Communispace and Passenger offer online focus groups solutions. Brands can now measure impacts of real time satisfaction or frustration during the actual phases of customer interaction.  Then identify areas of improvement during customer lifecycle
6) Responding to customer inquiry This proactive response finds customers where they are (fish where fish are) in order to answer questions.  Example: Comcastcares account on Twitter asks customers if they need help –then may respond. An active customer advocacy team that’s empowered, training, and ready to make real-time responses nearly around the clock. Customers will fill a greater sense of satisfaction, yet this teaches customers to ‘yell in public’ to get a response.
7) Better understand customers Evolving the classic market research function, brands can improve their customer profiles and personas by adding social information to them. Social CRM systems are quickly emerging that tie together a customer record and their online behavior, locations, and preferences. Salesforce, SAP, both have partnerships with Twitter to synch data The opportunity to not only serve customers in their natural mediums, but to offer them a richer experience regardless of their customer touchpoints.
8. Being proactive and anticipating customers Minority Report: This most sophisticated form actually anticipates what customers will say or do before they’ve done it.  By looking at previous patterns of historical data, companies can put in place the right resources to guide prospects and customers. An advanced customer database, with a predictive application put in place, as well as a proactive team to reach out to customers before an incident has happened.  Haven’t seen any such application yet. Identifying prospects and engaging them before competitors can yield a larger marketing funnel, or reducing customer frustration as problems are fixed before they happen.


Exercise: Self-Assess Culture, Roles, Process, Data, and Tools
Use this matrix to initiate a discussion within your company on which stage you’re at, then put a plan in place to grow to the next level. Do note, depending on size and complexity of the organization, different groups may be in more than one phase. First, identify the characteristics your company currently has, then define which phase you’re in:

  1. Does the organization have the right culture setup that’s ready to listen?
  2. Is the organization prepared to react to customer opinions? how about in real time?
  3. Are the processes in place to triage information to the right teams? How about during a real-time crises on a Saturday morning?
  4. Are the right roles in place to listen? Are proactive marketing and support teams trained, empowered, and ready to respond?
  5. Is there a single repository of customer information or is it currently fragmented around the enterprise
  6. Lastly, what technology platforms are in place to facilitate this strategy? ? Hint: choose this last –not first.

For Dialog: Which Stage Are Companies At?
Curious to hear your professional opinions, what stage do most companies think they’re at?  In reality, what stage are they truly acting at?

Translations
Please translate into other languages, I’ll be happy to link back to you

Evolution: The Eight Stages Of Listening

Thanks to the team at Foreplay, a digital agency, making the slides available in English.

131 Replies to “Evolution: The Eight Stages Of Listening”

  1. Good post and a natural progression towards customer centricity from stage 1 to stage 7. (Hate to admit which stage we are in). Confused by stage 8 – seems a bit like nirvana entails a bit of a return to company in control (all but the lessening of customer frustration). I can understand it if I think of it in terms of systems (that don’t exist yet to fulfill this stage), but not in terms of human action and interaction. Am I reading this wrong?

  2. You really like charts…

    There are no stages, per se, rather pancake flat, and with most organizations, decentralized as they are, going in 8 differing directions at once, as it takes corporate mandates to get everyone marching in a single line, and even then most still chart own route.

    Anticipating customers needs can happen even if no tracking done, or much understanding of said customer, common sense can grasp a good deal. And oft times, tracking edge-case social-media petty complaints, can provide LESS insight for what customers need.

    You can’t do this stuff behind a laptop, complete with mystical charts, actually visiting customer sites and talking with people in person is only way to truly know. But the market has gone commodity ad-hawks doing internetish hoola-hoop tricks, thinking they are making an impact, end result, companies jump on the latest fads, and Twitter for pure-fluff PR sake, sending the majority to call-centers overseas.

  3. I see 2 listening activities and 6 engagement activities.

    That’s part of the problem.

    Too many companies get to level 2 and don’t proceed to engage what they’ve heard.

