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ARTICLE · 18 JUNE 1996

Is Online Dialogue Really a Two-Edged Sword?

Andersen Legal
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United KingdomMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
One of the great advantages of having an online presence is that it allows a company to establish a dialogue with its customer base. A company can quickly gather feedback on customer reaction to new products and, as is now often the case with software producers, use its online presence to answer questions and provide support. However, the ability to enter into a dialogue can also be a two-edged sword.

Are you listening?
If you have an online presence, your customers will expect you to respond to their questions. If you do not, you will quickly lose their goodwill. For example, Disney released The Lion King on CD-ROM in time for the 1994 Christmas market. Unfortunately, the designers of the CD-ROM had made insufficient allowance for the variations amongst PCs, and on many PCs the CD-ROM simply hung in mid-program. Faced with screaming kids early on Christmas morning, many parents did what seemed to be the logical thing to do: they rang the help number that came with the CD-ROM.

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