Along with the growth of the internet, customer service has taken on a new form. Gone are the days of relying solely on 800 numbers for help – now you can type a quick email or DM to a company, and you’ve got assistance in a snap. In fact, nowadays 80% of consumers use social media to engage with businesses. With such a large percentage of people seeking customer service online, it only makes sense to give the people what they want! Here are 4 of our tips to get your online customer service at the top of its game.
1. Be proactive with customer service and outreach.
The tendency is to wait to be helpful once a customer has reached out to your business. However, it’s better to be the first to initiate the communication. For example, if you have discounts or sales going on at your business, send those to your customers to draw them in. That way, you’ve opened a line of communication to where they’ll trust you enough to reach out when they need assistance.
2. Be where your audience is.
It’s very important to know which platforms your target market is most active on. Once you know which social media sites have the largest percentage of your audience, you can target your marketing efforts to those platforms more so than the less populated ones. Then, when your customers have questions, they know exactly where they can reach you.
3. Keep your customer service personal.
Balancing automation and person-to-person interaction is a key component to having stellar customer service. Services like Facebook Messenger API are wonderful to automate the first communication with customers and answer basic questions, but those services are far less personal than it would be to have a real human on the other side of the screen. If you reserve the automated messages for simple questions such as, “what are your business hours?” and “what is your website?” will be more beneficial in the long run. That way, you can have actual human-to-human conversations for more complicated or personal issues and get them resolved in a timely, personable manner.
4. Stay consistent!
No matter how your business balances the automation versus human assistance, keep it as consistent as possible across platforms. Your internet presence can be influenced by the reputation your representatives get, so do your best to stay in good graces with your audience.
No matter how snappy your logo is, no matter how beautiful your building is, no matter how reasonable your prices are – none of that matters if your customer has a bad experience. You have to take into account every little detail of how you interact with your clients. Everything you do (or don’t do) affects people’s perception of your business. It should shape how you do everything!
If you don’t know already, Blackwood Creative has a podcast called The Big Brand Theory, and we have an episode that dives deep into how your customers’ experiences tie in to your overall brand strategy – and it’s pretty darn good, if we may say so ourselves. If you’d like to check out that episode, featuring Matt Esau from Notre Dame, feel free to check it out at this link!
If your current marketing strategy just isn’t cutting it anymore, you’ve come to the right place. Our team of experts here at Blackwood Creative would be more than happy to work with you and help you meet and exceed your business goals. We’re in the business of building remarkable brands – yours could be next. Reach out to us today!
