Dell uses social media to tap customer ideas

For most companies, the idea of giving the customer a soapbox to potentially criticize your product is absurd. For computer giant Dell, however, it’s the new m.o.

It’s no secret Dell has long been heralded for its customer communication. Dell saw great success with having two-way conversations with their customers online with Direct2Dell, a corporate blog launched in 2006. But it was only after a roundtable with customers and bloggers at the January 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), that IdeaStorm was born.

“The experience of introducing [Direct2Dell] got us excited about the possibilities of having even more two-way conversations with our customers online,” Dietz said. “There were a lot of ideas shared during the [CES roundtable]. These two driving forces led to Michael Dell’s decision to launch IdeaStorm.”