Wikis are a great way to communicate with customers. Why? I’m glad you asked.

Real two-way communication. Instead of having a “customer” interface and a “company” interface, you talk to your customers using the same mechanism that they use to talk to you. This can result real conversations rather than canned or stilted questions and answers.

Self-service. No one is restricted to just asking questions so your customers can help each other. Your most passionate customers become helpers and advocates.

Free-form. A good thing and a bad thing. The upside is that the tool doesn’t get in the customer’s way. Your customers can talk to you in the way that makes the most sense to them rather than in some rigid form you’ve defined. Of course you’ve got to deal with the raw feedback you get and use it constructively.

These are some groups using Wikispaces to communicate with their customers:

• Riya has a support wiki where they manage their alpha programs, FAQs, and, most importantly, their parties.
• The Mologogo people have a support wiki where they take suggestions, answer questions, and provide user guides.
• The PEZ MP3 people have a support wiki where they provide info about their product and get user feedback.