Social media is becoming a prominent way for customers to reach out to companies with inquiries and issues. Effective customer service through this medium requires organizations to be responsive and understanding.
Customers want to feel heard and understood when posting public tweets, commenting on Facebook posts or sending private messages via social media platforms. Here are some tips for developing a successful customer service strategy on these channels:
1. Be responsive
Customer service is essential to every business, and social media offers businesses a unique opportunity to respond in real-time to customer queries. However, providing effective social media customer service is no simple task: it requires dedicated staff that have been trained in proper etiquette and problem-solving techniques and an action plan that prioritizes responsiveness over volume.
Social media customer service should be an integral component of your company’s overall communication strategy in order for it to be effective. There should be a designated point-of-contact who is accountable for responding to customer queries while having direct access to supervisors or managers if any issues need escalated.
Companies that respond quickly on social media stand a greater chance of building brand loyalty, increasing retention rates and encouraging repeat business. Furthermore, it’s critical that your customer base understands what their expectations for wait times are; typically customers expect responses to inquiries posted to social media within an hour after initially sending it out.
Based on your industry, you may want to consider automating some aspects of customer service with tools like chatbots for frequently asked questions (FAQs) and more complex situations; however, customers often prefer direct human interaction when handling complex matters.
Establish a system to keep your team on track by tracking and reporting on metrics such as average response time, resolution rate and customer satisfaction (or Net Promoter Score). Use these reports as advocacy tools when asking for additional resources so you can continue providing quality customer support. In addition, set aside time each week for creating or updating FAQs or supporting resources related to your most frequently inquired about issues.
2. Be empathetic
When customers post inquiries or concerns on social media accounts of yours, take them just as seriously as any support calls – that means responding quickly, being courteous, and taking conversations offline when necessary.
Customers expect their opinions to matter and should feel heard by brand representatives, and any failure to do so could have far-reaching implications on your bottom line. If they feel unheard, customers could seek other providers – something which could seriously diminish your bottom line in the form of lost business and reduced brand loyalty.
Brand reps who wish to show empathy must ensure their conversations with customers are free of assumptions and bias, listen without judgment and offer genuine apologies when something goes wrong; plus they should strive to find solutions which make customers satisfied.
Nike stands as an exemplary example of providing outstanding customer service, quickly responding to comments posted in Instagram and Facebook accounts. GoPro, best known for their action cameras, also remains highly active within Instagram and Twitter comments, often answering customer inquiries immediately.
Certain customer issues cannot be easily addressed through dialogue alone, so in these instances it may be necessary to invite your customer into a private chat or email address and request they provide additional information in order to solve their issue. Doing this helps minimize risk that other users might see personal details or potentially sensitive conversations; and also ensures their feedback will be considered and used to improve products of the company – something particularly valuable given that according to a 2022 McKinsey report customers spend up to 40 percent more with companies with effective customer service processes versus those without.
3. Be consistent
Customers contacting your business via social media want to use the channel of their choice when reaching out, otherwise they could spread negative reviews about your customer service. As such, it is imperative that all social media customer support strategies remain cohesive across platforms.
Hootsuite provides social media customer service tools that enable businesses to set up monitoring streams to quickly find brand mentions on social media and respond immediately. In order for monitoring and replying to customer service requests to run smoothly on all platforms – for instance when it comes to using emojis in customer service requests it should only be done sparingly and only when necessary.
Responding quickly to customer inquiries demonstrates your appreciation of their concerns, and even if they can’t be resolved immediately, let them know you are working on them and will get back in touch soon. In addition, if specific team members are handling customer service requests it helps personalize the experience while creating positive interactions.
As with other metrics, social media customer service metrics need to be evaluated over time in order to evaluate whether they’re improving and when strategy needs to be altered. Tactics that adapt based on performance data show you value customer relationships and are dedicated to providing outstanding experiences; such a commitment sets you apart from your competition.
4. Be transparent
Establishing trust and building loyalty with customers on social media by providing transparent customer service is paramount to building long-term success. This involves being honest, sharing information without bias and acknowledging mistakes; furthermore it requires being clear with who you’re interacting with as well as any conflicts of interests that might exist.
Transparency in social media customer service takes hard work and careful attention, but can pay dividends. Studies indicate that customers are more forgiving of any mishaps when their apology or explanation arrives quickly (Sprout Social, 2019).
First step to creating transparency in social media customer service: identify where and when questions and feedback come in. You can do this by conducting an audit to discover where your target audience is speaking about you, followed by setting up monitoring streams to track these conversations – this will allow you to set up an efficient system for answering these inquiries quickly. Alternatively, creating a dedicated channel specifically dedicated to support may help provide answers faster while setting clear rules about when responses will take place and when they won’t.
Assign specific teams the responsibility of handling particular messages, so that accountability and a consistent experience are maintained. For example, customer support might be best-suited for handling issues and complaints while social media handles general inquiries or brand mentions. You could also opt to move certain conversations onto private messaging for privacy or use automated solutions like chatbots to address frequently asked questions (FAQs). Remember to keep detailed records of interactions to monitor service improvement and performance measures.
5. Be creative
Customer service on social media requires access to the appropriate tools and a knowledgeable team, but implementing an efficient process may prove to be difficult for some businesses, especially with regards to quick inquiries that appear via comments, direct messages and posts.
Dependent upon the circumstances and customer, humor may be appropriate in your response; however, keep in mind that using sarcasm or humor inappropriately could backfire and backfire badly on both parties involved.
To prevent this from happening, be sure to clearly establish guidelines for your team. For instance, if you wish to incorporate humor in a reply, first seek permission or ask the customer privately message you for details – this way you’re more likely to maintain a consistent tone and reduce risk that could damage your reputation.
Automating social media customer service can also help to be creative. With Sprout, you can use automation to automatically suggest replies for frequently asked questions and phrases to improve tone of voice and speed responses. Furthermore, our out-of-the-box integration with Salesforce enables you to link social media interactions with all other customer information for a comprehensive view of each interaction.
Delivering multichannel support for your customers is becoming an essential component of business in today’s competitive market. Customers expect to be able to reach you on their preferred channel and close feedback loops for increased customer satisfaction and sales growth. By incorporating these strategies into your business operations, you can ensure the level of service that customers expect.