We are really pleased with a new system that we have built for improving our relationship with our customers. It’s a great step forward – hopefully for all of us – and we describe it and how to use it here!

It’s IndiePix objective to build a community of filmmakers and film fans – a community that is huge, that crosses oceans and continents, that unites all kinds of perspectives and expressions, that is mutually supporting, so that together we can grow the impact of independent film among all media.

For the first four years, IndiePix has been pretty much a one way street – with our site and our emails going out and few channels available to for interaction. We do get email and we have posted our email addresses from the beginning. One issue with that, however: spammers crawl internet sites for email names and addresses, and the resulting increase of spam in the work environment is huge. (On a heavy day, our filters stop nearly 10,000 pieces of spam.) Emails work, but they aren’t the whole solution.

The growth of “community software” like mySpace and FaceBook has encouraged everyone to build in “community features” to their otherwise static sites. We’ve looked at various options in that area, but we haven’t found approaches that we like. We’re still looking, and community features are getting better, so we’ll find something along those lines we’re sure.

But with the growth of our daily web sales business, a new pressing requirement presented itself. We had to have an efficient way for customers to tell us about problems with their order. There are various solutions to this, and for the last few weeks, our IT team has been building a “ticket system” to replace the email feedback links we have been using. That system went live last week, and it has been a terrific hit. It’s not that we have so many more problems. It’s that by making the feedback easier, we’re getting so many more comments and conversations.

“Ticket systems” are standard in the computer service area. A customer contact is assigned a ticket number and that ticket bounces around, tracking contact with the customer, until the reason for that particular contact is resolved. It’s often found in very large organizations where coordination across many departments is useful. (Just as a side note, banks should think about using them! “One moment please while I transfer you to someone who can attend to your problem …” !)

You can buy a ticket system, but because they come focused on big, bureaucratic organizations, we didn’t feel they’d work for us. Instead, our team built one just for us. It’s first implementation is for customer issues related to orders and downloads. The ticket that you as a customer enter is classified and goes to the one or two of us that work on responding to those inquiries. Already, we have seen a better flow of information about incomplete, unreceived or damaged orders, and we can fix those quickly and painlessly for all of us.

The first implementation, however, also includes a general feedback option, and that has been amazing. In just the first week, we have had several suggestions and proposals that are great ideas. Several reviewers have written in to ask for screening copies. A group has proposed a screening in their local area of one of our new films. This is very exciting communication, and being part of this dialog is exactly what we are trying to do (as set forth above).

But wait! There’s More! As we gain experience with this first implementation, we will be extending the system for filmmakers. Filmmakers will be able to use tickets to move their films forward toward release, or to talk with us about distribution issues, or to review accounting. They will be able to suggest new partners for distribution and screening. And they will be able to see exactly how their film is making its way to its audience.

The team has built a really solid platform that will become a core part of how IndiePix does business and how we work to accomplish our business vision. And maybe it’s the time of year, or maybe the economic conditions have something to do with it – but soon after our ticket system went in place, and the number of contacts with individual customers and community members went up; just after that, the amoung of spam intercepted by our filters dropped to under 2,000 pieces a day!

So Talk to Us! We’re listening! And thank you for supporting independent film.