Seleah Gardiner — July 7, 2017 — July 7, 2017
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The landscape of customer service has evolved. It’s a fact. Gone are the days of picking up the phone and being placed on hold in a calling queue for what seems like hours. In today’s in- demand society, your customers are increasingly opting to use effortless, mobile channels such as Facebook and Twitter to voice their queries and questions. Social media is the channel that provides the most efficient opportunity for customer care resolution. Your customers and potential customers are there already and willing to engage. It’s fast, effective and free.
Conversocial: 48.2% of respondents prefer social media as opposed to legacy channels for customer care
The power of social for customer care cannot be ignored. Yet, companies can often misjudge the purpose that social plays in customer care. Social customer service is more than just replying to a public rant on Twitter. The key to success lies in your ability to directly reach out to the customer and deliver a humanised service at scale. Social media is at its best when used as a proactive customer service channel in which agents go above and beyond to deliver seamless engagement. So, with this in mind, here are 3 top tips for using social the right way for customer care.
1) Get Personal
Social is personal. It is completely obvious to a consumer when they are getting an automated response. In the age of the consumer, engagement should be centred around creating personal connections through 1-2-1 dialogue between the customer and company. Every customer interaction is different. It is the authenticity of conversations which make social appealing due to the personalised voice which can be adopted by customer care agents given the freedom to craft their own, unique responses. Brands which preach a #SocialFirst mantra place an emphasis on genuine interactions with their social media audience and it pays off. A Conversocial study found that 46.7% of respondents indicated that a personalised response would increase brand loyalty. Evidently, a consumer seeks empathetic responses which when given, can build trust within your brand as the customer will feel valued, thus, more likely to return.
2) Surprise and Delight
We all like spontaneous surprises right? Using social as a customer care channel means being intuitive and constantly one step ahead of your customers, and prospective customers, in order to retain and attract them. A commonplace mistake made by many brands is to sit back and wait for complaints or queries to directly come their way. Major error. When it comes to using social for customer care, it is essential to be proactive. You’ve got to be. It’s up to you to make the first move when it comes to your customers. It really is the small things which can have a huge difference on your brand’s reputation. According to inContact, 87% of customers don’t mind being proactively contaced by customer service teams. Actively reaching out and listening to social chatter will create brand advocates and allow you to head off problems before they arise. Going the extra mile, just like Vega, will only work in your favour.
3) Embrace Complaints, don’t shy away!
As ironic as it seems, complaints on social present the opportunity for your brand to shine. To deliver impressive social care, your brand needs to efficiently manage all interactions, both good and bad. By showing that your brand is responsive, particularly to negatives, you have the chance of being able to turn around an unhappy customer into a potential brand advocate. These opportunities can turn into great customer testimonials, converting negative sentiment to positive when handled appropriately and with care. Failing to respond on social can lead to a 15% churn rate for your brand which can be really harmful to your reputation! Moreover, customers whose complaints are dealt with efficiently, will be 42% more likely to discuss their positive social customer care experience with friends. This elevates your brand image from complaint to compliment and results in a win-win scenario. The customer is happy and your brand comes out on top.
Social is a versatile customer service tool that requires you to be transparent and open with your customers. Although daunting, if you are able to effectively leverage social channels for customer service, you are onto a winner. It’s time to make social your closest ally and embrace the social customer experience to give your consumers stellar customer care.
Want to find out more? Download our report on Social Effort Report: Unlocking Value with Effortless Social Customer Service.
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