Competition, convenience & cost: how live chat can transform a small business
Live chat is a cost effective and easy way of allowing customers to make contact with support or sales agents via a real time conversation. For an ever increasing number of people, live chat has and will continue to be an invaluable resource.
Customer service on Social Media
Using social media to help your clients Is there anybody out there? Today, in such a competitive landscape, being customer-driven is what can really differentiate a company from others of its kind. A company’s reputation can rise thanks to excellent customer service, but it can also be destroyed if no one’s there to listen and help. The voices of the customers are more powerful and influential than ever and their comments can spread virally in a matter of minutes. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn make it so easy for customers to get in touch with companies. It’s easier than ever. The difference is that, thanks to these mass communication tools, now it’s the customers who decide where, how and when they want to interact with the companies. And when they decide to do so, you’d better be there to listen. There are companies that constantly engage with their customers to gain insights on how they can improve their products and services. And then, there are companies that only use social media exclusively to push products. There are companies that provide quality support fast. And there are companies that only reply to good feedback and don’t know how to react when negative comments are coming their way. The purpose of this article is to help you understand how you can use social media not to replace your current customer support department, but to complement it and increase your customer satisfaction. Go where your customers are Find out where your customers are and what they are saying about you. A simple way to do so is to Google your company’s name and then go through the results. You might find them talking about you on blogs, forums, on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on. Join the conversation and try to help those clients who are having difficulties using your products. Don’t pretend you are not working for a company just to make a good comment about it because they might figure it out and it will only make matters worse. Your goal is to find out why the client is unhappy and provide him with a solution. In the end, you might be able to turn that bad experience into a good one and even save the customer relationship. You might also get some positive reviews after that, which will help your company’s reputation. What online tools to use to provide support to clients Here are just a few online tools that you can use to get in touch with your customers and provide support: Forums Blogs RSS feeds Email newsletters YouTube Twitter Wiki Facebook How to measure the success of your efforts You are investing time and money into this, so make sure you also evaluate the results of your efforts. Are the number of calls to the customer support department decreasing? Are you getting a lot more positive feedback? Are the number of complaints decreasing? Are clients’ enquiries being handled faster? You can also send an online survey to your customers through Twitter or Facebook and ask them if they’re happy with the support they receive or what else you can do to improve it. They’ll appreciate being listened to. Make use of these amazing tools to listen to your clients and help them every time they’re asking for your support. Being there for your customers will prove you are a reliable, trustworthy and dedicated company that respects its clients. You can start today with a simple question: “How can we help you today?”