Social Customer Management

Empower your people to come up with a solution.

It’s easy to say, “I’m sorry, we don’t have that… We can’t get it… We can’t do that… It’s not our policy.” Blah, blah, blah.  In other words, it’s easy to say, “No.”

 

But that is not what amazing companies do. Amazing companies empower their employees to find solutions for their customers. They train, motivate, and praise their employees for coming up with “Yes” answers for their customers. 

 

At Ace Hardware, the role model for my upcoming book Amaze Every Customer Every Time, one of the tactics that many of the retailers have adopted is a concept called “One to Say Yes and Two to Say No.”  The concept is simple.  At Ace, a single associate (employee) can’t just say “No” without exhausting all options.  Furthermore, it takes two people to say “No” to the customer.  In other words, “No” requires the approval of a manager.

Most PR and Marketing departments are well versed in social media monitoring, but new research shows that Customer Service teams are rapidly catching up.

customer service

In a recent Gleanster report, 73% of ‘Top Performers’ (the top 25% of those surveyed) identified Customer Service as a top reason to invest in social media monitoring – only 1% behind PR.

 

o Marketing – 86%
o PR – 74%
o Customer Service – 73%
o Market Research – 64%
o Sales – 31%
o Information Security – 29%
o Product Development – 21%
o Competitive Analysis – 17%
o Operations – 8%

 

The consequence is that the social media monitoring industry, which was once heavily research-focused and data-heavy, is evolving towards one that combines social media listening with customer engagement and social CRM. As Leon Chaddock, CEO of Sentiment Metrics, explains:

 

“A standard monitoring tool is great for charts and trends and understanding what’s going on, but it’s not the ideal place for customer service. As a result we’ve had to radically shift our focus.”

More than 90% of customer service discussions about brands, services, and products are taking place on forums. What’s your strategy for enhancing these customer service experiences?

When you think customer service, what do you think? Do you think long lines waiting to speak with a “customer service representative”? Do you think about automated phone systems that take forever to navigate and run you in circles? Do you think of obnoxious support tickets that make you feel like a number, rather than a human being? Or – and this would definitely be interesting – do you think about forums? Maybe you should, since more than 90% of discussions about brands, services, and products are taking place on forums.

 

Ask yourself, who cares about having a great customer experience more than anybody? The answer is you, the customer… but it feels like most companies just don’t GET that. Well, it’s high time that changed.

 

Flash-sale menswear retailer JackThreads stepped up its social media activity about two years ago, posting more often on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. With a customer base that skews young, the retailer quickly gained a devoted following. Customers clicking from social networks to JackThreads.com account for 13.8% of the site’s traffic, making it No. 7 in theSocial Media 300, an Internet Retailer research guide that ranks retailers by the percentage of traffic to their web sites from social networks.

ust how frustrating can contacting customer service be? According to a new survey from Aspect, four in ten Americans (42 percent) say they would rather experience a trip to the DMV than have to contact customer care. Adding insult to injury, 64 percent agree they do not feel they are treated like valued customers when they interact with customer service.

 

This high level of irritation comes at a time when consumers have more channels to interact with brands than ever before. The good news? Seventy-seven percent of Americans think that companies that offer multiple channels as part of their customer service are easier to do business with and 74 percent say they provide better service.

 

What’s more, 67 percent agree they feel more in control of their relationship with a company when it offers multiple channels for customer service. And customers' view of how companies use social media channels is rather telling. Forty-two percent of consumers say they’d rather have companies use social media for good customer service than to promote their products.

 

These findings reinforce the idea that brands need to rise to the occasion and show customers the love. As the contact center is emerging as the new center of the customer experience, companies must begin addressing the table stakes and eliminate common customer frustrations, like having to repeat themselves and waiting a long time to get their issue resolved. At the same time, brands must move toward the gold standard multi-channel experience, where interactions can begin in one channel and seamlessly move to another. Only then, when customers feel the love, with they reciprocate with brand loyalty and ultimately, advocacy.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are famously marketed as “two great tastes that taste great together”.  According to a new study by the customer satisfaction experts at J.D. Power & Associates, so are customer service via social media and social marketing.

 

Tricia Morris at Business 2 Community provided an excellent overview of the inaugural J.D. Power and Associates Social Media Benchmark Study.  Tricia notes:

 

“…brands that can both walk the walk and talk the talk (deliver effective service and produce effective marketing) on social media are moving ahead of the pack in terms of satisfaction scores, driving purchasing decisions and attracting a new generation of customers.”

 

The study is based on responses from more than 23,000 U.S. online consumers who have interacted with a company via social media and measures the overall consumer experience (marketing and customer service) of more than 100 U.S. brands across six major industries: airlines, auto, banking, credit card, telecom and utilities.

 

How significant is the correlation between great social media service experiences, strong social marketing and likelihood to purchase something from a brand?  Pretty significant.

 

Of the consumers identified as highly satisfied with both a brand’s marketing and service delivery, 87% say their online social interaction with the company “positively impacted” the likelihood that they’ll purchase from that brand.

 

What else can we learn from the J.D. Power report?

 

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/social-media/two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together-customer-service-social-marketing-0472029#YYv1fkSgTdQdvGQc.99

Social media is no longer just a clever marketing tool: It’s also a fast-growing channel for customer service. Over half of consumers now use social media to directly reach out to companies to report satisfaction, lodge complaints, and ask questions, says Nielsen’s 2012 Social Media Report. And one in three social media users now prefer social care to contacting a company by phone.

 

Small businesses should move beyond marketing, and find ways to use social media to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Here are some good ways to start.

Do you have customers seeking support via social media?

 

Are people talking about your company online?

 

Many companies simply can’t afford to hire a social support team.

