Customer experience is of great interest to most of us in leadership because we understand the ripple effect of a happy customer and the unhappy ones. With the stiff competition in this noisy market, offering excellent customer service will give you an edge over the competition.
Excellent customer service will lead to high customer satisfaction levels. It is, therefore, important to utilize all the means that will help you offer that excellent effortless customer experience.
In my experience, these six simple ways show you how using social media in the right way, will boost your customer satisfaction.
1. Rapid Response Time
There is no better way of getting a real-time response from a company than through their social media platforms. A tweet or Facebook post to the company’s page that you need answers from will give you an instant response. Today’s connected customers know how powerful social media is, and they use it to their advantage. Other customers are also reading your page and taking notes, therefore, responding as soon as possible, will create a win-win situation. Social media platforms have also released the importance of rapid response time and are working with you. For example, Facebook has a response rate icon, they inform the percentage of your inbox messages response rate.
2. Strengthens Relationships
Customer satisfaction is all about relationships. The relationship you create with your customer will determine their satisfaction level. Social media opens up a platform for you to be in constant communication with your customers. When they have a concern, they write to you and your quick response shows you care. You use your social media pages to inform customers of new developments or information on upcoming events. Social media is an asset in strengthening your relationship because the two parties are always in communication with each other. The trust also grows from these interactions leading to loyalty.
3. Gives You a Human voice
Canned messages cannot work on social media responses because the questions asked are rarely the same and thus require a specific answer. When a customer tweets, they know they will get a human response. Remember the days before the emergence of Social Media; customers could only reach you via phone or in person. As more and more customers called, automation kicked in to help the agents manage the calls. However, social media enables you to give a personalized experience. For example, when you respond to a question, you use the person’s name and make it relevant to them. The customer recognizes that they are speaking to a human and your CSAT and NPS will go up.
4. Facilitates Targeted Communication
You can reach to a specific consumer groups instead of all your consumers. All social media platforms give you the option of narrowing down to the target audience by their demographics. It is useful when you want to pass on information to a particular group or even advertise a product. The information will be relevant to them, and they will act on it.
5. Competition analysis
From your competitor social media pages, you can gather a lot of information. You get to see their conversations with customers, what is working, what customers are complaining about among others. You can then capitalize on the information gathered to offer excellent customer experiences. Do not forget that they are also looking at your company pages as well. Do not give them a reason to take away your customers, be on top of your conversations. Customers are also reading both pages and comparing your brands.
6. Ease Negative Feedback
Not all customers will be happy with your service. Occasionally, an unhappy customer will air their discontent with your brand. It can go viral within seconds and destroy your reputation. However, when you are active and alert on social media, you will see the post first and respond accordingly. As a bonus tip, try to resolve the problem on the same platform and do not ask the customer to call or go the private messages. Other customers will keenly follow that discussion to see how you resolve the issue.
Social Media is a powerful tool that will help you to keep your customers engaged and happy. Use it well and you will turn your customers into brand ambassadors who rave about your brand.
Original Source: LinkedIn
