What makes you feel more like a member or a customer?

amy_b_d

Each and every one of us is a giffgaff member. Here in the giffgaff office, we have never used the term "customer". In fact, we have a bike horn in every meeting room in case the word is accidentally spoken.

If you've ever filled out the giffgaff daily survey, you'll find a question in there asking the following:

Thinking about your own relationship with giffgaff, to what extent do you consider yourself to be a customer or a member?

1 (Customer) 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Member)

Recently, when I asked the same question in a survey I sent to a group of members who visited the runbyyou site, 57% said they felt like a member. But the bigger question here is; Why do you feel like a member or a customer?

To help me solve this mystery, thinking about where you sit on the above scale, can you write a paragraph giving the reasons why you chose that number and why you feel like a member or a customer. And lastly, what does it mean to you being a member.

(P.S. I've copied this thread in Contribute and in General Discussion to get a variety of different responses. Feel free to reply to any thread.)

mcilwraith

anyone who has received help in the forums in my opinion should feel more like a member than a customer.personally since i`ve been involved in the forums ive always leant towards being a member.

the community spirit is alive and well on the giffgaff forums.thats as good a reason as any for choosing a 6 from 7 the only reason its not the full mark is when i buy a voucher i get the customer bit

bluemoonbaz

Easy one for me @amy_b_d

The Community :smileyindifferent: makes me feel like I belong and so I don't think like a customer.

When I talk about Giffgaff to others (and I do lol I think people think I own giffgaff at times ) .

But seriously I feel like I am a part of a whole and not a cash cow for some investor , I can influence and change and yeah I suppose I feel like I do own a piece of giffgaff

This sums giffgaff up for me

giffgaffprepper

@amy_b_d

sorry but you're now spamming the forum, that is against the rules, this is the 3rd time you've posted the same thread in a different section

sorry but I have to click the report button

be prepared to be educated

have a nice day

bullphit

Member 7

This is because of the community where we all get involved

ijustcantdoit

What makes you feel more like a member or a customer?

helping on here and feeling like iam onboard with others , makes me think gotta be member

harryjulie1

Customer and member make it sound like a youth club I like the word family as it feel more warm and welcome

davidgbartlett

@amy_d_b

In normal everyday life I feel like a customer, especially when money goes from my bank to pay for our goodybags...but then I come on here every so often and remember that it is a membership - we help each other out, banter (if you want to), and look at new ideas being thought through. So I guess I agree, it is the online community that makes it feel like a membership, as well as payback which shows that giffgaff values our input and us being on board. 🙂

mijthebarber

I like the friend approach and all are one family at giffgaff ,,, and any help and knowledge I can pass along is a bonus

bobrobinson

Hiya @amy_b_d

Being a member is being involved in everything we do.

From being on the community and the forums and coming up with ideas.

Helping gaffers on the help and support

Also brininging up ideas it the labs

Its all part of being one family where were working together as one.

And not them and us. Its a big US so that makes us members and not coustomers.

All the best

From a happy member

Bob 🙂

kevincunno

Hi @amy_b_d no7 I have always felt like a member of a great and fantastic family like community always willing to help one another

yvonnearmstrong

@amy_b_d

I do think being called a member is much better than being called a customer.............it's like standing in a queue waiting to be served

And there's always someone on the community willing to help if needed

Yvonne

ungourin

@amy_b_d it's def having this forum that makes you feel like a family ,,, and the way we can link each others names so we know who we are taking to

egglassa

6 as gg listens I us. Unlike other phone companies

themzbiker

I've always felt like a member since

i joined giffgaff so I've got to give a

7 it's like most people say it's like a

Family a giffgaff family

Joining giffgaff was the best thing i

did i just wished I'd joined alot sooner

@amy_b_d

amy_b_d

Morning everyone. Did you all have a good weekend?

Thanks so much for answering my question. It's very interesting to see that depending on where the question is asked, I've read different responses. In Contribute, the majority feel like customers, in GD they're also feeling like a customer. In Welcome and Join, there's a real feeling of membership involved.

If you're still on the edge of answering, please do pop your thoughts down in this thread. I'd like to get as much information on this as possible. =)

natty88

@amy_b_d I feel like we are all members of the

We enjoy getting involved with others and helping our learning as we grow

amy_b_d

@natty88 that's a great gif!

Another question for all of you now.. Some have naturally talked about this but what kind of things has the community enabled you to do that makes you guys feel like a member?

cardy1970

I suppose if you look at other forums, you can get one where posters say members when talking about other posters, where if you go into Sky's forums many answers people get is that it is customer to customer and that Sky don't answer on the forums so in the latter one you could say that is similar to giffgaff where other users share experiences and help out other customers of sky's services.

I'm not sure if I think of myself as a member, I do post on other forums of services I use and in most instances everyone thinks of every posters as fellow customers.

I do like the community feel that giffgaff have, the payback is a great idea, but I'm not sure if member isn't anything more than a fancy name for customer in the same way that John Lewis calls workers a partner rather than an employee.

endorphin

@cardy1970 FYI John Lewis distributes a share of its annual profits to all its employees which is why they call them partners, whilst not power wielding decision makers as in the full sense of being a partner, it's a nice reward for them. https://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/work/pay-and-benefits.html

Can payback be viewed the same way?