Integrating Social Media and Traditional Modes of Customer Interaction for New B2B Service Development

ABSTRACT Purpose The extant literature has indicated that interacting with customers to obtain their input during new service development projects is key to developing successful new services. However, the literature has focused mostly on the use of traditional face-to-face interaction with the customers. Lately, a growing trend among many B2B firms is to collaborate with the customers via various social media platforms. Yet, the literature has overlooked the use of social media as a key mode of interaction for obtaining customer input for new service development. Also, the question, how to use social media for customer interaction alongside other traditional modes of interactions has remained unanswered. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate the use of social media along with the traditional modes of customer interaction for developing new B2B financial services. Methodology To achieve the above research objective, we developed a multi-phase, longitudinal and robust qualitative research design. We collected data from several new service development projects being pursued by a large financial service firm in India. First, we interviewed 17 managers, who were in charge of the new service projects in the firm. In addition, we interviewed 92 customers that were involved in interaction with the managers during the new service development process. During and after the interviews, several documents and archival records were consulted to triangulate the data provided by the respondents. We also ethnographically observed social media interactions among customers and managers for about 11 months. We analyzed the data using open, axial, and selective coding and maintained a robust case study database. Findings The findings highlight a promising new facet of customer interaction in which both traditional modes and social media can be effectively combined for obtaining rich customer input thereby increasing the odds for developing successful new services in the B2B financial services industry. The findings also suggest that social media alone cannot help a firm obtain rich customer input because social media interactions produce mainly corroborative information. Thus, to develop innovative new services a firm must combine various modes of interaction, both traditional modes and social media. Research Implications The article has implications for the literature related to B2B services industry. Particularly, the findings of this study advance the current knowledge of social media interaction and new service development in B2B firms. We also contribute to the important but relatively sparse literature treating social media as a mode of customer interaction. Our study also advances the literature of new service development and global marketing by studying the new service development process in the emerging market of India. Practical Implications Customer interaction should be a key element in a firm’s new service development activity. This article has proposed several customer interaction strategies in order to outline a course of action that the service managers can apply in their quest for successful new services. In particular, our research offers actionable guidance to the managers and companies in the emerging markets aiming to use the strategy of customer interaction and leveraging the power of social media for their NSD programs. Many B2B financial service firms in the emerging markets will find the strategy and process described in this research useful for developing successful new services for their business customers. Originality and Contributions This study reflects the current academic and practitioner interest in the emerging role of social media particularly in the B2B context. Arguably, this is the first study that bridges the gap between research on social media and customer interaction for the purpose of developing new B2B services. Particularly, combining the traditional modes of interaction with social media interaction is a unique contribution of this study. The research also adds to the emergent research theme of customer interaction for developing new B2B services in the emerging market. Overall, this study offers new insights into the current understanding of customer interaction against the backdrop of increasing digitization of various business functions including new service development in the B2B context.