Best Community ROI Usecase: Verizon's New Peer-to-Peer Support Forums provides impressive ROI by saving in support-related costs
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Category: Best Community ROI Usecase
Community: Verizon
Submitted by: Verizon Community Project Manager Hollyb
Verizon launched http://forums.verizon.com/ at the end of 2008 as part of the company’s esupport initiatives to help both wireless and residential customers find answers to their support questions in the most efficient way possible. The primary goal of the support forums was two fold: helping customers find resolution to their support questions quickly, as well as helping Verizon cut down on customer support costs by decreasing call volume.
In a little over a year since its launch, the Verizon team was excited to see the peer-to-peer support among customers on the forums rapidly grow and continue to thrive. Long-time Verizon customers were taking time to help newer Verizon customers solve everything from most common technical issues like how to set up their voicemail to more complex issues like making their new FiOS TV work with their Xbox.
The Verizon forums quickly accomplished the first goal, by providing customers with a place to work out their technical problems quickly, efficiently and in a peer-to-peer environment.
The explosive growth in the Verizon forums was captured in their 2009 numbers. The Verizon community saw an increase in new member registrations by 177%, an increase in posts by 347%, and an increase in page views by 300%.
But perhaps the most impressive impact of the Verizon community was the significant decrease in call-volume which resulted in dramatic savings in support-related costs.