Despite the success of the Cluetrain Manifesto and its forceful commentary about the importance of creating a conversation with your customer, not everyone got the message. We all still run into companies who cause us heartburn. It might help to open up the conversation beyond the heavily scripted call center.

One way to do that is with Get Satisfaction. This system was developed to help with problem solving, promote sharing, and build up customer relationships. This service is a lot like a customer support board, but it’s a lot more free form. Users visit and pose questions or concerns about a company’s products or services. Then either the company or just anybody can answer. If it sounds familiar, it’s sort of a customer-focused version of Yahoo! Answers (that we discussed in Talk Amongst Yourselves). If you’re looking for a way to engage with customers outside of traditional challenges, here’s an easy way to do so.

Aren’t you wondering what your customers are asking about?