The world is seeing many rapid changes which are getting triggered by the fast advancements in technology. With this most of the customer’s expectations are also rising. They expect the best service from businesses irrespective of the limitations. In this scenario, interacting with customers on social media should be the top priority of any company to understand their requirements.
Social CRM helps in interacting with customers. Unlike in traditional CRM where companies only deal with data, here deal with real-time conversations and relationships. This CRM is more of a strategy for customer engagement.
Implementation Of Key Actions:
Responding To Feedback
Many customers post their feedback, comments, questions, criticisms on social media to get responses from the companies but a significant number of companies are reluctant to respond to the negative feedback. They fear a backlash from the customers with the blasting of more ugly comments and criticisms. This action should be avoided, as being non-responsive to the customer showcases the companies in a bad light. Customers feel that all the allegations posted by them are valid, as the representatives are unable to justify the accusations. This issue has to be highlighted and the representatives should take ownership to appease the angry customers.
Quick And Personal
Companies have to be quick and personal in responding to the comments. A quick response makes an impressive impact on the minds of customers. Messages also have to be personalized as the same reply like “sorry for the inconvenience” is not going to work in the present scenario. Customers feel they are a part of canned responses and the representative does not understand their exact problem.
Every message has to be personalized .This shows that the representatives are empathizing with the customer’s pain. More responses like “I can understand how you feel” or “That must have really upset you” helps in connecting with the emotion of the customers and thus winning their trust.
78% of the consumers say that seeing management respond to their reviews make them feel businesses care about them.
Priority To Negative Comments
The negative comments on social media, should be addressed immediately. There should be an approach to call the customers directly and resolve it at the earliest. Many companies have the policy to delete the negative comments. This infuriates the customers and many of them even start bad mouthing the company service to more number of people. The companies should go beyond the expectations of an angry customer and delight them with excellent service.
These customers may become their loyal customers, as they have been treated beyond their expectations. They become aware of the top services of the company and some of them may do word-of-mouth publicity. This action will gradually but surely improve the brand value of the company.
Customer Offering Ideas For Future Product & Service
To have a healthy conversation with customers, companies can even ask for new and better ideas for future products or services. This will create a win-win situation for both the parties. Companies can understand the needs of the customers in this case and try to implement the same in their next service. This leads to continuous engagement with the customers and instead of a passive audience, customers become an active participant in improvising the product features to an unmatched level.
It also gives an insight into the customer’s present requirements and future requirements. The marketing team can convey this insight to the product development team, which can be strategized and aligned with the product features as per the requirements of the customers.
Creating A Fan Page For The Specific Product
Businesses can create a fan page for that particular product of the company on social media. Here loyal customers and fans of that product can start liking the brand thus creating a venue for further networking, communication, and marketing. New people will sign up, further helping in the branding of that product to a broader range of prospective customers.
The indirect promotion to more extensive prospects opens up a bigger market for the company. The opportunities in this market can be unlocked for the growth of the company.
Messaging The Customer
According to industry experts, there is an enormous increase in private messaging and social media chat as most of the companies do not want to show their conversations with the customers, to the entire public. This private messaging helps the representatives to interact freely and professionally address customer’s issues.
It is a known fact that customers tend to reply fast when there is a direct and continuous communication with the companies. For this reason, private messaging through Facebook messenger or Twitter messages makes both the companies and customers comfortable to engage in conversation.
Be “There” Where Your Customers “Are”
It is essential to understand the specific social presence of each of the customers. Some customers respond on Facebook while others on Twitter, Instagram, etc. Embracing new channels and social media strategies will help in connecting with the right customers. Being flexible and ready to accept changes is the quality that customers need from companies.
Conclusion
These are the major engagement tactics which can hold the interest of the customers. The two-way communication on social media helps in customer satisfaction thus retaining the old customers and further adding new customers.
