Long wait times, annoying hold music and high phone bills are a thing of the past. Today, consumers expect brands to offer support on their favorite social platforms.
What’s more, 40% of shoppers expect brands to respond to social media within an hour, and 79% expect a response within 24 hours. People who use social media want customer service at their fingertips, and instantly. And the benefits of good customer service are worth it. You can expect increased brand loyalty, happier customers, and more sales.
In this article, you’ll learn what customer service on social media means and how you can develop a social customer service strategy that works for you.
What is customer service on social media?
Social media customer service is the process of offering support and live chat customer service through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It enables brands to respond to customer service requests, new zealand email list issues, feedback and complaints within minutes without having to make long phone calls.
Today, writing a sales text all major social platforms have built-in features to help brands find and provide support to customer messages. Not only does this enable instant support, but it can also lead to increased loyalty, better brand awareness, and more sales.
Customer service on social media is e-commerce
The high expectations of buyers, coupled with the enormous market competition, make it clear that good e-commerce customer service is not just a “nice-to-have”, but a “must-have”.
Support through popular social media helps you eliminate friction in the buying process by responding in real time. This could mean providing additional product information and addressing concerns in the pre-purchase phase, germany business directory tracking orders and deliveries after purchase, or responding to customer feedback on products or services.
The Benefits of Customer Service on Social Media
The quality of customer service you provide can have a significant impact on your business. A great experience can convert one-time buyers into lifelong customers , while a poor experience can lead to lost sales, negative press, and unhappy buyers.
Here are some benefits of offering customer service on social media:
- Influence on purchasing decisions: 85% of buyers say that good customer service influences their choice of provider.
- Increased sales: Shoppers spend 20% to 40% more when brands respond quickly to questions and complaints on social media, according to McKinsey, and 50% are willing to pay a premium to receive outstanding customer service.
- Multiple communication options: People don’t want to spend hours on hold. Instead , shoppers say multiple communication options are the most important customer service feature a brand can have.
- Increase brand loyalty: The majority of consumers say that a good customer service experience is critical to their brand loyalty.
Strategy for Customer Service on Social Media
Now that you know how important social media customer service is to your business, here are some steps on how to implement it on your social media and improve overall customer service.
1. Choose the right channels
Start by finding the social platforms your audience uses most often. If shoppers are most active on Instagram but you only check Twitter, you’re missing out on a lot of customer service requests. In fact , consumers expect brands to resolve issues on their preferred channels. For most brands, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the main players, but you may also find that customers are connecting on LinkedIn, TikTok, and Pinterest.
TIP: Find out where your customers are already active by looking for likes, tags, and mentions of your brand on social media. You can also use a dedicated social listening tool to track every mention of your brand and see where you’re getting the most customer service questions.
2. Use a special support account
Nearly 64% of Twitter users (today X) say they prefer to message a dedicated support account rather than pick up the phone. While small brands can get by with an account on each platform, larger retailers could benefit from a dedicated support account. This also makes it easier for you to find relevant customer questions among all the noise and brand mentions.
TIP: Assign a dedicated account to your customer service team, who are better able to handle customer service requests than your marketing team. When a customer contacts your main account, encourage your marketing team to direct them to the dedicated support account.
3. Set expectations early
You can’t be everywhere at once. Let customers know when they can expect a response from you by listing your customer service hours and average response time in the bio of your dedicated support account.
TIP: Take advantage of support-focused features on social media, like Facebook’s Instant Replies tool and Twitter’s Quick Replies feature, which allow you to send a canned response as quickly as possible. Include your response times and operating hours in your canned message.
4. Develop a brand voice
Maintain a coherent voice across all your social media by developing a brand voice. This will help your customer service team stay on brand and ensure you create a consistent social media presence.
Create a brand voice document that defines what your customer service team can and cannot say, what words they can use, and in which specific situations they can use humor or a more informal tone.
5. Reflect the emotions of the customers
Responding to customer inquiries on social media isn’t the same as sharing an average social post. Often, shoppers are angry, disappointed, or frustrated, which requires a certain level of tact in your responses. The last thing you want to do is further upset a customer by not taking their complaint seriously.