  4. This is the perfect campaign. Number 7 and 8 are on a wish list for every social media campaigner. I have always maintained that listening more and reacting less is a better approach instead of just ‘talk, talk, talk. It becomes the traditional method of communication and negates any concept of a two way communication.

    It’s an excellent post and I am really going to implement these inthe future social media campaigns.

  5. As usual a great and insightful post. I would be really interested to know how many Organizations have actually managed to reach even Stage 6. My understanding as far as B2B players are concerned would tag them maximum at stage 5 with most hovering around Stage 2 and 3. The reasons would be the usual ones of resources, clarity in goals etc. etc. It will be great if you can actually give examples of company names for every stage 🙂

  7. Hi Jeremiah, how are you?

    I have posted about your framework for the 8 stages of listening on our agency's blog and I have created a slideshare for the content, both in Portuguese. Let me know what you think and feel free to link back! If you want this same slideshare in a version in English let us know ok?

    Cheers and congrats once again for the fantastic work!
    post:
    http://www.foreplay.com.br/blog/2009/11/24/evol…

    slideshare
    http://www.slideshare.net/brunoanconalopes/8-es…

  8. Hi Jeremiah, how are you?

    I have posted about your framework for the 8 stages of listening on our agency's blog and I have created a slideshare for the content, both in Portuguese. Let me know what you think and feel free to link back! If you want this same slideshare in a version in English let us know ok?

    Cheers and congrats once again for the fantastic work!
    post:
    http://www.foreplay.com.br/blog/2009/11/24/evol…

    slideshare
    http://www.slideshare.net/brunoanconalopes/8-es…

  9. Hi Jeremiah, how are you?

    I have posted about your framework for the 8 stages of listening on our agency's blog and I have created a slideshare for the content, both in Portuguese. Let me know what you think and feel free to link back! If you want this same slideshare in a version in English let us know ok?

    Cheers and congrats once again for the fantastic work!
    post:
    http://www.foreplay.com.br/blog/2009/11/24/evol…

    slideshare
    http://www.slideshare.net/brunoanconalopes/8-es…

  10. Hi Jeremiah, how are you?

    I have posted about your framework for the 8 stages of listening on our agency's blog and I have created a slideshare for the content, both in Portuguese. Let me know what you think and feel free to link back! If you want this same slideshare in a version in English let us know ok?

    Cheers and congrats once again for the fantastic work!
    post:
    http://www.foreplay.com.br/blog/2009/11/24/evol…

    slideshare
    http://www.slideshare.net/brunoanconalopes/8-es…

  11. Hi Jeremiah, how are you?

    I have posted about your framework for the 8 stages of listening on our agency's blog and I have created a slideshare for the content, both in Portuguese. Let me know what you think and feel free to link back! If you want this same slideshare in a version in English let us know ok?

    Cheers and congrats once again for the fantastic work!
    post:
    http://www.foreplay.com.br/blog/2009/11/24/evol…

    slideshare
    http://www.slideshare.net/brunoanconalopes/8-es…

  12. Hi Jeremiah, how are you?

    I have posted about your framework for the 8 stages of listening on our agency's blog and I have created a slideshare for the content, both in Portuguese. Let me know what you think and feel free to link back! If you want this same slideshare in a version in English let us know ok?

    Cheers and congrats once again for the fantastic work!
    post:
    http://www.foreplay.com.br/blog/2009/11/24/evol…

    slideshare
    http://www.slideshare.net/brunoanconalopes/8-es…

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  15. Hi Jeremiah,

    Sad–startling even–to consider that at this stage of social media development–never mind the extensive supporting body of marketing literature, thought and success studies on the value of listening–that marketers/agencies continue to shy from fully embracing this most important function in the new marketing dynamic. Your great post here, from Nov 2009, looked forward into 2010; now that we are underway with 2011, can you share a bit on how your view has changed regarding the year ahead and beyond? Many thanks, Jeff

  16. this article continues the observation that many groups charge off in the fray without ever knowing what they want to do and how they will  do it. it sounds like the old management saw” having lost sight of our goals, we will redouble our efforts.”

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