Published on April 6th, 2015 | by Guest

4 Reasons Why Businesses Should Use Social Media for Customer Support Service

They say it takes much more to make a customer than to retaining one. And on the whole, the statement couldn’t be more correct. Whether you’re a small/medium business or a large organization, 80 percent of your profits may be earned by the most loyal 20 percent. The 20 percent would be the most actively involved customers that any business simply can’t afford losing.

Time and time again several organizations, such as Apple Inc., have proved that customer retention should be the top-most priority for an organization. After all, if we manage to please our current customers, not only will we be preventing competitors from grabbing that share of the market, but also allowing positive information to be passed on about our services and products to other prospects, and leaving the “new” bunch to be born through the most effective marketing strategy: word of mouth.

Retention efforts involve providing great customer care. This is where customer services and support come in.

There are a quite a few reasons why many customers complain that existing customer care efforts are inefficient and at times, ineffective. The emailing method on websites often requires forms to fill out which is an inconvenient and lengthy process. Even if the query is submitted, it takes days for a customer care to respond, and at times the email is lost among the hordes of others thereby making the method ineffective. Calling is usually preferred, given the representative responds immediately. The calling method, however, can be costly especially if the issue at hand is one that cannot easily be discussed over the phone. Many customers resort to visiting a customer care service center for a more direct, useful, and thorough response. However, traveling to the location may take time and also cost a lot more than the other methods.

Here a few reasons why social media platforms are a great alternative addition to the methods above. This latest method can neutralize the pros and cons of the past methods through the following:

One-to-One Communication: Social media platforms provide a way for the customers to directly contact a representative and get a direct response in return. This is different from the calling method which takes several tries and transfers before you can reach the respective department that has all the answer to the question.
Immediate Response: Unlike the emailing method, a social media platform allows customers to post a comment that would immediately pop up on the admins device. Any mention of the company can also be tracked using social media monitoring tools such as Google Alerts, Social Mention, and Topsy. The softwares helps tracking and fishing through a large variety of social media platform by simply pinpointing on the particular comment, post, or update about your company. Unlike the emailing method, you don’t have to deliberately fish through a huge mass of mails, some of which are completely irrelevant.
More Transparency: Unlike the phone conversation or the emailing methods, a social media conversation or thread is transparent and can be viewed by the public at large. The transparency provides a documented response and gives the organizational representative a sense of urgency to respond to the question immediately and adequately. Other prospects and customers can also view the responses to questions they may also had on the subject. It will only require effective searching for them to come upon the same question they had.
Adds a Personal Touch: For the same reason that a customer would prefer visiting a customer care center or talking to a representative on the phone, a customer wants to talk to someone, not something. The website and emailing methods are less preferred because they don’t add that friendly, personalized touch. However, the former methods are costly. Social media bridges the gap by allowing representatives to respond to a customer personally and in a very cost-effective way for the customer.

About the author:

Skornia Alison works as a social media analyst for an essay writing service Essay Valley. Due to her expertise in the field, she’s into exploring and analyzing you trends and techniques on how digital social connectivity can be best put to use in diverse markets.

Tags: businesses, customer, media, reasons, service, social, support