Guest Blogger: Aphrodite
Brinsmead, Senior Analyst at Ovum
Agents need to respond to customers’ social comments and
questions quickly and in the right tone. But more importantly, they need to offer
resolutions. Customers care most about how long it takes to find information rather
than which channel they are using. They choose to use social media because they
are comfortable with the channel and it offers a convenient way to communicate.
Ideally agents will resolve questions within social media, but they need
guidance as to how and when to escalate interactions to a more private channel.
First, businesses should assess the way in which customers are
using social media to communicate with them and categorize posts into groups:
complaints, feedback, technical queries or more general support questions. They
should then consider the types of interactions that can easily be handled
within social media and those that need to be followed up in another channel. This
will be very dependent on the industry. Examples of queries that can be resolved
in social media include
Shipping pricing and timeframes
Outage updates and resolution plans
Flight status information
Product stock check
Technical support videos or forum posts
Availability of facilities
Both customers and
agents need to be educated about the types of questions they can expect
to resolve within social media. As the channel matures as a customer
service tool, it needs to have value other than just as a forum for
complaints.
Social customer service agents need the
power to start a web chat or
phone call
Any questions where customers need to divulge personal
details in order to get a resolution will need to be addressed in a private
channel: a private social message, web chat, email or phone call. Customers
should never disclose their date of birth, social security, credit card number,
or healthcare records in a public forum. Flight issues, changes to a booking,
billing queries or account updates will all need to be completed via a private interaction.
Agents responding to questions on social media need the
ability to start a web chat or phone call with the customer. The customer
doesn’t want to have to repeat their question and the agent should be empowered
to connect customer records and access account or billing information. These
agents will need to be trained across different channels and should be able to
view all customer communications in one application. They also need to follow
up questions that began on a public forum in the initial channel to make it
clear that the issue was addressed.
In order to make this possible, social media needs to be
integrated as part of a broader customer service strategy. Irrespective of how
many channels are used to complete an interaction, businesses should prioritize
customer satisfaction and issue resolution. They need a clear strategy and
trained agents that can handle and respond to social interactions.
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