Episode 19 - Xbox

Video gamers are serious about their craft, and when something isn’t working like it’s supposed to, they want answers – quickly. Thankfully, Xbox (part of Microsoft) offers a host of support options, including live chat, an instant callback from a live agent, a robust community forum, and the most responsive Twitter account in the world.

Yes, you read that right. Xbox’s video game-like stats on Twitter – more than 7 million followers on its main handle, more than 5 million tweets from its 13 separate support handles, more than 5,000 responses every day – have earned it the Most Responsive Brand on Twitter designation from the Guinness Book of World Records.

The brand’s loyal following and sheer volume of support answers is both unparalleled and staggering; a single broadcast tweet seeking qualified candidates for the customer support team can yield hundreds of applicants.

James Degnan was Xbox’s Community Support Manager overseeing the company’s “Tweet Fleet” for several years before recently transitioning to lead the Xbox Ambassador program, a peer-to-peer support service. James was kind enough to share some cheats, codes and hints (gamer-speak for best practices) with Dan Gingiss and Dan Moriarty on episode 19 of the Focus on Customer Service Podcast. Some favorite quotes include:

• “Those are all hand-typed tweets by agents that care about a customer and want to give them a personalized response.”

• “We have all sorts of mechanisms to draw [customer service] volume to our social channels.”

• “Passion is just huge” when evaluating potential service agent hires – plus a technology background, strong ability to multitask, passion for the brand and Twitter, empathy, critical thinking skills, and a customer service background.

• “It’s an entirely different animal on Twitter, where sometimes you have to read between the lines on what a customer is saying and arrive at your own inference on how to best handle it.”

• “It is so important to us to prove to our community on Twitter that we’re actually a part of that community.”

Here are the highlights of the episode and where to find them:

0:45 How James got to lead a record-breaking social care team

3:08 James talks about the Guinness World Record

6:55 Xbox’s “overflow” accounts on Twitter and the tools used to manage them

13:33 The size of the Xbox social care team and how they are trained

20:57 How Xbox uses post-servicing surveys to rate agents and identify issues

22:06 Xbox’s philosophy and approach to social care

23:32 The Xbox Ambassador program

26:29 James shares a memorable interaction with a customer

29:40 The advice James would share with himself six years ago when he started

Thanks to Matt Hannaford for nominating Xbox for the podcast, tweeting: “I think some of the best customer service comes from @XboxSupport. They respond so fast.” If you’d like to suggest a brand for a future episode, please tweet us directly or use the hashtag #FOCS. The Focus on Customer Service podcast is also available on iTunes and Stitcher.