Introduction and the digital revolution
What do we know about social media as we hurtle towards the close of 2014? We know that it has changed the way we communicate with each other, perhaps permanently. We also know that social media provides us with a platform with which we can easily interact with one another in real-time, and share everyday experiences.
We know that news no longer means the morning paper or waiting for the evening's TV bulletin – we learn of the world's happenings as they occur, and often not from journalists, but regular people. In fact, many of us now document a significant proportion of our lives on digital platforms. According to the Pew Research Centre, 74% of online adults use social networking sites regularly in 2014.
Look to the past
As is the trend, whatever consumers use in their life often bleeds into industry. Surely social media presents an ideal fit for companies wanting to engage with their customers? In order to fully understand the impact of social media in modern customer service strategies, as any great historian would do next, we now need to examine the past.
Customer service has traditionally been heavily vendor-driven, with companies dictating what communication methods their customers could or could not use. Contacting a company for any type of problem – simple or more complex – was a lengthy and often fruitless process. Unlike today, using an alternative vendor was easier said than done, placing the customers at the mercy of the company.
Indeed, the world was a very different place. Companies were firmly in the driving seat, mainly because of the pace of development. Being very slow to change, the contact landscape was stuck in the traditional methods of phone, followed by email, and then the introduction of web chat that made a subtle addition to the sparse horizon. With the pace of change in this time being so sedate, small adjustments had little impact on the customer.
Digital revolution
Just as the industrial revolution transformed the British landscape in the blink of an eye, so did the digital explosion of early 2000s; it drastically altered the face and pace of the consumer world. Most notable, however, was the shift in power away from the aristocratic vendor and into the hands – and indeed the pockets – of the everyday consumer.
Vendors recognised that customer expectations were rising in correlation with the development of technology at their fingertips, which forced companies to consider how they should handle this new doubled-edged sword. They needed to successfully manage its potential negative impacts, and harness its positive capabilities.
Certainly, more and more vendors have recognised that traditional and outdated approaches to customer contact are increasingly incompatible with the modern consumer environment. With 24/7 access to the internet, customer communication has surged and, with the advent of customer experience, no one is prepared to wait in lengthy phone queues anymore.
Customer journey must be quick and easy, which is why, according to Lithium Technologies Research, 60% of customers would take action against a company through social channels. As 72% of customers who complain on Twitter expect a response within an hour, implementing a Twitter strategy helps retain customers and improve their experience.
Tweet nothing
Some companies have been dragging their feet into the digital era by remaining adamant that a Twitter strategy does not add any value to customer experience. According to a Boardroom Bellweather Survey, in the past 12 months, almost half of the UK's largest public companies have not even discussed their social media strategy.
With the very public meltdown of British Gas still strong in our minds, when the energy giant was promoting customer service via Twitter (only to be confronted by angry customers ridiculing its decision to raise prices ahead of winter), misjudging the potential impact of a negative reception on Twitter – something which is highly visible – could certainly contaminate a brand's squeaky-clean image.
In order to protect a brand's image, more and more companies are incorporating Twitter into their customer service strategy. As time has become a precious commodity with the hustle and bustle of modern daily life, the speed of Twitter makes it an attractive alternative when contacting organisations.
Customers have become more reluctant to call companies as it takes a lot of effort – it can sometimes take 10 minutes just to find the right number – or some people simply may not be able to make personal calls during work hours. As most will have access to Twitter at any given time, and as shown in the research by Lithium Technologies, the majority feel that social media is a faster alternative to get a response to a problem.
Fend off rivals
Communicating with customers on Twitter also helps fight off competitors. As numerous industry sectors have seen a rise in competition, along with new Ofcom laws enabling customers to switch providers at the drop of a hat (for example, bank accounts now must be switched within seven days), implementing engaging customer experience could make the different between a market leader and a market player.
A strong customer contact strategy would place Twitter ownership in the customer service department to ensure it is flexible enough to be both reactive and also proactive. Using it as a two-way dialogue is much more effective as opposed to a one-way outbound channel, which is still a common view with many organisations.
Omni-channel strategy
Savvy companies that fully understand the impact of digital communication are embedding Twitter and other social channels into their customer service strategy to speak to customers in a way that suits them: through a unified 'omni-channel' strategy.
Omni-channel software is very flexible, giving organisations leeway in how they use it. Rules can be set up to determine how to respond to "conversations" in each of the channels, either to facilitate automated responses or to have representatives manually respond.
