Best and Favourite Blogs of 2014
31 December 2014Growth and Development of Customer Experience
5 February 2015For this month’s guest blog we would like to welcome back co-author of the new book ‘Delivering Effective Social Customer Service’ – Carolyn Blunt.
Carolyn shares 5 Top Tips on Effective Social Customer Service:
- Social customer service is the responsibility of the entire business
Don’t look at social customer service as the domain of your PR and Marketing team alone. A collaborative approach for many departments is needed to successfully plan and maintain an effective social customer service strategy. Your customer service staff will need to learn how to deliver customer service in 140 characters or less and you and your staff will need to understand the tools and processes needed to use social media effectively, the content of conversations and the ability to know when to take the conversations offline.
- ‘Listen’ for mentions of your brand to be ready for all eventualities
Use tools to enable your business to ‘listen’ to where your brand is being mentioned. Identify the tweets and posts and route them through to the appropriate team, be it Customer Service, Sales or PR/Marketing for the right response.
- Keep it personal
Even in 140 characters, or, in a Facebook post your interaction with your customers’ needs to be authentic to the voice of your brand and have a personal touch. This is essential for a winning customer experience.
- Speed is of the essence
In years gone by a business could be forgiven for taking the time to draft and send an eloquent letter, or, email and it was ok if it took a day to return a phone call… as long as the outcome was a good one. However, with the advent of social media, speed is nearly as important as the content. To leave a negative tweet or post with no reply can prompt the unhappy customer to share and re tweet which leaves your business open to the possibility of ‘viral’ negative publicity. Often all that is needed is a quick and personal acknowledgement to put a stop to any further posts and ensure the customer is a happy one.
- Remember the importance of customer loyalty
Customer loyalty is not driven simply by customer satisfaction. A huge part of making customers stay truly loyal is not just meeting expectations nicely (although that does help!), but exceeding those expectations. Empower your employees at the front line to make quick decisions, especially in relation to resolving problems and complaints. By turning a negative experience into a good one customer loyalty will be achieved whether across social media or by the more traditional methods of face to face interaction or on the phone.
About Carolyn Blunt
Carolyn Blunt is a renowned trainer, business owner and writer. Her business, Real Results Training, specialises in soft skills training, particularly contact centre training, customer service, communication skills and leadership. Real Results Training is an approved centre for Institute of Leadership & Management qualifications.
