Customers are the foundation of any successful business. Even more than a well-managed team and a polished product line, your customer base is the most crucial area of focus.
Because of this, it should come as no surprise that customer service is an essential topic for companies of all sizes.
Your approach is critical, especially in terms of customer satisfaction. And that approach involves the tools you’re using.
What is a tool for customer service?
A customer service tool is anything that can be used to communicate with customers to receive feedback and give answers.
With social media acting as one of the primary resources for communication and advertising, many people wonder whether this platform can function as a tool for customer service.
How do you measure the efficiency of a tool for customer service?
How do you know your customers are happy? Some people would say that, as long as they aren’t complaining, they’re content. This may not be true, however. People can’t voice their concerns if they don’t have a platform to do so.
Customer service isn’t just about providing a line of communication after a purchase has taken place. Good customer service means helping people find the answers they want, whether they’re just looking around or trying to pick between two products.
Fifty-five percent of US adults will abandon online purchases if they can’t get quick answers.
The efficiency of a customer service tool can be measured not only by how many sales it facilitates, but how many customers it helps the business retain.
You could be keeping a lead happy by converting them to a customer, or keeping an existing customer happy by helping them become a repeat buyer or even a promoter through feedback.
How does social media impact customer service?
A good customer service tool must be usable, so enough people need to have access to it to get their messages through.
It should also be quick so that the users can get timely responses. Social media checks all these boxes. Additional advantages include:
- Relationship building and engaging conversations
- Hashtag use to keep similar concerns neatly organized
- Creating loyal bases across popular platforms
- Gaining a recognizable voice among angry, confused, or curious customers
- Being present for good, bad, and neutral feedback
As we can see, social media has all the elements necessary to help you improve your approach to customer service. It’s one of the more viable tools available to companies today.
Does it really matter?
Your approach to customer service impacts your brand more than you may think. You’ve probably already heard about how brands with bad reputations can see this negativity spread quickly via word of mouth.
However, there’s also a high chance good customer service can spread quickly. This is especially true if you use social media. It’s easy to click “reply” or “retweet,” showing off support of a company’s desire to care for their customers.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Few people will take the time to screencap an onsite chat box conversation or a reply made to a simple review.
However, social platforms have us used to clicking “like,” “share,” and “retweet” out of habit. It’s far easier for companies to show they care on these platforms.
Not only does customer service matter, but having the right tool is also critical. When you’re available and viewable by your audience, they’ll feel more comfortable approaching you with their concerns.
What now?
Now that you know how social media can be used for customer service, the next step is to get started using this tool for your own business. Like anything, using a new tool like this will take some time to get used to.
Just like using social profiles for any business purpose, it’s about knowing how to best coordinate your efforts for your brand voice.
Learn what it takes to build a great social media campaign to boost your efforts across these platforms.