Before companies knew where to look, dissatisfied customers started finding new ways to complain. Social media revolutionized the concept of the rant, as it became the go-to tool for squeaky wheels – or at least another way to catch a brand’s attention if other attempts failed.
As a dissatisfied customer, the last thing you want to do is sit, fuming, waiting on hold, only to get passed around by people who can’t help. Instead, you could email some generic “info” account and cross your fingers for a reply. Or log in to an online chat and wait in queue.
Or, within seconds, you could reach the company (or at least its marketing department) directly with a short and sweet – and let’s not forget public – broadcast of your issue. That’s why more than 62% of consumers used social media for customer service issues last year, according to Mashable.
A new study suggests that consumers are starting to regard social media as the fastest, most reliable customer service channel. It practically guarantees a response, according to eDigitalResearch: Each of the 2,000 consumers surveyed received a reply to a social media post, comment or tweet – 80% in less than 12 hours. By comparison, only 37% of those consumers received replies to emails in the same time frame. Of the old-school folks who waited for snail-mail responses, 62% waited more than 48 hours. Across channels, one of every 10 consumers never received any response from the company after reaching out.
But are consumers getting a good response from companies on social media?
Conversocial evaluated more than 140,000 social interactions at 10 companies to create its first Social Customer Service Benchmark. Based on key contact center metrics like response time, the companies rarely come close to the level of prompt, quality social customer service that consumers expected. For example, half of consumers who use social media to contact a company expect a response in less than 2 hours. The average response time is more than 5x that: 11.25 hours.
Combined, these results show major disparities between the service customers expect and the service companies deliver through social media. Customers anticipate timely responses across a growing number of platforms, and companies are struggling to integrate the expanding arsenal.
Businesses that don’t want to risk getting scorched by viral social media feedback should take a close look at the online customer experience, stat. All it takes is one irate tweet and $1,000 worth of promotion to catapult a rant to tens of thousands of viewers. Nailing customer service on social media can help retain customers and attract new ones by developing brand ambassadors online.
Here are some tips to improve your brand’s customer experience on social media:
1.) Take the good with the bad. Fight the urge to sweep negative feedback under the rug. Your brand loses credibility for ignoring criticism – and even more for deleting it altogether. Consumers use social media to be heard by brands. Whether the comment is positive or negative, acknowledge it. This can be as simple as starting with, “Thanks for letting us know.”
2.) Speed is key. Social media is instantaneous, and consumers’ expectations reflect it. A quick response can be more important than a quick resolution. If nothing else, quickly confirm that, “We’re looking into your issue,” while the rest of the process unfolds.
3.) Redirect the conversation. Customer service issues can be more complex – and private – than social media interactions allow. Unless there’s a fast, easy solution that can be posted succinctly, the best move is a redirect. Move the conversation to a more secure channel, like your traditional call center.
4.) Stay cool. Angry customers’ rants can be rousing, even in less than 140 characters, but don’t let it become personal or emotional. Brands should act and talk like humans online, but always keep their professional cool. That means reading each post one more time, with one more set of eyes, before hitting ‘Send’ to ensure no traces of condescending snarkiness seep through your retorts.
5.) Watch for trends and outliers. Your response to online feedback should vary with the numbers. Common issues may escalate your response from an isolated exchange to a how-to blog post that clarifies a recurring issue. But if it’s just one grumpy customer getting unnecessarily vulgar or hostile, step in as moderator and draw the line.
Of course, the best social customer service strategy is integrated into your company’s overarching social media and customer service strategies to create consistent customer experiences across channels. But you already knew that, because most companies do. Unfortunately, according to Econsultancy and CACl, only 20% of companies actually do anything about it and develop a strategy.
“[A]lthough organizations perceive an integrated customer experience to be important,” said Matt Hey, Director of Consulting at CACl, “this does not necessarily translate into a focused effort to enhance it. So the key question is: If your organization didn’t feel compelled to address the need for an integrated customer experience previously, what needs to change in order for it to happen now?”
>> For help developing an integrated digital marketing strategy for your company, contact Bantamedia. Don’t wait – because someone like Hasad Syed could be composing a tweet about your brand right now…>>