Vodafone Web Relations: The best carrier web service team?

Despite having major issues with Vodafone UK’s generic data pricing and the marketing thereof, I must say I continue to be hugely impressed by their Web Relations team.

Vodafone UK has led the way with social media and web interaction for a long time. o2 are most definitely hot on their heels, along with Three and Orange — but I think Vodafone’s decision to directly empower the members of their team has paid huge dividends.

For example, today I walked with VodafoneUK on Twitter about their data plans for Europe. They replied within seconds to my tweets then asked me to email them with more information. I did so and got a reply back in minutes from Jenny in the Vodafone Web Relations team.

Before Jenny could action a change to my account she needed to verify my ID — I mailed her back with some details. Jenny’s next reply said ‘thanks’ and ‘this is now done’. Super fast, super convenient, highly personal, keen to deliver, keen to assist. I felt good. Very good indeed.

If you haven’t tried interacting with Big Red this way, I thoroughly recommend it. That said I have always had positive experiences via the call centres too. Today, though, it hasn’t been possible for me to phone customer services — and to be honest, I just wanted to do the transaction via email or Twitter. I’m pleased Vodafone has equipped its team with the capabilities to talk with me however I want to. How many other companies still use the ridiculous ‘sorry for security you have to phone us’ excuse to point every interaction to the call centre?

For me the disconnect is with Vodafone UK marketing and propositions. Telling people via an advertisement that “roaming” costs just £2/day, without properly qualifying the offer in big bold letters, is inexcusable. That deal only applies to the first 25mb — and you have to specifically opt-in to it. This kind of nonsense leaves the very good people on the front-line such as the Web Relations team carrying the can for the bollocks, half-hearted, leave-the-office-early decisions of the marketing/product/propositions team.

Jonathan MacDonald, the (mobile) advertising genius recently noted that companies are going to have to really innovate their interaction policies to the point that they will soon need to personally tailor their end-to-end marketing approaches with each ‘citizen’ (“customer”). I’m pretty confident that Vodafone’s marketing/props team are still busy marketing to their beautifully defined segments and aren’t yet ready to embrace Jonathan’s vision.

Meanwhile they have succeeded in really winding me up with their ridiculous ‘don’t look too close’ advertising claiming one thing yet offering another. Every time I walk by a Vodafone advertisement telling me about their “£2/day” deal, I can’t help but think they really don’t know what they’re doing.

There’s only so much the good people at Web Relations can do when their arms are tied by the silly marketing choices of their colleagues.

What I find fascinating is the disconnect between helpful, positive and enthusiastic Vodafone human and Vodafone’s corporate image as presented in their marketing. The human makes things highly pleasant. The corporate image leaves me feeling highly cynical.

The £2/day deal advert is not a badly conceived attempt at simplification of the offer. No. It’s a highly inaccurate ‘come on’ intended to make anyone who’s been worried about data roaming abroad feel that Vodafone has a brilliant way of fixing that worry. When you look closely you then will discover the caveats.

If the marketing and props team actually meant what they’re saying, they’d have introduced a deal that offers £2 per 25mb when “abroad”. Period. So if you use 100mb, you’ll be billed £8, right? That’d be excellent. That’s what the ad campaign is ‘selling’.

Actually, the reality is that if you use 100mb, you’ll pay £2 for the first 25mb then £5 for every 5mb (or £1/meg, billed in chunks of 5). So total cost? £2 plus another 75 quid. Provided you opted-in.

Ah dear. So super work, Web Relations. Not so good, marketing.

Posted via email from MIR Live