 

So what are your options to manage these conversations with little to no resources?

 

Keep reading for tips on how you can create a free or low-cost social support team.

Why You Need a Social Support Team

The NM Incite 2012 State of Social Customer Support Report shows that 47% of social media users are turning to social care.

 

For those who think their customers aren’t using social media, the 2013 Infinite Dial Report from Edison Research revealed that 62% of Americans have a social media profile on one or more social networks, up from 56% in 2012.

 

Further, the number of casual social media users is declining. “Approximately 71 million Americans check their social networks several times a day, up from 58 million in 2012.”

The future of the contact center is an ever-present question for companies wanting to meet and beat expectations for service in a progressively social world.  

Five9 recently released an infographic that breaks down just how important adapting to a new kind of customer service will become over the coming months and years. “Talk to me - Customers Crave Personalized Customer Service in a Social World” looks at what the social shift means for customer service.

Like any relationship, the customer-company relationship is the sum total of all the interactions. These days, those interactions take place across a variety of channels, and a new report from Lithium and Forrester looks at how customer service, a key location for customer interaction, must be in sync with overall customer experience efforts and throughout all social channels.

 

The report, “The Emerging Role of Social Customer Experience in Customer Care,” was commissioned by social customer experience provider Lithium Technologies and conducted by Forrester Consulting, with focus on 50 North American enterprises that service customers through social media. It points out that, in this highly competitive environment, there’s “a new focus on customer experience as a brand differentiator.” In fact, 75% of the respondents surveyed try to use customer experience to distinguish themselves from other companies.

A new infographic from Infosys illustrates how measuring your online social communities can add to your bottom line.   

Effective customer interaction management has to be designed to strengthen customer service’s performance in delivering the results customers want.

Interaction management isn’t just about the soft skills that call center agents and customer service reps use to please customers during customer contacts. Interaction management is crafting every touch point with a customer and ensuring that a strong, consistent experience takes place that contributes to the overall strategy of developing the customer relationship.

Do you have a strategy for integrating technology in the customer experience?

Gartner research showed that 48% of organizations plan on increasing their CRM budgets to improve customer satisfaction. Great, more money spent on tools, but is there a customer experience strategy clearly defined or are you just throwing money at technology hoping that results magically happen?

You need a strategy for integrating technology as part of your overall customer experience because:

95% of customers believe an app is more convenient for customer service48% of customers say the phone is the most frustrating channel

The team at Numero, a provider of customer experience CRM solutions, recently published an infographic created by the team at Delinio, outlining the need to improve self-service customer service experience and the effect that Web interactions have on customers today.

Customer Service Self-Service on the Web Matters!

Find out the 4 key qualities of successful social media and community managers.

 

One of the main objectives of any brand’s social media presence is to create a lasting relationship with its audience. Like with any relationship, in order for it to last, both parties have to first, like each other and second, provide something beneficial for the other. While we can’t help you out with your friendships, we can help you increase your brand’s social likeability.

 

Here at uberVU, we’ve been closely monitoring what social media communities respond to the most, and we’ve seen four main community/social media manager qualities that consistently lead to flourishing online communities.

I was reading an article by Flavio Martins on The Impact of the Customer Service Information Revolution and it got me thinking about all of the different ways companies are managing their customer service now. Many business are still sticking to the traditional phone support or, if you have a physical location, in person support methods – both of which are still effective but make me cringe a little when those are my only options as a customer. Especially phone support for larger companies that have implemented IVR or multi level menues to access the customer service. I often put off contacting companies for support if I have to call in because I have to factor in hold time and being transfered twice. I consider myself lucky if I get off a customer service call in less than 30 minutes – whether my issue was resolved or not.

 

A number of companies have implemented email or contact us form support which means I can generally send the request off then go and do something else while I wait for a resolution or reply. This is great for time management – unless I require that issue resolved before I can move forward with something. The response is usually a few hours but generally the same day and then how effective it is all depends on how well I can communicate with the person on the other end of that email address.

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/the-changing-landscape-of-customer-service-0468699#hPrFXxCqcdGxPiiJ.99t

There are lots of 'rules' about social media, but what exactly are other businesses doing with theirs?

 

In a world of contradictory social dos and don’ts, wouldn’t it be good to be a fly on the wall of another company, observing how they look after their social channels and the manpower behind them?

Now, thanks to a comprehensive survey by PR Daily, you can. Well, sort of, in the form of this insightful infographic, which showcases the results of a survey of more than 2,700 communicators.

Key findings include:

42% of companies have only one person working on their social media25% of companies enlist the help of interns with social mediaOnly 5% of companies are ‘highly satisfied’ with their social campaignsAlmost 90% of companies measure their success in terms of likes and followersThe biggest challenges in monitoring social media are lack of time (65%) and lack of manpower (63%).

Are your customers using social media? Probably.

 

The 2012 Social Habit report from Edison revealed that 56% of Americans have a social profile, up from 52% in 2011, and 24% in 2008. Further, the study showed that 22% of American’s have “The Social Habit” described as using social networks several times a day.

 

If your customers are using social media, are they using it to receive customer service? Very likely.

 

Entreprenuer revealed statistics from a study commissioned by Cone Communications  that stated, “46% of respondents said they’d like to be able to solve problems and receive product or service information via new media, but only 14% said they’re ‘very satisfied’ with their experiences with companies or brands online.”  This dissatisfaction may come from a misalignment between what customers expect from brands and what brands are prepared to provide their customers online.

 

There is no question that the growth of social network engagement amongst both consumers and businesses is forcing more companies to strongly consider whether or not they should be offering “social” customer service. Responding to customer service requests that come through social networks can be a tremendous opportunity for businesses to better understand and respond to their customer’s needs, but it doesn’t come without challenges.