Customer service has rapidly progressed in the internet age. Gone are the days when customers would write a letter, pick up the phone or wait in queue for the customer service executive to solve their problems. Now disgruntled customers take to social media platforms to voice their displeasure immediately and they expect an instant reply.
Take the recent controversy surrounding US jewellery chain Kay Jewelers. Several of the retailer’s unhappy customers took to Facebook, making claims that their diamonds had been switched for lower-valued stones. The allegations resulted in a flood of additional posts from people stating they would not deal with the company in the future. At the time of writing, it looked as though, for the most part, Kay Jewelers had fallen silent by not responding to the majority of the comments. If Kay Jewelers is not at fault, the business should be solving these grievances on Facebook and should also post to acknowledge the claims.
While jewellers reading this article hopefully won’t be subject to the same criticism, it is important to start strategising on how to make social platforms the new frontier for customer service. The following tips will help businesses become the ultimate hotline for customer service.
Encourage feedback
Social media provides the ultimate opportunity to connect with consumers through customer service. Providing customer service can be an entry point to an ongoing relationship – it is a great segue for conversation and connection with the business and its ‘brand’. It shows customers that you care about them and can mark the ideal beginning to a long-lasting relationship if done right. The official ‘Xbox Support’ Twitter handle encourages followers to provide feedback and responds to all queries in real-time, which is a good example of customer service done right.
Don’t respond like a robot
Today’s customers expect their problems to be solved immediately and questions answered quickly, efficiently and publicly through whichever channel they choose. They want a quick solution so it is essential to avoid automated responses when replying to customer complaints/queries. Take some time out to draft personal messages and personalise the experience for them.
Dutch airline KLM is a perfect example of a business that responds promptly and considerately. One customer asked a question in French and KLM answered the query in their dialect, which personalised the response and helped the customer feel comfortable.
Share user stories
To increase credibility, make use of customer testimonials in the form of quotes or videos that explain how the business helped solve their problem. This increases the faith of other existing or potential customers and, in a way, instils trust – customers know if they are having a problem with your product/service that you will help them out and that your support doesn’t end after the sale.
Keep it mobile friendly
These days, most users are browsing social media networks through a portable device such as a smartphone or tablet. Keep this in mind if sharing web links within a response to customer queries. Ensure all links, especially those to the store’s website, are mobile-optimised as this guarantees customers can easily connect without difficulty.
Train sales staff
Once managers understand the importance of listening to customers, the next step is to ensure everyone in the team is also adequately trained, especially those working on social media. Staff should know how to respond to queries/complaints appropriately. This may seem obvious but taking the time to provide sufficient training is paramount.
Gather insights
Customers who take time out of their daily lives to post queries, complaints or even feedback provide great research insights for businesses. Use this feedback to make productive changes to products and services. After all, the ultimate goal is to make customers happy and emerge victorious.
Learn to apologise
This is truly a golden rule. Repeat to self, “The customer is never wrong, even when they are wrong.” Always try to deliver value to customers and, if a mistake is made, simply accept it. People understand there are humans behind the business and you can make mistakes too.
Never take customer service on social media for granted. Positive remarks spread the type of awareness that businesses want but one unsatisfied customer who has not been offered proper care could break a business. In order to maintain healthy customer relationships, acknowledgment of their problems and action in response to those problems is key.