Social media are quickly consuming every aspect of life. Access toconsumers through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platformsgives businesses an edge in building relationships.
What does it mean for exceptional customer care?
This https://websitebuilder.org.uk/ The Rise of Social MediaCustomer Care,” provides a useful rundown of the ways social mediais transforming customer care. Here are a dozen reasons socialmedia customer care (SMCC) is taking over the field:
1. Customers love it
Effective customer care requires communicating with people wherethey want to be reached. In 2005, the social media adoption rate inthe U.S. was at 5%. A decade later, it had reached 69%.
Calling social media an “addiction” might be a stretch, but it iscertainly a deeply ingrained habit. The average personspends nearly two hours a day on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and others.
The results are in: Consumers love to be on socialmedia.
For those social media users (i.e., the vast majority of people),SM is the preferred way to contact their favorite companies. Ninetypercent of them have reached out to a brand through social media. Athird of social media users say SM is the way they want to receivecustomer service. To meet these customer wishes, social mediacustomer care isn’t just an option, it’s a requirement.
2. Easy access
Social media can connect people on opposite sides of the planet,yet is accessed by something everyone carries. Smartphonetechnology has created a channel for constant contact – includingcontact with consumer brands.
And the brands have noticed. Customer care is now offered throughsocial media by 81% of brands.
With 79% of adults on the internet using Facebook, this platform isan attractive choice for providing customer care. Brands get 39messages per month across Facebook for each 1,000followers.
Even so, other social media have their advantages. Twitter userssubmit 80% of all SM requests for customer service. Brands average60 tweets from customers per month for every 1,000 followers onTwitter.
Instagram’s power is connectivity: The rate of consumer engagementfor followers on this platform is 58 times that of Facebook and 120times that of Twitter.
Snapchat reaches younger demographics, with 85% of the 13-34 crowdusing this medium. Pinterest’s design orientation matches the needsof 65% of the population, which prefers to learnvisually.
3. Quick answers
Consumers want responses to their questions – and they want themnow!
SM customer care has the potential to satisfy this demand, but sofar, many companies are missing the opportunity. Although aFacebook customer service response is 44% faster than email, somebrands have been slow to capitalize on this speedadvantage.
On the other hand, some big names are leading the way in rapidresponse. TurboTax is a monster in Facebook customer care andAmazon Answers dominates Twitter response time and rate.
Sometimes great customer care doesn’t require personalizedinformation, just instant results. Companies have discovered theunique features of Snapchat make it the perfect venue for quickdemos of how products work. These short videos and snaps haveincreased in number by 400% in the last two years.
4. Personalization
Among the promising opportunities SMCC offers, personalized serviceis high on the list. However, companies often focus their effortson marketing messages. The result? Consumers receive 23 promotionsacross social media for each direct brand response.
Yet the benefits of personalized customer care through social mediaare clear. Consumers are 30% more likely to recommend a brand whenthey get responses to their inquiries through social media. Theydemonstrate 65% greater loyalty when the brand reaches out to themdirectly.
An SMCC strategy which sees the person behind the message can turnan unhappy customer into a brand advocate. People share their good experiences on social media.
5. Keeping up with the competition
Not all companies extend their customer care into social media –and people notice. There are expectations to be met: 63% of socialmedia users assume companies will offer customer care through theplatform.
This popularity of SM for customer care has surpassed live chat andemail – and is nearly double that of the good oldtelephone.
6. Answering complaints
Complaints come with commerce. The causes vary, but resolution canstrengthen the relationship and grow the brand.
Providing an answer to a customers complaint boosts advocacy by25%. Yet, companies ignore a third of all complaints on socialmedia.
Monitoring broader SM posts for complaints also seems obvious butappears to be rare. Ninety-five percent of customer complaintsdon’t reach the targeted company.
7. The satisfaction gap
As with many new media opportunities, some companies have jumped inwithout much planning – and the results aren’t pretty.
Almost three-quarters of consumers expect a response to theirsocial media complaint in less than an hour. Unfortunately, theaverage response time is closer to five hours – resulting in a lot of disappointed customers.
Too many companies fail to recognize their SM customer care is aproblem. Eighty percent of businesses believe they provideexcellent customer care on social media, but only 8% of consumersagree with them.
Disappointed customers tell others and they don’t have to go far todo so. In the 18-34 demographic, 47% have used social media tocomplain about customer service. Even 12% of those over 55 haveposted on SM about a bad customer care experience.
Just as doing SM customer care wrong can be a big problem, doing itright can be a huge advantage. Companies that provide the best SMcustomer service see a 92% retention rate.
8. Always there
No one likes to hold for the “next available representative.”Calling after business hours can be even more frustrating – manycustomers will not leave a message.
Social media customer care gives consumers 24/7 availability. Theywill use this channel if available. The key, as always, is toprovide a response. Industry-wide, less than 13% of SM requests for information get aresponse.However, companies which do respond effectively improve customersatisfaction by nearly 27%.
The value of a response adds up. Looking at only responses onTwitter, airlines see a 3% potential revenue increase pertransaction, telecom companies witness a 10% jump and pizzacompanies watch their revenues rocket up by an incredible20%!
9. Customer engagement
When a customer has a question, they often go to social media forthe answer. In fact, 31% of customers will request more informationthrough social media prior to making the purchase.
Great SMCC also provides a wealth of information for companies.Thirty-nine percent of consumers offer their feedback throughonline venues. In 2012, Starbucks used customer ideas receivedthrough Twitter to launch more than 300 improvements to theirproducts.
10. High ROI
Sure, social media is popular, but does it pay? What’s the returnon investment for companies offering customer care throughSM?
When people are contacted through social media, they are 70% morelikely to use that brand’s product.
As with most things in business, companies need to execute socialmedia customer care well to maximize ROI. A positive experience onsocial media makes referrals as easy as hitting the share button –top customer care companies see income through referrals jump by81%. Quality customer care boosts spending as much as 40%. Dutchairline KLM’s social media customer care increases company revenueby $25 million annually.
The savings are also impressive. It costs just a dollar to resolvea customer inquiry on social media; running the question through acall center costs six times as much. SMCC agents are efficient –167% more so than call center agents. Overall, social mediacustomer care costs 63% less than telephone customersupport.
11. New social media management software
Management of social media customer care can be daunting,particularly for smaller companies. However, as with most newfields in this interconnected world, new players have entered topave the way.
The social media business software market is anticipated to reach$37 billion by 2019. Names like Lithium, Sprinklr, Hootsuite,Spredfast, and Sprout Social now provide SMCC to hundreds ofbrands, companies, agencies, and individuals through theirsoftware.
Social media management software (SMMS) users witnessed a 74%increase in customer satisfaction through mobile customerrelationship management (CRM). Sixty-one percent of these userschoose one SMMS for all their social media tools.
12. Brand image boost
Social media responses improve the relationship with each customer.Social media customer care grows the brand.
In fact, 71% of consumers who are treated to a great customer careexperience through social media will recommend that brand to others.
In the world of gaming, fast response is crucial. XBox boosted itsbrand image by setting the record for its customer care responsespeed on Twitter – just 2 minutes and 42 seconds!
Domino’s Pizza went a different route in 2015, accepting orders onTwitter using a pizza emoji. Media interest skyrocketed, promotingthe brand far beyond this simple initiative.
Customer service really never ends. Social media customer caretakes that truth and applies it to the way today’s consumer lives.Now that the evidence is in and there are software platforms tomanage that service, do companies really have any excuse not toprovide great customer care through social media?
URL: https://websitebuilder.org.uk/blog/rise-social-media-customer-care/
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