Customer engagement and why Koodo is #1 at it!
Friday, February 14, 2014 at 2:44PM 
ELLL TABADOORRRRRR! One of Canada’s most recognized brands, Koodo, took merely two short years to win Strategy’s Brand of the Year in 2010. What’s more, they’re the youngest brand to have ever won the title. Beyond the quirky neon colors and lovable ads, Koodo’s online community boasts millions of visitors each year. Their customers love them. For two years JD Powers and Associates have named Koodo “Canada’s most recommended wireless company”.
Read on to see how they did it all in under five years.
Gamifying Customer Service
Launched in 2011, the Koodo Community is an online forum where customers ask questions, get and provide answers, all while earning Badges and Praise from other community members. Similar to Quora, members can up-vote answers so the system itself is self-policing and self-sustaining. Instead of plowing through FAQ pages alone and confused with a burning question, the Community members gather to help answer submissions - many top users even grow to possess a deep expertise in mobile.
The gamification aspect of earning rewards and praise or recognition is built into the site via an integration partnership between Badgeville, a gamification platform, and Get Satisfaction, a community platform for engaging customers. Making customer experience fun for users has allowed Koodo to engage customers “in a very effective way while positively impacting our bottom line," said Nathan Roth, Koodo’s Senior Marketing Manager Since using this system, Roth and his team have “been able to grow our peer-to-peer support response rate by 557 per cent year-over-year." Not only is this exactly what customers want and are happy to get in on, but it’s saving the company money. Smart play, indeed.
Mobile Masters – Addicted to Helping Others
Every quarter, Koodo distinguishes their most dedicated Community members as Mobile Masters. Since 99.9 per cent of customers find answers by searching in the Community, these masters shoulder the bulk of Koodo’s customer service.
Koodo has begun honouring these support evangelists with a trip to the Toronto head office where Masters meet Koodo executives, contribute to focus groups, and enjoy personalized company swag. But it’s not just for fun, games and praise. As Mobile Master Sophia Burns puts it, “I love the pleasant atmosphere in the Community. Originally I never planned to stay, but I soon became addicted. Almost a year later, I'm still here. It's fun helping people with questions regarding Koodo, and I learn a lot myself. What Koodo has going here is really unique!”
Crowdsourcing for Better Ideas
The Community also features a platform where customers can share ideas on how to make Koodo better (No more angry Twitter rants!) Roth describes Koodo Ideas as a site that “gives customers a chance to share, discuss and vote for the changes they would like Koodo to make”. Over 1,300 product ideas have been submitted so far and Koodo reviews 100 per cent of them – already implementing requests like the bigger, better Tab, easier payments with prepaid credit cards, and visual voicemail for iPhones. Since many Koodo customers aren’t locked into a contract, this is a smart way for Koodo to add features people want to stick around and pay for.
What Do the People Think?
To report ratings, the J.D. Power & Associates' Study surveyed 13,300 mobile phone customers in September 2012 and March 2013. Koodo, scored 765 out of a 1,000 points, 103 points ahead of Rogers Wireless, which placed last. The study also found that cellphone users who accessed customer service via the internet were more satisfied than those who called their wireless carrier or visited a store. At Koodo, they took this a step further and made the experience fun and engaging. You don’t often here those words used to describe wireless providers. For Kevin Banderk, Chief Koodo Officer, that’s good. Unlike the competition, Banderk says, “We’re never trying to be cool. We’re trying to be authentic, say things how they are, and put a smile on someone’s face.”
Reader Comments (1)
A telco that listens to their customers!?! Hell has frozen over.