A Customer Favorite: ^CT

Surprising and delighting customers is what the employees behind the @TeamTurboTax Twitter do best.

In year two of its journey, the team behind the Twitter account has helped customers get the tax answers they need as easily as possible. And customers, just like Ryan M., are taking note and appreciative of the support.

Christine Thacker was the @TeamTurboTax member who reached out to Ryan M. and got him the solution he needed to make him “happy as a clam.” She is also one of the original @TeamTurboTax members that helped the team reach success in year one when the project was founded. The TurboTax initiative was created to pair customers with tax and tech-savvy employees like Thacker, who is affectionately known on Twitter as ^CT.

Thacker’s eagerness to help, social prowess, and extensive tax knowledge made her an easy choice for the @TeamTurboTax March member of the month.

Intuit Investigative Blogger: What is your background and how does it help you on Twitter?

Christine Thacker: My background is in finance and tax. My career at Intuit began in 2007 as a seasonal employee. Then I moved to the Accounting Professionals Division for a short time until I found my current role.

Intuit Investigative Blogger: What is your current role at Intuit?

Thacker: I am the TurboTax Live Community moderator. I help customers get answers to their questions. Since Live Community is built into our tax product, customers come there often. My job is to not only help them via that channel, but I like to build relationships with what we call our super users in the community.

The super users are dedicated to our product and helping it improve. So I am the go-between for those customers, taking their feedback and giving it to the product developers. Hopefully in the end improvements are made and we have a great product.

Intuit Investigative Blogger: Is that work with TurboTax Live Community what made you decide to join the @TeamTurboTax team?

Thacker: The work I am doing with @TeamTurboTax is almost the same. It’s just a different vehicle. So instead of helping customers via a forum I am using Twitter. And we see some of the same customer questions pop up in both places.

But, I didn’t approach the @TeamTurboTax folks, my team was actually the driving force for my involvement. They became aware of what @TeamTurboTax was doing and then we joined since it seemed like a natural fit with what our roles and skills were.

I was really excited to help especially since it was new and exciting. It is great to be a part of something and see the growth and success it has had so early on in its journey.

Intuit Investigative Blogger: What do you like best about helping customers on Twitter?

Thacker: I love to see them be surprised. What I mean is, some customers are really surprised we even offer this type of support. So when we respond to a tweet it is really great to see them post about our outstanding customer service. It is really gratifying to sit back and know I helped solve their problem and create a great experience.

Intuit Investigative Blogger: Can you think of a favorite customer interaction you’ve had so far this tax season?

Thacker: Definitely. I helped a customer who had an issue and couldn’t get through to our support line. He posted an upset tweet and I responded to him to try to troubleshoot his issue. I ended up helping him over Twitter and shortly after we solved his problem he wrote a blog post about @TeamTurboTax and tweeted his satisfaction.

It was cool to see someone that wasn’t a professional blogger take the time to write this story about our customer service.

Intuit Investigative Blogger: Since this is the second year you have participated in the project, how has @TeamTurboTax grown?

Thacker: I have seen a big change in our team since last year. The overall size of the team has grown of course, but what is really great is that our skill set has improved as well. We have the right people on the team that have the skills to solve customer’s problems fast.

We have people with special knowledge on everything from how to install TurboTax, to specific support for Mac customers, to customer care overall. And we are routing the right tweets to the right people the first time. The entire process is more efficient and reduces wait for customers.

And I am definitely enjoying it. I think Intuit is catching customers off guard in a great way and we are meeting and exceeding their expectations. It is just great to see we aren’t just ignoring this popular channel.

The @TeamTurboTax Twitter account is a way for TurboTax customers, or those considering TurboTax, to get the help they need. What started as a six-person team last year has grown to more than 80 eager employees looking to wow some customers this tax season.

The growth in eager employees however, isn’t the impressive part. The stats are. Since tax season started, employees have interacted with more than 1,000 customers on Twitter so far this tax season.

Carlos is a first-time member of @TeamTurboTax who has had more than 144 interactions with customers on Twitter in less than a month. His passionate approach to making sure customers get what they need on Twitter is amazing considering he is also juggling his day job at TurboTax. Learn more about what it takes to help customers on Twitter like Carlos does on @TeamTurboTax.

Christen Wegner Kelly: What is your background and do you have customer service training?

Carlos Munoz: I am born and raised in Tucson (Ariz.) and am a single father of three kids. I have worked in the technology and customer support industry in the past but most recently was a paralegal.

Christen: What is your role at Intuit?

Carlos: I am a seasonal employee brought in to help with customer support during the busy tax season. My background really helped when it came to making sure customers are happy because I know how to give customers as much help as I could. The great thing is, that is really what this tax team is setting out to do as well, so it is a nice connection.

In my day-to-day work I am a support agent which means I engage with several customers at once. I am usually on instant messenger and on the phone at the same time.

Christen: What made you decide to join the @TeamTurboTax team?

Carlos: When I was going through my customer service training we got a quick training on how the tax team uses Twitter. I was one of the folks they tapped to help since I have had my own Twitter account for years.

The great thing about my job is that I am already engaging with tax customers. So the @TeamTurboTax is just an additional channel for me to watch. Most customer service agents have to be able to multitask, and that comes naturally to me now. At my last customer service job I learned how to multitask and juggle work so that you aren’t short changing any customer.

The great thing about Twitter is it is a little more lenient because you don’t have to answer immediately after they post something like in a chat format. You can take a minute or two. So if I am on a call I can work with that customer for a few minutes and then respond to the Twitter post.

I am using the @TeamTurboTax Twitter feed about an hour or two a day.

Christen: What do you like best about helping customers on Twitter?

Carlos: The funny thing is, I didn’t really understand the extent of the help I was going to be giving customers in the beginning. But we are doing something really unique at Intuit. We are able to be really proactive out there on Twitter because we are interacting with customers who typically just wanted a place to vent. Most likely they weren’t going to call TurboTax customer support and were going to give up. Our role is to go out there and find out what is wrong.

Within 10 minutes, often I am talking to them about their issue and getting it resolved. And since we sought them out, it is really a great moment to see how happy they get after we solve their issue.

Christen: Can you think of a favorite customer interaction you’ve had so far this tax season?

Carlos: Recently I spoke to a woman who was complaining online saying TurboTax wasn’t letting her e-file. Within a few minutes we responded, figured out what her problem was, and resolved it. Afterwards, she was tweeting how much she loved TurboTax.

She had about 1,500 followers so it was really great to see her tweets and think that I helped one person but could have possibly helped hundreds of her followers.

This is what it is really all about—customer service. And what is the coolest part is that all of this starts with us being proactive.

Each of these employees has the opportunity to connect directly with customers so they can better understand what questions you have and to learn more about how we can make TurboTax even better. In fact, more than 85 percent of all TurboTax employees spend time with customers – that’s true across the team, from the GM of the TurboTax business down.

Last week, during one of the busiest filing periods, TurboTax employees from every part of the organization came together to help customers. They took time out of their day job to answer questions via phone, chat, email, even through Twitter.

There’s nothing more important to us than helping our customers. It’s part of what makes Intuit a great place to work. Our focus on delighting you.

While we can’t clear your busy schedule of household tasks, @TeamTurboTax can tell you how to account for your family members at tax time, how to report your charitable deductions, and much more. @TeamTurboTax is just one of the ways TurboTax helps you get your maximum refund with minimum worry or hassle.

If you’re still getting used to Twitter, don’t fret – we have a great alternate for you. You can a free answer to your tax question by visiting Free Tax Question until January 31st.