Customer service

Being a fan or a follower in an online community can sometimes be tough. You’re loyal to a brand or company, you retweet what they post, you like their statuses, you comment on photos, but in the end sometimes you feel like you’re nothing more than a click on their page. As a business, sometimes with a growing or large community it’s practically impossible to respond to everyone. Finding that balance between just being a Facebook fanpage and actually creating relationships and interacting with fans can be difficult.

Providing customer service in a fast paced world can be a huge undertaking! So I’m going to talk about a small step that has been key for me, as a customer, in growing my trust, loyalty and respect for a brand or organization: Personalization. This may seem so simple or trivial- but let me tell you, it makes all the experience.

Here’s a personal story: I’m an online shopping addict. I love scouring the Internet for good deals and the latest trends. I’m always worried about little issues ordering online (if the size will fit, the return policy, if I will like it in person, etc). I’ve had a few bad experiences so I usually stick to stores that I’ve ordered from numerous times before. Recently, though, I went out on a limb and ordered from a company I never had before. And it was an awesome experience! Why? In part due to personalization! After an easy checkout, super fast delivery and the perfect fit, I wanted to let the company know I was happy with my experience. The fastest way to do this was through social media.

Although you can write reviews on websites, there’s definitely a trend towards sharing your stories with an online community. There’s a bond, as cheesy as this sounds, created by all members of an online community. Closely related to a brand community, a virtual group is created, which includes the company, where everyone can go and share their appreciation for a brand. So I let them know I was happy! I thanked them for their selection and speed and posted it to their Facebook wall. To be honest, I didn’t really expect a response. With hundreds of thousands of fans, it can be hard for a social media team to sort through it all. Yet to my surprise, within a few hours I had a notification that they had commented on it. It wasn’t just a “thanks!”, it was a conversation starter! They told me how much they appreciated the kind words, they asked me what I had ordered, they started and entire conversation and they addressed me by name.

Why is this important? Because through creating even a short conversation with a current or potential customer, you’re letting them know that they aren’t just a number on a page. They’re an important and essential facet to your organization- because without them, where would you be? Because I had already had such a great experience with them, I had already decided that I would purchase from them in the future. But the small conversation that someone took the time to have with me further confirmed my future actions. That can make all the difference in a customer who was on the fence about your company.

I urge you to pay attention closely to your social media outlets, to look and listen to what your fans are saying, and to respond personally to them. If you don’t have someone who is fully or partially dedicated to doing this, I suggest looking into a Community Manager. Check out our post, Is a Community Manager the Solution You’re Seeking?, to understand what they do and get your thinking about it!

“The Customer always comes first.”

If you’ve done any bit of work for a business in your lifetime, you’ve heard that phrase before. This concept is cornerstone to any good customer service plan. But how do we deliver this kind of customer service through social media? After all, with social media being one of the biggest trends in marketing currently there has to be some sort of agenda for customer service, right? Fortunately if you read my previous blog on my retail experience vs experience in social media, you’ll notice that (thankfully) social media customer service is built upon the same stones as other types of customer service. One of the best parts of social media customer service, but also one of its pitfalls, is the “immediate” factor. Social media allows you the ability to answer your customer complaints, praise or questions in a timely and efficient manner. The flip-side is that any customer complaint can be seen by virtually your entire audience- thus possibly scarring your business’ image. One specific instance that comes to mind is the social media uproar against a simple AOL complaint. With more and more customers using multiple devices to access their social media, they have the potential to become more demanding. With this demand comes the want for immediacy. In reaction, companies need to revamp their current customer service policies in order to adapt to the atmosphere online. Normally that may mean setting up two different customer service programs (one for online and one for offline). Having a trained Community Manager in place to handle each and every customer service need is essential. After all, your customers are used to the “immediate” nature of social media- so don’t throw them for a loop by procrastinating on your response! This is both an exciting and terrifying time for businesses who make their presence known on social media. The immediate nature that social media brings to customer service online means not only more obstacles, but also many more ways to better cultivate relationships with your customers.

Like any young person, I’ve spent a good chunk of my life within the retail world. Not shopping, rather, part-time work. My retail work history included associate work for 2 large retail chains (I won’t name names here.) And while the experience has been one I’d hope to not have to repeat, I do owe retail some gratitude for the customer service lessons I have learned through my employment. These days I will fully admit that large retailers don’t always deliver the ‘best’ customer service. However, it’s not for lack of trying. Both of the retailers I worked for had brilliant extensive customer service plans they tried to achieve each and every day. Where the waters went muddy was in the delivery. In other words the less your associates care the worse your customer service will be, and vice versa.  I think the mere fact that you’re reading this shows that you already care about your customer service. I’ll touch on that part a little more next week. But for now, I’d like to focus on what I learned while in retail and how it can be applied to online marketing.

At the two retailers I worked at we learned the four basics to good customer service (all retailers have some form of this):

1. Make the Interaction 2. Ask for Assistance 3. Suggest the Sale 4. Keep Them Coming Back

Make the Interaction

This is so very important to any form of marketing you do, and leads directly into good customer service. As retail associates we are trained to walk up to the customer, smile and initiate conversation- never beginning with, “How can I help you?” It’s not only less demanding, but it also allows for the chance to get to know the customer and their needs. Once you know their needs, you are better able to assist them in step 3. It’s even more important in online marketing. Never never never enter into a conversation with a potential customer without saying hi, asking how their day is, etc. This is will show them that your eyes aren’t only positioned solely on the sale- thus instilling their confidence in you. Like I always say, online marketing (like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc) is just like a conversation. You wouldn’t start a conversation in the middle, would you? So don’t leave out the obligatory introductions! 

Ask for Assistance

Once you’ve initiated conversation, you may be asked for assistance or you may ask them if they require assistance. After all, your potential customer is there for a reason- so don’t keep them waiting too long! Even if they don’t need assistance with anything in particular, alerting them to the fact that you’re around to assist if needed opens up the door for future conversation. This may seem like a difficult task in online marketing, but it’s really no different. Usually in online marketing businesses seem to like to wait around for customer requests. Beat them to it! Go ahead and ask if a recent business strategy or product is treating them well. It goes the extra mile in showing your potential customers that you care about the experience they have.

Suggest the Sale

This one is pretty self-exclamatory. Once you’ve figured out what the potential customer’s needs are and any requests they may have, you’re ready to suggest a product or service for them. Once again, this isn’t much different in online marketing from retail. Online marketing is just another way of cultivating relationships- just not directly in person. But you’re still carrying on the same conversation you’d be having if you were face-to-face. So don’t get too nervous to simply suggest yourself to potential customers you’ve been chatting with. It’s the courageous jump that lots of businesses in online marketing forget to take.

Keep Them Coming Back

This is the ‘meat and potatoes’ of customer service. Once you’ve opened up the line of communication, sought out the potential customer’s needs and suggested a sale you’ll want to keep tabs on how well the sale was received. When I worked for these retailers follow-up was usually engaged when a customer would fill out a survey (which they almost never fill out anyways) or if they came back in with a complaint or return. Other than that, they’d simply walk out of the store after Step 3 and you wouldn’t know whether or not they’d return. Online marketing makes this so much easier, especially with social media. After Step 3 you can now follow up with new customers to ensure they received the best service possible. If they have complaints or questions, you can answer them in a more timely fashion. The “immediate-ness” of social media has made customer service for businesses a much better experience for both the business and customer alike. Do you have experience in retail customer service? What did you take away from it, and do you use any of your experiences in your business? Share with us!   Photo Credit 1, Photo Credit 2