“So, we incorporated little rewards and recognitions around people actually completing parts of the program. We put up leader boards so people would compete against their colleagues, we brought communication and social features into the program itself.
“That’s really lifted engagement. It drove the behaviour that we want. Usage levels have gone up more than 50%.”
Asked which other Australian businesses are making good use of such principles, Williams singles out Australia’s biggest telecommunications company, Telstra.
At the telco’s crowd support portal, customers can ask tricky technical questions that are then answered by other Telstra users.
Why would Telstra customers give up their time to help others in this way? Because, Williams says, the whole thing is set up to reward useful contributions.
“In ‘crowd support’, on the right-hand of the page, there’s a leader board. Each user has a level next to them. When you first get on and ask a question, you get a ‘new’ tag next to your name. Now, no one wants to stay a ‘noob’ [a video game term for a new, inexperienced member of a community], so when you join, you answer a few questions to build up your rank. Depending on how good your answers are, people give you points, as a method of encouraging you.”
Telstra’s crowd support portal is working. More than 60,000 technical queries are answered per month through the website. The crowd-sourcing saves Telstra thousands of dollars in hours spent on the phone to customers, and it works for users too.
“If I have a problem which is a bit unusual, or a bit technical, it’d take ages for me to get an answer through normal channels,” Williams says. “It’s difficult for someone in a call centre to have an answer. I go through crowd support, and within a few hours have a fantastic answer.”
On the other end of the scale, Williams recalls a coffee shop he visits.
“They have a sticky note with a leaderboard of who their top customers are. They change it every day.
“It’s as low-tech as you can get. But you get in there and think, ‘I wouldn’t mind being on that list’.”
Myriam Robin is a reporter for SmartCompany and its sister site LeadingCompany. She has degrees in economics, international studies and journalism. She likes writing about businesses taking risks and doing new things.
