As a new contact and sales channel par excellence, social networks are on the rise. It must be said that users are increasingly attracted by the immediacy of social media, as they shun channels that require them to wait too long for a response. But how to combine a social media strategy with efficient customer service management?
Challenge
Adapt effectively to the new channels preferred by consumers
Social networks are the new battleground for companies. However, many companies are launching without having warmed up. What’s the point of creating a Facebook Business page if you don’t feed it? An Instagram account if the Direct Message (DM) feedback is slow?
Today, it is necessary to adapt to the digital channels preferred by users while being aware of the issues at stake. Typically, choosing the most suitable social network for your target is not always obvious. However, there are some data that facilitate the decision-making process. For example, if Facebook remains the most used social network in France, it is rather abandoned by young people (16-18 years old) who prefer Snapchat and Tik-tok. Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp are still very popular among Millenials.
Obviously, it is also a question of choosing a social network adapted to customer relationship management (CRM). If a tool like Instagram is ideal for Community Management (CM), it is less efficient for CRM. CRM and CM, while complementary, are not interchangeable! It is important to build a community of “prospects” while continuing to interact with a loyal customer base.
In any case, to meet the challenge of social networks, companies must be ready to integrate social networks with other communication channels. But to facilitate this relationship, there are several steps to take. The best way is to pool all sources to have a history of conversations. Transversality is the key!
Methodology
Identify the right tools and initiate the appropriate procedures
To better interact with your customers, it is necessary to study the trends beforehand. When you decide to integrate a social media strategy in your company, a new world opens. The goal? Prepare yourself as well as possible
-
Identify the relevant social networks for your target
It can be tempting to want to be present everywhere. But multiplying contact channels without preparation is rarely profitable. When launching on one or more social networks, you have no right to make mistakes because your customers will be uncompromising about the quality of the interactions you offer them. The first step is to analyze the characteristics (user demographics, features offered…) of each social network and identify the or ones that are really adapted to your business. It’s better to be more restrictive but do things right than to be everywhere and disappoint users. Once this choice is made, you can start to implement your strategy on social networks. A tip? Start with a pilot to check that everything is operational!
-
Detailing procedures
There are many social networks and, depending on your plan of action, it will be necessary to put in place “guidelines” to facilitate the experience, both internally and externally.
- For example, customers who contact you via a social network need immediacy. A response time that exceeds 10 minutes? That’s a bad mark on the customer’s side. So you need to frame the interactions and prioritize them according to the requests (network page, messaging, bot, etc.).
- On the other hand, social network users also appreciate human interaction. They need to humanize the relationship is strong! Therefore, it is better to avoid going beyond 3 to 4 interactions with a bot or a virtual assistant before redirecting them to a consultant. If some tasks can be automated, others must remain assigned to human advisors.
- It is also necessary to define clear avoidance strategies to direct as much interaction as possible towards private messaging in order not to pollute the brand’s Facebook wall with messages that are not very interesting for the community or even negative for the company’s image.
- Finally, you must not hesitate to anticipate and be proactive. Ignoring the audience on social networks is not an option! Therefore, the follow-up on the different channels to ensure customer satisfaction is an unstoppable ally.
-
Train the agents
Human advisors, on the other hand, need to be properly trained in the use of social networks. You don’t write a reply on Whatsapp the same way you write an email. So, they need to be trained to juggle these different modes of communication.
Moreover, the implementation of such a strategy often puts additional pressure on the contact center and, to optimize productivity, it becomes imperative to implement new technologies such as AI to read messages and propose standard answers that agents can then adapt. They must therefore be trained to use these new tools to maximize their efficiency and enable them to fully satisfy customers.
Finally, social networks are developing rapidly. New functionalities and uses appear regularly. Tomorrow, with the advent of 5G, the video will become more and more important. Therefore, we must constantly train and stay informed to meet the needs and expectations of users.
Solution
Enghouse helps you centralize your customer data
With Enghouse Cloud Contact Centre solution, you can integrate social networks into your CRM solution like any other traditional channel. This way you can offer a true omnichannel experience to your customers and employees. It becomes possible to start a conversation on online chat, ask for the customer’s phone number, and continue the discussion on WhatsApp. Similarly, you can start a conversation on Twitter and continue it on the phone. And in all cases, these interactions are all recorded and added to the customer’s file in a centralized way. It is thus possible to:
Have a 360° view of the customer and via a simple and intuitive interface, ideal for unifying views.
- Obtain performance-related KPIs in real-time.
- Optimize advisor productivity.
- Present a faster resolution rate.
- Integrate with other business tools.
- Add communication channels.
As you can see, with Enghouse’s solution you can centralize communications with your customers and provide excellent customer service, regardless of the channel they use to contact you. To download the guide ‘How to meet the challenges of customer service in social networks’ just click on the button.
