The Social Enabled Call Center: (Part 3) Dealing with your customers

In my previous two blogs we’ve talked about the Social Enabled Call Center.  In the first installment, we defined what the Social Enabled call center is and how to ensure exceptional customer service. In the second installment, we looked at ways to strengthen the socially enabled call center.  Both installments dealt with aspects of the social call center that are well within control of the call center itself.  However, there is one aspect of the social media enabled call center that is completely outside the control of the call center and that is the customer.

First, it’s important to understand that there are many channels by which a customer can communicate with a company: phone, e-mail, and live-chat have been the most common to date. These methods are a bit easier to manage because the communication is between the customer and the call center.  Now, however, customers are preferring Social Media, Facebook and Twitter, as their method of communication. These social methods can present a challenge to the call center simply because of their social nature. No longer is this a one-to-one communication but a one-to-many communication.

How does the socially enabled call center deal with customers taking to social media about your company?  How does the call center respond if the social content is negative?  Here are some thoughts:

• Have a Plan: 

  What do you think your online conversations will do to your brand’s reputation? Are you tracking the conversations that people are having about your brand online with or without your social media manager? These are great questions to ask and seek to answer as your contact center begins to establish a social media channel.  Doing your best to answer these questions will help establish a plan for dealing with these issues when they arise.

• Develop a quick problem solving process:

  When a contact center is quick to deal with negative feedback that shows up in social media, this can go a long way in holding back the tide of negative fall-out. Mistakes will happen; they’re part of life, but when online customers see that a quick response has been activated to resolve a customer’s issue, that will certainly help. Remember, negative comments on social media can reach the masses in an instant, but so can a call center that knows how to monitor and respond quickly.

For every advantage that social media can offer, there are an equal number of disadvantages but having a plan and training agents to respond quickly can turn those disadvantages around in your favor.

This blog was written by Jim Iyoob, EVP Customer Experience for Etech Global Services.  If you would like to learn more about Etech and how to develop a socially enabled call center, please contact us at info@etechgs.com.