Social customer care: give your customer service superpowers

With market analysis based on listening to your network you enhance your customer service (and your sales!).

Do you think your customers’ online conversations are just a risk or a cue to improve your business?

They are actually valuable gems that help you better interact with the consumers themselves, build relationships based on trust, and solve customer problems. In summary: sell more!

This is one of the reasons why market analyses, especially those planned periodically, are critical for your business.

This is an aspect of social listening that is often underestimated but really important to better reach your target customers and grow in your target market… Mainly because it gives super powers to your customer service department, turning it into Social Customer Care.

If this topic tickles your fancy, open your eyes wide and be prepared to read and practice what I am going to tell you.

Thanks to the tips written in this in-depth study you will be able to find new customers, retain them, and make even those who may have had a bad time and previously discredited you become “ambassadors” for your company!

Ready/ready? Then let’s get started right away!

Social customer care and the metaphor of the store and the salesperson

“Good morning, do you need anything? If you need to call me, I am at your disposal!“

Let’s say you have a store where you sell your products, inside which there is obviously your salesperson.

When a customer approaches the storefront and enters inside, the salesperson will prompt him or her with the phrase above, inviting him or her to tell what he or she needs and suggesting products that might be right for him or her.

If the customer has come in because he or she has a specific question, or a problem with a product you purchased previously, the salesperson will go out of his or her way to resolve any inconvenience and make the customer leave satisfied.

Why am I telling you the obvious? Because the same thing happens online.

The Web has become a huge store, an immense shopping mall we may say, in which customers move somewhat bewildered. They seek information on this side, silently observe on that side, complain on the up side, make recommendations on the down side.

At any given time, potential customers “walk up to your storefront,” that is, they inquire about you online, ask questions addressed directly to you or more generally to other Web users, or express a need that you may very well solve.

What if you don’t have a “salesperson” who approaches the customer, grasps their needs, suggests solutions and offers your products?

What happens is that sales and retention opportunities are irretrievably wasted.

It’s as if your store is deserted, the customer looks out and says, “Helloooo?” and in response hears only the echo…

Then when the customer has a problem because they were unhappy with one of your products, the consequences are even more serious.

If your “salesperson” doesn’t respond right away by solving the headache and turning a dissatisfied customer into a happier one, word will spread like wildfire because-remind you-this online store has no walls or boundaries!

Other customers wandering bewildered around the Web, reading about those who have had a problem, may also form the wrong opinion and decide not to buy from you again. Just think that 70% of users say they have changed their minds about a purchase because of something they read on social media!

Except that since this “store” has no visible walls, most companies almost forget that it exists. He puts on a nice showcase-his website and social media pages-and then leaves it to himself, waiting for customers to come in, answer their own questions, and decide for themselves that you are the company they want to buy from.

Mind you, I am not only talking about e-commerce, but also about a customer deciding which car to buy, which cookies to choose when he goes to the supermarket, and so on!

Think of how many wasted opportunities–which fortunately you can begin to seize through listening to the network.

Read also: Web marketing strategies do NOT work (if you don’t start with data)

Customer Care becomes Social thanks to web listening!

Now that you know the importance of customer service, you can implement a “virtual salesperson” to your team who will stay alert and scour the Web, catching those who are interested in you or who have a problem and asking if they need help.

It can intercept those who ask a question mentioning your brand or that of a competitor, thank those who post a positive comment about your brand, and immediately help those who have a problem and are complaining.

These activities are called “social customer care” and result in sales, loyalty and revenue growth.

People invest much more in companies with which they have had positive interactions online. They are also inclined to speak well of it to their friends and relatives, becoming true brand ambassadors.

Indeed, if traditional customer care, via phone and email, is taken for granted, being able to interact through social creates a very strong interaction, a feeling of being heard and important to the company, especially when the message was not addressed directly.

Let me give you an example of a case I worked on for a very famous beer brand. On a particularly scorching summer day, a Twitter user wrote a joking tweet, “My kingdom for a beer!”

Listening to the theme “beer,” we saw this tweet, which was getting a significant number of retweets and likes. Instead of just responding online, we sent a case of beer to the user’s home, which arrived a few days later.

The overjoyed user posted the photo with the beers on social… And she became a loyal customer, interacting with the brand’s content and posting more photos.

You don’t always have to go that far, but you certainly get the gist.

Do you need further confirmation? So here are the benefits of Social Customer Care for you.

Read also: 7 Benefits of Market Analysis: marketing and beyond

6 reasons why social customer care is important for your business

Do you want to know why I say social customer care is one of the most important functions of network listening? I’ll summarize the six main reasons so that you can make it even clearer:

1. Seize sales opportunities. If a customer has a question or concern before buying that is holding them back, you can resolve it for them and encourage a purchase.
2. You retain your customers. Customers who have a positive relationship with a company on social media not only buy more, but are more likely to speak well of the company online and offline.
3. Create and interact with your community. Your customers, especially those who like you, form your community, a kind of “club” of people who like what you sell and follow what you say. With social customer care, you can interact with them much more easily, making them feel important and showing that you care about them. Only in this way can you strengthen their love for you even more and make them increasingly active ambassadors!
4. Avoid risks. You contribute to positive word of mouth (and reduce negative word of mouth). Customers listen to customers, not to you. If they see a comment about a problem you did not respond to or a negative review you did not justify, they are influenced not to choose your products and services. Monitoring everything that is said about you allows you to turn these problems into opportunities to show your ability to go out to meet customers!
5. Meet expectations. Today there is no perceived boundary between people and companies on social media: users respond to each other very quickly, even 42 percent say they expect a response within an hour.
6. Get feedback on your products and services. If you track all these interactions, you can find out a lot of things that would not have come out of even a hundred interviews! Find out where your weaknesses are that customers complain about and what strengths customers like instead.

In summary: It allows you both to build stronger relationships with your customers, selling more and getting ambassadors who will talk about you, and to avoid reputation problems!

Equipping your customer service team with a tool to intercept these conversations in real time is no longer a choice, but now a necessity.

Do you want to learn more, understand how to do social listening and maybe get training for your employees?

Contact us now and delve into the world of network listening! We are waiting for you!