The Dells is a rock band in Hong Kong. Despite an initial period of success, the band's popularity began to wane after several years of playing in the local music scene. As the emergence of the Internet has enabled artists to reach a wider audience, the band created a Website to promote themselves and to sell merchandise. However, the static Website encountered several problems which have limited the band's Web viewership and revenues from advertising and merchandise sales. This report will examine two major business problems. These concern outmoded delivery of Web content, and poor customer service experience.
Problems arising from Website
Lack of updates concerning tour dates, new albums, etc.
Inability to address technical issues and to improve customer service on the Website
Solutions and Recommendations
New delivery of relevant content
Expand communication channels between the band and its audience
Conclusion
Website Statistics
Online Resources
Please find a list of several Websites that provide information on and samples of social software, tools and content creation.
Provide definitions for the underlined general vocabulary words and the italicized content area vocabulary words.
General Word/Phrase
Definition
1
wane
2
outmoded
3
robust
4
fickle
5
nimble
6
archaic
7
confluence
8
shoddy
9
obviating
10
tenable
Content Area Word/Phrase
Definition
1
static Website
2
viewership
3
Web 1.0
4
Web 2.0
5
deadlinks
6
Webmaster
7
core competency
8
platform
9
blog
10
Facebook
Problem-Solution Essay
The Dells is a rock band in Hong Kong that has seen better days. For the first few years of the band's existence, the group achieved great success what with months full of concert dates and robust album sales. But in a fickle pop music scene where tastes change so soon as the wind blows, the Dells were unable to sustain their growth. The same can be said about their Website, which originally was constructed in and best suited for the Web 1.0 era. As the Web 2.0 era moves forward into an age of even more prolific and convenient social technologies, the Dell's Website grows more archaic day by day. It is ill-suited to meet the demands of today's dynamic Web users. This report will highlight two of the Website's major business problems, which are outmoded delivery of content, and poor customer service experience. Recommendations to solve these problems will be made.
One of the Website's failings is its inability to provide updated information on the band concerning tour dates and new albums, among other things. Fans who browse the Website are shocked to find dead links, and dated, irrelevant information on the band. In fact, some of the pages have not been revised in several years, which, the Webmaster said, is because of the unwieldy nature of the Website's programming that originated from the shoddy code first used in the Website's construction. The lack of updates has caused fans to flee the Website and to seek others that can provide timely, current news on the Dells.
The Website's poor customer service is another main reason why users have been flocking to rival Websites. Fans of the Dells want to buy merchandise such as albums, t-shirts and stickers. Yet, the Website, which does sell merchandise, cannot provide tracking information on packages and multiple methods of payment, services and features which Web consumers demand. Nor can users on the Website find a customer service telephone number or an online feedback form to make enquiries, particularly if there are problems with the order. The only contact information is an e-mail address, and concerned fans have commented that in general it takes more than a week before their e-mails are answered. This intolerable customer service experience has driven fans to competing online stores, many of which do not have an official license to sell merchandise from the Dells.
Although the Website's problems seem insurmountable at first blush, the solution is quite tenable and simple. First of all, the Website must be relaunched, using newer, more nimble programming architecture. If that proves too tedious of a task, then a platform so simple as a blog or a Facebook page should be employed. In that way, the programming has already been completed, obviating the need for a techincal Webmaster, and the band itself could update content and communicate with its fans directly. The store, too, should be relaunched as a mini-store within a larger shopping Website (i.e. Amazon, or eBay) whose core competency is customer service and which has extensive experience in handling Web retail sales. Finally, the social aspect of the fan base must be embraced, and therefore an attempt to link all of the Dells fanse and Websites, officials ones as well as those created by fans, on a Web 2.0 page such as Facebook, MySpace or Blogger. With users and Websites interconnected, fans will be able to more easily reach each other and the band, and potential synergies will be produced.
In conclusion, the Dells Website suffers from a confluence of poor content delivery and customer service; and the result is that fans have been leaving in droves. To remedy this situation, the band must embrace newer, social technologies that will allow the group to update content frequently and conveniently, and will expand communication channels between themselves and their fans. If the Website is to escape from its death spiral, if the band truly desires to make its name relevant for its fans in cyberspace, then these revamping measures must be enacted.
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