The pandemic is forcing businesses to rethink aspects of their customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As waves of the virus come and go, and various areas of the country (and world) deal with different restrictions, businesses need to find a consistent way to provide customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Businesses must continue to provide excellent service, as it is really becoming a brand differentiator. Customers want to be heard. They want responses to show empathy and understanding. Brands need to have skilled customer service agents who have the creativity, confidence and authority to communicate clearly and effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it goes beyond simply being responsive on social. Brands must be proactive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The aim of any business should be to provide a frictionless experience for their customers. It\u2019s especially important now, when we\u2019re all feeling somewhat frayed at the edges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Customers may go through several stages before sending a complaint to a brand, but in other cases they may send the complaint directly on social, depending on their circumstances. There\u2019s no guarantee how quickly they will get a response and even a resolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proactive customer care takes a lot of busy work away from customers and let\u2019s them focus on enjoying the positive aspects of the brand, instead of spending more time focusing on what it\u2019s doing wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Customers won\u2019t always contact the brand when they have a problem. Sometimes they\u2019ll choose to post on social media \u2013 and not @ mention the brand. They may do this because they\u2019re frustrated, but don\u2019t expect to get anywhere if they contact the brand directly. They could also mention the brand in a positive way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brands need skilled social media customer service agents to make the most of that social listening technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Being proactive is about taking a calculated risk. Yes, some people may find it a bit intrusive. All they did was mention X brand on Twitter, and suddenly the brand is right there demanding attention!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if it\u2019s done right, it can seek out great opportunities to surprise and delight customers. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For the best chance of a positive result, be open, friendly and supportive. Brands should tailor the message to the person it\u2019s addressed to, and it should focus on their specific situation straight away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brands can save both customers and employees a lot of time by providing a good self-service system on their website. This frees up the customer service agent to seek out proactive opportunities. We\u2019re all familiar with having an issue with a business and a customer service agent telling us that someone will call back in an hour\/day\/week, only they don\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If a customer has an issue with their account or they have a complaint that a customer service agent fixed, it\u2019s worth having a policy around getting back in touch. Let the customer know that someone will follow up – for example, in a week – to see how things are going. Then keep that promise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n People are notoriously bad at remembering to give feedback when they\u2019ve had a positive experience. Brands need to follow-up after an issue is resolved, or a delivery is made, to ask about the customer\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should be simple – a star rating and a text box to provide optional feedback is great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s also a good idea to let customers know what happens as a result of their feedback. <\/strong>Having things like employee spotlights on social media – where you celebrate someone who\u2019s received exceptional feedback, for example – shows customers that what they say matters. It should make them more likely to engage with the brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Great, proactive service creates a frictionless experience and proves that the business cares about customer experience and feedback. When it\u2019s used well, proactive social customer service can be a huge benefit to brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more insights on creating value from social media customer service, download our whitepaper<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The pandemic is forcing businesses to rethink aspects of their customer service. As waves of the virus come and go, and various areas of the country (and world) deal with different restrictions, businesses need to find a consistent way to provide customer service. You could say that social media was built for this sort of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":16132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[335],"tags":[109],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/matthew-hamilton-tNCH0sKSZbA-unsplash.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Genuine-Humans.jpg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/3abc34c3-ff60-4a78-b347-6119461b7ed1\/GENUINE-HUMANS","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/genuine-humans\/id1561811296","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVzb2NpYWxlbGVtZW50LmFnZW5jeS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Q?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwiQz-mM7dzvAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7jkfw0qeUlwrauhfy2pCGU","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/feed\/podcast","embedCode":"What makes proactive customer service so effective?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Five steps brands can take to become more proactive about social customer care<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Things like knowledge sections, FAQs and chatbots (to answer simple questions), can give customers a way to seek out answers for themselves. It\u2019s especially effective for people who don\u2019t like to feel that situations are out of their control. <\/p>\n\n\n\nProactive customer service is about spotting opportunities that go above and beyond what people expect from you. It\u2019s about putting the customer at the centre of your social media. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Five steps to implementing effective social customer care<\/a><\/blockquote>