Customer Service and Social Media

1/3 use the toilet while left on hold by customer service agents. Gross, maybe, but can you blame them? Between holding and transferring, a five-minute question can last hours and lets not forget the unbelievable rage that can couple with long wait times. None of this fares well with consumers or a company’s bottom line, 53 % have left a company due to a poor customer service. Dwight and Jim from The Office demonstrate the importance of customer service in this clip . : )

Integrate.

Old systems of customer service leave a consumers feeling powerless and angry. In this age, consumers are ruling with distinct understandings of the quality-value price equation, feeling powerless doesn’t cut it. One solution is social media. 50% of Fortune 100 companies (JetBlue, Samsung, Best Buy, AllState, Ford, Wells Fargo, etc.) are partnering with social media for an integrated approach to important company functions like customer service.

Visibility. Engagement. Real Time. Proactive.
Visibility. A consumer’s complaint isn’t just visible to customer service rep. Mark from New Jersey; it’s visible to the consumer’s whole loyal posse. These tweets or posts continue to travel though the cyber sphere by showing up in search engines. So why any organization in it’s right mind use it? Because just as the complaints are visible, so are the praises and an organization’s response to complaints. It’s another form of marketing. Seeing an organization truly working to solve issues is highly valued in the shadow of corporate greed and irresponsibility. The transparency and authenticity adds credibility.

Engagement. By responding, you are directly engaging with a customer and building a relationship. Unlike customer service rep. Mark from New Jersey, Twitter or Facebook has a uniform personality. They don’t build a relationship just with Mark, but they engage with the organization as a whole.

Real Time. This can also equate saving time. Twitter’s under 140 characters complaints mean concise problem vetting and less ranting. Smart phones and new technologies allow social media to be real time and mobile.

Proactive. Over Black Friday MOA took a proactive approach to its customer service tweets and directed frantic consumers to empty parking ramps. Social media allowed MOA to communicate anticipated consumer needs. And everyone agrees proactive is much more fun than reactive, ask Tiger Woods.

Caution.

For the process to function, it entails a having a punctual system in place to sympathetically and systematically respond. Also, like with any new product, system or service glitches and tweaking will occur. Finally make sure these social media site demographics match yours! Don’t try to direct lumberjacks to Twitter for customer service!

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