Social Customer Service: Why You Must Offer it Right Now - Social ...

Social customer service is one of the most important domains of social business and social CRM. Here is why. Popular platforms like Facebook and Twitter have traditionally been used to air grievances about a company. Those who could not get proper customer service from a business found that social media provided a way for them to overcome their frustration and get what your business owed them.

These complaints not only helped them feel better, but other people who had also been mistreated by the company, loved hearing ?someone speak up.? Before too long many other people began to join them and voice their grievances.

This new use of social media as a way to vent consumer indignation even created a new profession?reputation management and digital crisis management. Companies alarmed at their dwindling market share, declining customer base, and falling profit margin would hire marketing firms for purposes of damage control.

Beyond reputation: social customer service and social CRM

Social customer service, social CRM and social media in general start with listening, using the proper processes and tools, and defining ? ideally proactive ? response processes. However, we must get past that defensive attitude and just worrying about reputation and damage control. People expect good customer service and they use social media to seek it so you should offer it.

This doesn?t mean social customer service should be only treated on social media, on the contrary. You have to prioritize and answer the social customer service question where it fits best. The negative connotations regarding social customer service (bad reputation, criticism, trolls, etc.) should not be an excuse to not provide it. Customer service more than ever is integrated with marketing, CRM and other business functions. One even wonders if the ROI of customer service can be higher than that of marketing.

Customer service is also about turning existing customer into loyal customers. It?s an opportunity.

Some people confuse social customer service with social CRM. However, social CRM is not just about customer service. CRM in general has moved beyond the simple customer service processes in this social era.

Customer experiences define your brand. And word-of-mouth thrives on good customer service. The link between social customer service, CRM and marketing is obvious. There is also the business case: profit. Within a few years, social media will be channels that are used to seek customer service in the same ways other channels are used. They will become common place. On top of the usual suspects such as Twitter, businesses will use specific social technologies and community platforms for social customer service.

If you ignore the call for social customer service, the price will be negative word-of-mouth; poor brand perception but most of all a higher customer churn percentage.

According to Gartner, not responding via social channels can lead up to a 15% increase in churn rate. That?s huge, especially if you consider the impact on the bottom-line of existing and satisfied/dissatisfied customers. More about the business case in the infographics.

Social customer service expectations

Instead of focusing on damage control, progressive social media savvy companies are beginning to focus on increasing their quality of service in a visible way. In addition to this proactive customer support, positive reviews about experiences with the company have further boosted respect for the company and earned approval for its business ethics and practices. Again, social customer service and marketing have become integrated.
However, in order to do this type of indirect marketing and indirect reputation management, a company needs to have a set policy on how to approach customer service on social media.

Successful companies, those who have mastered this new way of communicating with their customer base offering social customer service, offer three main suggestions on how to do it well as mentioned in a blog post by Michael Brito (actually a guest post by Rachel Tran, based on Conversocial?s Definitive Guide to Social Customer Service).

The three social customer service elements as Rachel Tran outlines them:

• Be timely. The customer service team has to act fast when complaints show up on social media platforms. This does two things: one, it stops the fire from spreading; and two, it impresses people with how well the company treats its customers.
• Be helpful. Customer service has to actually provide redress, rather than verbal appeasement. If, for example, someone ordered a product after prepaying for it but never received it, the customer service rep not only has to promise delivery, but also has to contact the shipping department to find out why the customer did not receive their products. In other words, the customer service team should be empowered to follow up on promises made to customers online.
• Be cordial. Although someone who is upset may rant and rave about how they have been ripped off by the company, the customer service representative has to take on a completely different tone, responding in a cordial friendly and helpful way to redress the customer issue.

Encouraging social customer service

A company that actually encourages people to contact them through social media about service issue problems will quickly lead the field in its industry and inspire trust, one of the cornerstones of social business and certainly one of the cornerstones of collaboration, which is often the key component of social business as it is embraced today.

There are two primary benefits to this proactive approach:

1. It becomes convenient for consumers to quickly take care of an issue because they know exactly where to go to get help. Moreover, the growing proliferation of mobile devices allows for consumers to contact the company immediately.
2. The company is transparent. People do understand that businesses have problems: products are not manufactured according to specifications, service delays occur due to unexpected events, and sometimes products are not properly priced or shipped according to schedule. By becoming transparent, a company not only wins sympathy for its side of business problems but also wins approval for conscientiously working to fix things.

Using social media to provide customer support is a way for a company to quickly build a solid reputation as reliable and trustworthy. By using the three steps outlined?timeliness, helpfulness, and cordiality?and by proactively encouraging customers to seek redress for everyday business problems, it is easy for any company, small or large, online or offline, to build an enviable reputation.

Social customer service is not an option anymore. It?s a must. And by integrating it in a broader social business, social media marketing and social CRM context with the customer at the centre, it gets the place it deserves. However, don?t forget to integrate with other customer service channels, customer data systems and marketing processes as well!

Source: http://www.socialmarketingforum.net/2013/01/social-customer-service-why-you-must-offer-it-right-now/

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