According to Zendesk’s 2021 CX Trends Report, there was a ‘110% jump in consumers who prefer using social messaging to resolve customer service issues.’
Increasingly connected consumers expect today’s customer service to meet their demands – and that means there’s no time to waste.
Gone are the days of calling a support line or filling in a contact form. Instead, people are turning to social media to ask questions or voice their concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this trend. In fact, Zendesk found that there was a nearly 200% increase in support requests over WhatsApp in the EMEA region over the past year.
And customers aren’t going back.
Social messaging provides convenience, speed, and – when done right – top service with a human touch.
Meet Customers Where They Are
Consumers are using social media as a way to find and interact with new brands, as well as keep up with their favourite companies and products.
So it’s no surprise that social media has become an increasingly preferred channel for seamless customer service. It’s quick and convenient for your audience, but it’s also beneficial for customer service agents.
According to Zendesk, agents are twice as likely to prefer social messaging with a customer rather than using traditional communication methods since they can toggle between multiple conversations at once.
And quality social messaging – whether through WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or other popular platforms – pays off in terms of driving revenue. A recent poll by Sprout Social found that 78% of consumers are more willing to buy from a brand after a positive experience with them on social media.
Build Customer Loyalty Through Ongoing Conversation
Traditional customer service tickets are meant to be closed and filed away. But with social messaging, the conversation can be open-ended and ongoing. This gives agents a chance to build an individual rapport with certain customers, which could increase loyalty or even help identify brand ambassadors.
This type of asynchronous messaging adds value to your CX strategy and makes for a more personalised experience.
So whether a customer is reaching out with an order inquiry, billing issue, or quality concern, you can determine their specific needs at that moment and respond accordingly.
How to Incorporate Social Messaging into Your Strategy
Giving customers more options to get in touch can help your business stand out from the competition. But with so many different digital avenues available, it’s important to create an omnichannel strategy – which doesn’t rely on customer service agents alone.
It’s crucial that your marketing, social media, and CS teams are all on the same page. You’ll want to establish clear workflows, create brand guidelines for a consistent tone, and set boundaries for which types of inquiries are handled by which team.
Using the right tools can help ensure that employees are collaborating and integrating the company strategy cross-functionally.
At the end of the day, customers don’t necessarily care about speaking to the same person throughout; they just want to be understood and offered speedy solutions.
Another way to encourage social messaging is by redirecting public comments to a private channel. This allows you to handle the situation away from prying eyes while giving customers the chance to voice their concerns in a more comfortable setting. Once you’ve established direct contact, you can keep the line open for future communication – and service agents can seamlessly initiate conversation based on individual customer data.
Use Technology to Track CX Metrics
When done right, social messaging can be a powerful tool to individually connect with your customers, and provide a human touch along the way.
Utilising technology can provide helpful data in order to track customer satisfaction and concerns, as well as how teams are doing in terms of response rate, time, and other CX metrics.
At redk, we have more than 15 years of experience supporting companies and optimising team performance through world-class tools. If you’re looking to boost efficiency and profitability, our technical and consultancy CRM experts can help.
