Should Clubhouse be part of your customer experience strategy?

Over recent months, the hype around Clubhouse has slowly been building. I have spoken to many people who have started to explore the platform and have come across some interesting, fun content. But is Clubhouse just a passing fad, or should we be looking at it as part of our customer experience strategy, in the same way we started to view Twitter and Facebook just a few years ago?

As customer experience professionals, I don’t think you can ignore the trends that change the way customers interact with brands. Plus, I think there are some interesting parallels between what we know about good customer experience tactics, and those individuals who are who are using the Clubhouse platform effectively.

What is all the Clubhouse hype about?

Of all the things I have seen written about Clubhouse, I think The Guardian’s description probably sums up the platform best: “Part talkback radio, part conference call, part house party, Clubhouse is an audio-chat-based social networking app”.

Put simply, users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics. Think of it like tuning into a live podcast, but with an added layer of exclusivity as you need to get an invitation from a fellow user.

Should CX professionals be using Clubhouse?

On the whole, my experience of the Clubhouse platform has been positive. There are certainly a lot of interesting people on there, the threshold to join in a conversation is very low and the content is quite good.

Interestingly, the attention span of users of Clubhouse is currently high, which is something we often see for new social networks. This makes now a good time to start experiment with Clubhouse.

However, the major downside of Clubhouse is how time-consuming it is. Compared to Instagram or Facebook, where you can quickly check in or post between meetings, Clubhouse requires some time to sit down and focus for longer periods to find the conversations you really value.

How you can use Clubhouse for your customer experience strategy?

There a few simple things I would recommend brands should start looking at if they are going to embrace Clubhouse in the CX strategy:

1. Invite your customers into the spotlight. If you have a planned a Clubhouse event, why not invite some of your customers onto the stage with you? This will improve the quality of the conversation and put your customer in the spotlight, which they will appreciate. You could invite them to bring in their expertise and while doing so, you are indirectly helping them promote their own company, something customers always appreciate.
2. Organise a Q&A about an industry hot topic. Your knowledge about a hot topic can really offer value to your customers. What issues occupy the minds of your customers? Focus the conversation on what they will find helpful and plan a room. A good approach is to have a moderator and an expert panel. You can kick off the session with some guided questions from your moderator before you open up the floor to questions from the audience. Inform and invite customers in advance so they can add the session to their calendar like they would with a traditional event.
3. Attend your customers’ Clubhouse events. The key thing about social media is that it is social, and not just a one-way street. Clubhouse is a fantastic platform to learn more about your customers, so join customers in their rooms to get new insights and learnings that may help your relationship. Plus, they will appreciate that you care about their content.
4. Organise a ‘premium’ Clubhouse event. ‘Premium’ Clubhouse events should be as important as the physical events you would organise in non-Covid times. Why not invite your CEO or an external guest expert, and prepare a session that will bring out an engaging conversation, including a Q&A session for the audience? I have seen some events that have created opportunities to meet people who would be unreachable under normal circumstances, such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Just like offline events, these premium events take some work to create high-level content, but it can be a very rewarding tactic.
5. Find a rhythm. When you’re first starting out on Clubhouse you will probably create rooms ad hoc, or you might look to create a daily, weekly, or monthly show. Both tactics can actually work, but my experience is that by settling into a steady, regular rhythm it will help you to build a loyal audience because customers can organise their schedules accordingly.

Think of Clubhouse like all social media – it might not happen immediately, but if you create good quality content regularly, you will make a much better impact than if you just use it once and forget about it.

Steven van Belleghem is one of the world’s leading thought-leaders, speakers and authors on customer engagement. His new book, The Offer You Can’t Refuse is out now.