Swift responses and real-time results are fast becoming the norm for customer expectations. Plugged-in, always-online customers believe the companies they do business with should be too, ready to respond and fix issues with just a few keystrokes. If social media is a part of your business activities (and it should be), here are the three most important things to consider in the social sphere.
Timely Responses
In 2013, American Airlines scored a win on Twitter when they caught onto passenger Alan Silberberg’s tweet about a tower fire which had made him late for his connecting flight. As reported by the Huffington Post, the airline maintained contact with Mr. Silberberg who was travelling with his three sons, and had the flight waiting for him to make the connection to his final destination.
The lesson: Ensure there’s a system in place to follow through on customer complaints on social media for speedy and lasting resolution.
Pay Attention to Content
US Airways made headlines recently with a NSFW response to a customer’s tweet. It appears that another customer had posted the tweet containing a graphic nude photograph on the company’s Twitter page. In what the company called an honest mistake, the image was retweeted in response to another customer, and of course went viral from there.
The lesson: Keep a watchful eye on your social media pages for content which might be inappropriate or offensive; remove or flag them.
Engagement is key
Though it didn’t take place on any of the popular social media sites, Netflix scored a big win with it’s Star Trek customer service chat last October. Customer service representative Mike Mears, an avid Star Trek fan, conducted the entire chat in character as Captain Mike of the good ship Netflix, with the customer surprisingly playing along as his trusty lieutenant. The chat ended with the complaint resolved, and the customer describing it as “the best customer service experience” he’d had.
The exchanged created a lasting impression with the customer and generated lots of publicity for Netflix.
The lesson: Netflix customer care reps do not use scripts. This allows them to find creative ways to interact with customers and offer a more personal experience.
There can be very little debate that social media is the customer’s domain. Learning how to engage in a manner which merges marketing with problem solving and complaint resolution will be key if a solid customer service reputation is your company’s goal.
Thanks for these points. I completely agree that a customer care team should have enough degrees of freedom to act according to what the specific context requests. There’s no script that can cover everything, so good point to allow the conversations to be human and authentic, while trusting that care team members will respect the company’s reputation.
Thanks for reading. In a world where customers are increasingly being forced to talk to machines, a personal touch can make an ordinary experience seem extraordinary.