Aug. 13, 2007

The Evolution of Customer-to-Customer Relationships

By John I. Todor, Ph.D., The Whetstone Edge, LLC

A number of us have been blogging about the trust levels consumers seen in Customer Generated Reviews. I just came across TradeKing, online broker offering flat-fee trades (www.tradeking.com) and was impressed by two things seem to extend this trust.

First, not only do they post customer reviews, they have a number of community features to connect like-minded traders. This lets customer share insight, and information. One assumes that the more they interact the greater the trust.

The second is their recent report stating "As the market has experienced increased volatility in recent days, our community has demonstrated an even higher level of activity." I tend to agree with their belief that the increased levels of trust from the enhanced social networking increased confidence.

This could signal the begining of shift in what we now call customer relationships. The company takes the role of facilitator in nurturing customer-to-customer relationships.

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John I. Todor, Ph.D., is the managing partner of The Whetstone Edge, LLC, a customer-centric consulting firm that helps clients build customer equity by engaging customers online via social media and delivering compelling offline customer experiences. He is the author of Get with it! The Hands-on Guide to Using Web 2.0 in Your Business.
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