Customer service is an integral part of every business’s success. The best companies have been doing it well for decades, responding to complaint letters and picking up the phone.
Times have changed though.
Over the past 4-5 years, the amount of people turning to social media for customer service has grown substantially. The growth has been so substantial that a recent study found that social media was the preferred channel for customer service:
What are the main benefits of using social media for customer service?
With so many companies pushing out their products and services through social media platforms, it only makes sense to manage your customer service through those same channels. After all, if you expect people to buy from you because they saw your product or service on a social media channel, then the least you can do is be prepared to offer support around those products and services on the same platforms.
Recent studies show that a whopping 31% of customers reach out to brands on social media for pre-sales enquiries. Just imagine missing out on the opportunity to connect with that 31 % of your potential customers.
When it comes to the benefits of delivering customer service through social media platforms, here are some of the biggest in numbers:
Why you need to manage your social media platforms
Managing your social media platforms is about so much more than scheduling your product posts and pushing out some social media ads. We need a whole new post to cover the different types of content you should be pushing out through your social media platforms, however, one thing that needs to happen is you need to start responding to messages and comments on any of your posts. Now.
According to a recent study, 56% of global consumers have higher expectations for customer service now than they did in 2015. From 2014-15, customer complaints on social media increased by 8 times and interactions on Twitter alone have increased by 250% since 2014.
With all this engagement taking place on social media, we still see so many companies who are simply not doing enough to manage their social channels.
It’s not enough to simply favourite a post or like a good review. Customers expect more and it’s time to start delivering. According to Sprout Social, brands are still sending out 23 messages for every 1 consumer response. It’s called social media for a reason.
When was the last time you went out with friends and managed to tell someone 23 things about your day in return for just one thing about theirs? They are not going to stick around as friends for long if that the way you treat them.
Here are some pretty damning numbers on how businesses are managing customer service through social media:
Manage your social media customer care well, and reap the benefits
Of course, it’s not all bad.
For all those who are doing a pretty terrible job of customer service on social media, there are many who are absolutely smashing it.
The industries leading the way are airlines, finance and telecoms so if you are looking for some inspiration, go and check out what the market leaders in these sectors are doing. Companies like KLM, Azure, Amazon, Ticketek, Tesco (UK) and Banco Brasil all receive top marks for the way they manage their customer service through social media.
But what are the benefits?
As we can see, KLM add a whopping $25m to their annual revenue thanks to their amazing customer service through social media. Audi made a sale of $180k through social media customer service in 2014 and Starbucks uses customer feedback through their social platforms to drive over 300 product improvements.
Whilst you may not have any $180k products or turnover anything close to $25m, you can see that managing your customer service effectively can produce huge dividends.
Summary
Managing your social media platforms successfully takes time and effort. We know that for many, you simply don’t have the hours in the day that you need to dedicate to great customer service through social media. That’s where we come in. Here at Digital Hothouse, we successfully manage social media accounts for a number of New Zealand’s leading brands. We keep a constant eye on all the communications that are coming in, ensuring we respond in a timely manner and deliver outcomes that result in brand loyalty and customer retention.
If you are struggling to keep up with the comments, messages and review on your social media platforms, get in touch with us today and find out how we can help you to deliver ROI through social media customer service.
To find out more headline stats on managing customer service through social media and to view the full infographic from the screenshots above, please visit Website Builder’s excellent blog.