Call centers and email have taken a back seat when it comes to customer care. As we move further into the digital age, people don’t want to wait hours for a response to their questions, or sit on hold while they wait for availability at a call centre. Instead, millions of people have begun to take advantage of very different mode of customer care, by using social media. Social media has turned into many individual’s preferred communication route, especially that of the younger generation. Not only are they expecting quicker response times, but they are also more willing to have their questions and complaints go public.
Customer care is an important part of business success, and Website Builder shows how the rise of social media customer care is impacting businesses in a big way. Companies are having to completely change how they are communicated with customers, and in some cases, have staff designated to working directly with social media.
If things continue the way that they currently are, it is looking likely that social media is the future of customer care, with more and more customers turning to the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and various other platforms to get their questions answered and voice their complaints. Let’s take a look at some stats that show that social media has a customer service channel has a pretty bright future.
Social media is already the top internet activity, with people spending more time on social media sites than anything else on the web, including email. Its use is continuing to increase as social media becoming more widely available to people all over the world.
The fact that mobile use has now overtaken the use of desktop computers means that people are spending a lot of time on these little devices, and their use is on the rise. People are much more likely to use their mobiles to access social media thanks to the easy access of apps and mobile only social media channels.
Seventy-one percent of customers claim that they are access companies via social media in order to save time, therefore it is vitally important that brands are quick to respond to any communication that comes their way.
When a company engages with a customer via social media, those companies are more likely to spend between 20 and 40% more with the company than they would originally. Plus, social media has the added benefit of not just showing the one customer how good their customer service is, they are showing their friends, friends of friends and even further afield!
If people like the response that they get from a brand over social media, they have the option of sharing the response to their own social media channel, extending the reach of the company free of charge.
Forty-two percent of people will tell their friends or family about some good customer service that they have received from a company on social media, and 53% of people will talk about bad customer service that they have experienced. Because of this, brand strive to provide good customer service at all times.
Solving a customer issue via social media is often only 1/6th as expensive as call centre interaction, so by moving all of their customer service over to social media, companies will actually begin to save money in the long run.
Social media is continuing to develop their customer service tools, with platforms such as Facebook introducing chat bots and apps like Instagram introducing contact buttons so that customers are able to get in contact with the company easier.
Training is becoming increasingly available to staff to teach them the best practices when it comes to social media customer care. With better trained staff, brands are able to make better use of their social media channels and build a better reputation with their customers.
It is looking likely that as the generation evolves, more people than ever will be turning to social media when they want to communicate with a brand. With benefits for both the consumer and the company, this is definitely not a bad thing!
Josh Wardini is the Community Manager at WebsiteBuilder.org.