For example, if a competitor's customer tweeted about poor phone reception, the software can automatically respond to this (along with other similar tweets) with something along the lines of "Nothing is more annoying than a lack of signal. We guarantee signal coverage anywhere in the UK – are you free for a quick chat?"
If a follow up call were then needed, the system would direct this to the relevant representative. Omni-channel customer service centres operate a unified queue of requests via all media types, being able to blend inbound/outbound contacts and assign the right representative skills to the right conversation at any time based on business rules.
From the customer's perspective, omni-channel enables them to use any form of communication they like – Twitter, SMS, email, phone, instant messenger – to contact a company and resolve problems. In theory, they should be able to resolve the same query on whatever channel they choose to use, at whatever point in the conversation thread. This means that a customer could tweet their provider to solve a problem and then move onto a call without ever having left the conversation, or having to repeating any information.
Tweeting limitations
Many organisations may think that character restrictions on Twitter make it impossible to solve problems as this limits discussions, especially if the issue is complex and longwinded. This is especially true of the financial services industry, where data protection regulation is tight and privacy is a primary concern.
However, the idea of omni-channel is not about being able to solve the problem through the first means of contact, it's about responding to your customers straight away, acknowledging you are aware there is an issue, and suggesting the next appropriate step.
For example, if a customer tweets a company saying they have a problem with their order, the company can arrange a call back at a time that is convenient to the customer, avoiding any dreaded call queuing. As Lithium Technologies Research states that 38% of people feel more negatively towards a brand if companies don't respond on Twitter within an hour, omni-channel gives companies the tools to respond to customers quickly, eliminating negative feeling.
Harsh reality
Harris Poll's 2014 survey of 2,000 British adults shows the harsh reality of the impact of poor service: more than a third (69%) agreed that a bad experience has led them to go to competitors or insist to speak to a senior member of staff, and over a quarter (29%) were "fed up" with the time it took communication service providers to resolve an issue.
In order for companies to get ahead of the competition, customer experience needs to be second-to-none at all times. According to the report, poor customer service can cost a business up to a third of their revenue, which emphasises the importance of getting it right first time.
As omni-channel monitors and listens to every communication channel, representatives can respond quickly to any form of customer query. This creates several opportunities and benefits for a business as well as its customers.
For the company, it removes any manual processes from live customer service advisers that are frequent and high volume, saving operational cost. Instead of having several hundred, basic skilled advisors working in a customer service department, there is a smaller, more trained, and expert team, armed with the right technology to deal with lower volume complex queries that cannot be resolved with self-service.
For the customer it provides a positive experience. Having used little effort to contact a company, in a way that suits them, they receive a quick response about the next steps in the process if the issue can't be resolved there and then.
Adaptable nature
The beauty of omni-channel is that it can be adapted for almost any organisation. For instance, the very public channel of Twitter doesn't seem to fit well with a private issue such as personal finance, as previously mentioned. But this is where the customers are, and therefore where the company needs to be.
The retail sector has fully understood that its customers are on Twitter as it has been leading the way in omni-channel adoption. Retailers understand the importance of loyalty and the impetus to make customer service a higher business objective priority, and often increase the revenue from new customers as a result.
The retail sector has turned the customer service centre into a hub of new engagement technology and clever strategies to target the next generation of consumer. Smart retailers understand that placing customer service at the heart of their operations is the key to success.
Cloudy offerings
Regardless of industry sector, most companies can take advantage of omni-channel thanks to the development of cloud computing and virtualised offerings. Even SMEs, who are more likely to have a limited customer service budget, have an opportunity to get ahead of the game as the cloud offers a cheap, viable alternative to on-premise software.
For those companies concerned about having a fully cloud solution, finding an omni-channel provider with an on-premise and hybrid alternative will put any cloudy fears at ease. Ultimately, a business opting for a cloud model should feel fully confident that service up time will be 100%, so a provider offering service incentives, such as refunding 1% of fees per minute of downtime, guarantees an extremely reliable network.
In order to retain customers (and also attract new ones), communicating with them in a way they prefer – something that is faster and easier – enhances their journey and improves overall satisfaction. In return, companies experience cost savings and better skilled staff, while all the time promoting customer loyalty.
Those companies that take the time to understand the different communication channels – and implement these in their business strategy – will significantly reduce the effort needed from the customer, helping set them apart from their competitors, and propelling them to become market leaders.
- Jon Lingard is Customer Experience Consultant at Aspect Software.
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