An obvious win for companies looking to jump into social media is in the customer support area. As more and more customers voice their opinions online, the choice is not if you should be responding using social media, but when are you going to start responding!
I recently saw figures from Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research that showed 92% of B2B technology buyers consider themselves engaging in some form of social media. If that isn’t a wake up call for technology companies, I don’t know what is!
So with numbers like that ensuring that your buyers are out there, then building a business case around social media to provide customer support becomes a lot easier. But what isn’t as widely understood is the “soft” benefits of reaching out to a customer in the virtual location and in the manner which the customer desires: it makes them feel empowered that the brand is listening, that the brand understands and cares about their preferences enough to interact with them the way in which they desire.
Today’s customer support through contact centers typically feels anonymous. When was the last time you had a truly personal interaction with a contact center employee? This is the reason that customers feel a lack of intimacy with the contact center.
So why wouldn’t you take every opportunity for your brand to build better and deeper relations with every customer you can using social media for customer support?
Tags: Customer Support, Social Media
Paul,
I guess this raises the question, who’s more social media savvy? Companies or customers?
It’s a simple question I think us bloggers overlook.
What do you think?
best,
chris O.
Referral Key
Hi, Paul. On the other hand, in his groundswell blog, Josh Bernoff also states that “only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say they trust them.”
He goes on to say, “This means that if you blog, your goal should be to create a blog about which people say ‘I like that …. I don’t think of it as a company blog.’
For the most part, that’s a hurdle you need to jump to gain their trust. I don’t mean to hide who is writing the blog. I mean it has to be more about your customers than it is about you.”
So, I suppose it’s all in the implementation.
The opportunity to tap into social media is not to be overlooked.
But one thing about the ability to make customers “feel empowered that the brand is listening, that the brand understands and cares about their preferences enough to interact with them the way in which they desire.”
This is not a new phenomenon, in the past it was accomplished with great customer service using phone calls, letters and in person visits.
Companies that have their customers interest in mind will do well with social media. But it is not a cure all. It won’t make much of a difference for companies whose call centers lack that “intimacy” you refer to.
Social media is a conduit to a customer. It only conveys what is inherently there(or not there).
Paul — I completely agree with you about customer service being a perfect application of social media. It’s a fundamental part of my own philosophy, and is something I am continually urging clients to consider. Customer service isn’t sexy like Facebook, but it certainly has bottom-line value.
What usually wins the day is ROI. After you have trained the staff and incorporated social media at some level in the customer support structure, you can take incremental measurements and find cost savings:
* How much is it worth to your company to know that you’ve reduced call center volume by 10%?
* How much is it worth to see fewer customer returns because they used social media to buy the right product first?
Julian — “Social media is a conduit to a customer. It only conveys what is inherently there(or not there).” Julian, I have GOT to use that line in a presentation sometime. It’s KILLER. Well done!
Thanks for the splendid post, Paul.
In my own point of view, social media is a platform that gives businesses a chance to establish a more personal relationship with existing and potential clients.
I believe that whether you prefer blogging or maintaining fan pages in social media community sites, the easier it is for people to browse for useful information with the least clicking is a WINNER.
There is a bunch of cool software out there that can help you navigate twitter and facebook to see what customers are saying about you. It works. Large companies are talking about ROI (etc) but smart small companies are out there doing it.