Commentary

Back To The Future

by Joseph Jaffe , November 25, 2013

Last week I had not one but two experiences with social-media-related customer service: the first with @attCustomerCare, @TMobileHelp and @Verizon, and the second with @AetnaHelp. In both cases, it was incredible to experience firsthand how times have changed and feel the impact of consumer empowerment and control.

However, I want to focus on the latter example with Aetna, my health care provider.

It all began when I commented on a friend’s Facebook post that ultimately devolved into a thread about healthcare reform and Obamacare. A commenter asked me if I had found out what was happening to my plan, and I replied by saying I would find out.

So I called the Aetna 800 number on my monthly statement and was told that my call was important to them, but due to unusually high call volume, it would be answered in around 30 minutes. I turned to Facebook, posting the following:

Can we just level set that "if my call was important to you," the "estimated wait time" would be less than 30 minutes #aetna#bobamacare

What transpired after that was kind of interesting.For the sake of brevity, I will list the series of events in bullet form:

- I get a response from someone at Aetna offering to help, directing me to the company’s official Twitter handle.

- I exchange tweets with @AetnaHelp on Twitter, and they ask me to send them a Direct Message (DM), which requires me to follow them first.

- They follow me. I follow them.

- The DM instructs me to send an email with further particulars of my account.

- The email involves providing my telephone number.

- Aetna calls me back on my cell phone and lets me know that this request has been escalated up the Aetna flagpole.

That was Friday, Nov. 22. Today is Monday the 25th and I still don’t have a response from Aetna. As I wrote in Flip the Funnel, customer service doesn’t stop at 5p.m. on a Friday, although I suspect Aetna Member Services goes home at 5p.m. on a Friday!

To recap: I went from (1) phone to (2) Facebook to (3) Twitter to (4) email, back to (5) phone! The irony of coming full circle was inescapable. Imagine all the time spent, system processed and human hours expended that would have been avoided if they had just picked up the telephone in the first place.

As Beancast host Bob Knorpp said on his podcast (I’m paraphrasing less eloquently): social media customer service just exists because the offline systems are broken.

To that end, let’s cut Aetna some slack. It's knee deep in Affordable Health Care Act tumult right now. So why not just admit it? Why not change the IVR message to read something to the effect of, “As you most likely are aware, things are a little crazy in healthcare right now, especially with the official website not firing on all cylinders and many customers not sure about the status of keeping their plans. We’re doing everything in our power to respond as quickly as we can, but are struggling to keep up with call volume. Please be patient and bear with us, although if you require quicker resolution, give our @AetnaHelp on Twitter a bash. They’re not as busy as we are!”

What a great opportunity missed, using their owned asset (the “O” in Z.E.R.O.): the telephone. Which brings me to the final word: Aetna’s social media response was for the most part awesome. The reason for my call was both out of its control and pretty widespread, but all of this could have been avoided if its reps had just picked up the damn phone a little quicker.

customer experience, customer relations, customer service

7 comments about "Back To The Future".

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Ron Stitt from Fox Television Stations, November 25, 2013 at 11:10 a.m.
I've noticed this quite a few times...some brands have decided the important thing about social media is to be SEEN to respond to a customer complaint. Actually doing anything about the problem is completely secondary for many of them.
Reply

Zachary Cochran from CPXi, November 25, 2013 at 12:32 p.m.

Most customer service sucks. Companies that do it right will earn their customers' respect (i.e. Nordstrom).

Jim Rochford from SoCal AMA, November 25, 2013 at 3:13 p.m.

I wonder how many customer service reps were let go because the executive committee said, "with social media we won't need as many reps? More examples of using social media without full understanding and without tying it to a sound, marketing strategy.

In Aetna's case, they should create 4 Twitter accounts for: 1. Billing/Claims 2. Current Policyholders 3. ACA 4. General. They could delete and add accounts based on the nature of the queries. This would save them time sorting on the back end and this would let customers know they aware of their concerns.

Ted Rubin from The Rubin Organization / Return on Relationship, November 25, 2013 at 3:55 p.m.

Great post Joe, well done! Exactly on point... be upfront and transparent and your followers will support you for being authentic and real.

Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, November 25, 2013 at 4:19 p.m.

Wait until you expect insurance companies to pay, especially if it is a major claim. That is what attorneys are for. Why you would allow anything out to the public which is totally private will be proven to be expensive errors. And paying salaries outside of the ivory towers is anathema to companies like insurance.

Pete Austin from Fresh Relevance, November 26, 2013 at 5:16 a.m.

This makes an excellent example of why social marketers need to be very careful and not just do what seems to be a good thing at the time. Anyone who said, "things are a little crazy in healthcare" could get fired on the spot, because it's not a good thing to insult your customers who have psychiatric problems.

Esther Dyson from EDventure, December 13, 2013 at 5:02 p.m.

so, did you ever get a real response from Aetna? I'm a customer of theirs too, and just received a completely incomprehensible paper pamphlet (100+ pages, I think) in the mail. Trying to figure out what to do next....