Technology and Customer Service: Social is the New Norm

Customers today are savvy. In fact, that’s probably an understatement. With mobile phones being the device of communication du jour, in addition to the plethora of handheld devices out there, customers know and will use technology to their benefit when it comes to obtaining service.

Social networking has provided yet another outlet for customers to reach the companies from which they need service. Instead of picking up the phone and dialing into and endless phone tree, it’s a lot easier for a patron to log onto Twitter or Facebook and get speedy service, minus the endless hold minutes.

What this means for businesses is implementing newer systems to stay with the times. On top of ensuring that call center agents have the adequate phone and computer systems to answer customer queries, businesses need to look into other options that have newer capabilities with up-to-date methods of interaction to meet the needs of their consumer base.

Social CRM is still about CRM, but it’s more of a back-end process and system for managing customer relationships and data in an efficient and process-centric way.

Today, customers learn about companies and products through social channels, so it is imperative that businesses update their CRM methods accordingly. Today’s customer is socially aware, so this requires fast, real-time response to retain said customer.

We’ll likely see an increase in self-service models as well. Ninety-one percent of customers polled by Zendesk said that they would rather use a computer knowledgebase than actually talk to a live human being.

What our digitally social civilization has the power to do is immeasurable. Businesses need to keep up with the multichannel experience, and making sure a customer is satisfied is tantamount to positive feedback spread through the ether. This kind of marketing is, for all intents and purposes, viral and good for business. Conversely, a bad experience can spread just as fast and can do a lot of damage in a very little amount of time.

Social media holds unparalleled potential for companies to get closer to customers and, by doing so, facilitate increased revenue. By offering effective communications tools to the customer, businesses are more likely to thrive in a social world.

Edited by Rachel Ramsey