Social Customer Service

Customer service is at a turning point between traditional customer service and a new direction: social customer service.

At the last cross-roads, many companies chose to move their customer service operations overseas to reduce costs. The next opportunity to drive down costs even further may be social media. Will the call center of today be the social media center of tomorrow?

45% of retail companies have been contacted through social media for help from customer service. Retail has the highest percentage of any business category. Tech companies, like telephone providers and cable companies, have been contacted 35% and 33% respectively. Surprisingly, healthcare providers only note that 9% of their customers have contacted them through social media. ¹

It would be easy to predict that these numbers are actually a lot higher, but companies that don’t monitor social media as a customer service tool may not know how their customers are trying to reach them. Remember, these numbers are provided by survey respondents, not by customers.

The big question on these numbers is how many consumers tried and failed to reach a company’s customer service departments through social media and didn’t get a response. The future of customer service may be social, but many companies have yet to build organizations to monitor Twitter and Facebook – let alone respond.

Some companies also choose not to respond with a social customer service approach. This doesn’t always stem from a lack of awareness. Other reasons such as legal concerns, training and resource allocation also come in to play.

Another great stat Zendesk provides is that 76% of consumers have used, or are willing to use social media to contact customer service. Respondents note that 62% of consumers have used social media for issues relating to customer service. Will the call centers of today be transitioned to the social customer service centers of tomorrow.¹

As a cost savings, one thing social media will enable is the outsourcing of more customer service departments. Statistics show that customer service satisfaction is increased over 22% when a consumer contacts a native speaking representative. Social media takes cultural differences, colloquialisms and xenophobia out of the equation…and increases profits.

Social customer service programs are still in their infancy. Although many companies are anticipating a sea change in consumer interactions, most are just getting started. As different social media platforms continue to clarify their usefulness and ‘voice’, customers are also learning how to capitalize on the differences.

Character limits in Twitter can be answered quickly followed up by a private message. A Facebook post can quickly turn in to a full-fledged diatribe and photo exposé.

But social customer service CRM strategies don’t just happen. Just like a call center, social media contacts are often fairly routine. Missing instructions, service outages and bad service are easily answered and diffused.

Businesses also need to realize that a tweet can turn in to a marketing opportunity. Author Peter Shankman wrote,”The Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told, Starring Morton’s Steakhouse.” Before boarding a flight to Newark, Shankman posted the tweet below.

Social Customer Service - Shankman Tweet

Amazingly, 2 hours later when he landed at EWR, a tuxedo-ed server stood waiting by baggage claim. The story spread through social media like a firestorm and @Morton’s had a priceless marketing victory. All for the price of a Porterhouse.

^{1 Zen Helpdesk Social Media and the Future of Customer Service}

http://www.zendesk.com/blog/social-media-and-the-future-of-customer-support