Case study: ACDSee

     ACDSee has a long tradition of providing quality software for digital photographers. This case study is an example of not only how social media was used to provide excellent customer service but also how it engaged a completely new market. This niche market continues to expand & thrive as customers tell others.

     Listening initially:

     A Community Manager position was established long before it was ‘vogue’. In monitoring online conversations it was noticed that the software was being used in an unconventional manner. This began a dialogue with customers as the company listened to understand how the software was being used.

     Engaging the new market:

• Identified evangelists.
• Trained & encouraged them to use social media tools:
• Google alerts, SEO, word of mouth.
• They created a site with a broad range of resources:
• Tutorials written in niche’s language & Videos.
• FAQ’s, tips on product use.
• Blog & weekly newsletter.
• Blogs, participation in online forums, real time chats at websites.

     Evangelists provide personalized customer support at a community-centric site.

• Provided tech support by IM with Hello.
• Created resources including Frequently Asked Questions.
• Customers self serve themselves.
• Encourage customers to support their peers.
• Presently non-customers & customers direct others to pertinent resources.
• Gathered product use tips from customers & consolidated them into resources.

     Listening & providing for the community’s needs:

• Feedback was gathered on desired features.
• New features that were specific to the community were integrated into the product.
• Evangelists maintain a continual conversation with the community.
• Community specific items created & offered as promotions.
• Integrated social media with traditional marketing, PR & affiliate marketing efforts.

     Expanding on success:

• Additional evangelists added to continue the level of support the community expects.
• Offering a public beta on a new product to allow for community input.
• Plans to apply the model to other user segments.

     Results after one year of active listening, engagement & participation:

• Brand was established in a month & half.
• ACDSee’s product is recognized as the preferred tool over much larger competitors such as Adobe & Corel.
• The community has embraced ACDSee products as the industry standard for organization.
• At present 97% of support is provided by evangelists in a personalized manner.
• The high level of customer service that ACDSee & the evangelists provide is frequently commented on.
• Company customer support is in-house and has been shifted to reside under marketing.
• Customer feedback resulted in a new precedent of providing patches.
• Establishing a system to gather customer feedback will be gathered before development begins (pre-beta).

     Suggestions for best practices:

• A community manager is invaluable to connect & collaborate with customers & in-house efforts.
• Listen to your community & engage with them in an authentic manner.
• Customers will notice & respect this then proceed to tell everyone.
• Experiment with social media tools & use those that connect with your community.
• Ex: our customers don’t subscribe to rss feeds, so we created a weekly newsletter.
• Write tutorials & FAQ’s in the customer’s language rather than industry standard.

     Source: Customer service: the art of listening and engagement through Social Media (Brian Solis and Becky Carroll) e-book