Today’s socially enabled web is changing customer service and support. In fact, it is the very thing that has so many in Public Relations and Marketing scratching their heads. Service and support are the result of a medium (social media and social networking technology) that is bidirectional. Customers are not just in control of the message, they are expecting you to listen and act upon what you hear. It requires what may be a significant departure from the way that you’ve managed your business until now. Social technologies and “web 2.0,” and beyond are not something that you plug into your existing culture and workflow. Your business must change in order to leverage social media effectively. Process and roles must change to yield return on investment and gain significant competitive advantage.
More than Facebook and Twitter
Customer support communities are proving to reduce costs. According to Accenture research, it costs between $6 and $75 to resolve customer issues over the phone, and it costs as little as $.05 to help customers find answers online. In addition to the customer service gains through interaction on public platforms like Facebook and Twitter, companies are realizing significant cost reductions from customers answering each other’s questions (peer-2-peer support) on their own customer support communities. Social platforms providing customer support and providing a venue for customers to help each other are significantly decreasing support call volume. Customer support communities are becoming an integrated extension of a customer service team. This has become the only way to provide customer service that meets client expectations, improving customer satisfaction and keeps costs under control.
Image originally posted on Zengage, The Zendesk Blog
