MODULE

SOCIAL
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
FOCUS: Customer Expectations, Social Customer Service,
Reputation Management, Challenges
OVERVIEW: CUSTOMER
BEHAVIOR

Digital and Customer Behavior 3

Social Media and Customer Expectations 12

DIGITAL AND
CUSTOMER
BEHAVIOR
SMARTPHONE
DEPENDENCY
Dependency on smartphones continues to grow
– over 38% of consumers never disconnect from
3.8 Bn
their smartphones which means they are likely to
connect with businesses for customer service
24/7. Therefore businesses must have a plan to
manage this expectation.

3.8 billion smartphone

users in 2021
SMARTPHONE
DEPENDENCY
Dependency on smartphones continues to grow 38%
– over 38% of consumers never disconnect from
their smartphones which means they are likely to
connect with businesses for customer service
24/7. Therefore businesses must have a plan to
manage this expectation.
38% of people never
disconnect from their
smartphones - even on holiday!
 UPDATED
STATS

SOCIAL
MEDIA AND • Twitter has over 150 million active daily users

MOBILE
• 80% access Twitter using their smartphone
• People send out 500 million tweets a day

What about the link between social media and

mobile device usage?

• Facebook has 2.6 billion active monthly users

• Over 98% of them use mobile devices to
access Facebook
 Consumers nowadays also find
platforms such as Twitter less
frustrating than sending an email and 5
times less frustrating than calling a
customer service center.

EASE OF USE
OF SOCIAL
MEDIA Millennials prefer interacting
asynchronously (rather than waiting for
a response). They find that ease of use
With the increased use of social media apps, more is a major advantage - as they can
customers prefer to engage with businesses multitask while interacting.
using social and mobile channels.

Ultimately people choose to contact a business,

how and when it suits them - especially for
assistance and complaints - rather than being
dictated by call center opening hours or writing a
letter as was the norm in the past. 94% of people between the ages of 18

94%
and 24 prefer mobile or online banking
services, rather than going to a bank
branch.
PRIVATE
MESSAGING
Initially, public forums on social media were
popular for complaining about issues.

Today, private messaging is quickly becoming

the favored service channel for users seeking
resolution to their issues.

Messaging is also an efficient way for

businesses to deal with multiple customer
queries at once vs. a phone call where agents
can only deal with one customer at a time.
PRIVATE
MESSAGING APPS

20% 55%

Messaging apps have 20% Over 55% of survey

more active monthly users respondents have used a
than social networks. private messaging app for
customer service
Source: Business Insider
Source: Conversocial
CUSTOMER
REVIEWS
It’s easier than ever to search for and find
customer reviews of a business. This makes
achieving good customer service and fast
resolution of issues more important than ever.
SOCIAL MEDIA
AND CUSTOMER
EXPECTATIONS
 Social media has given customers a voice which can
be heard publicly. Using social media to try to get
NEWLY resolution of issues started with consumers becoming

EMPOWERED aware that issues are often resolved quicker, as

companies respond sooner.

CUSTOMERS
Customers appreciate that they have control over
the communication channel, as opposed to the
company's own support, so it's important to engage
with them on their terms and using approved
language which resonates with them.

In many ways social media is less formal than

traditional communication channels and businesses
need to speak the language of their customers in
order to really engage with them.

Canadian telecommunications service provider Telus

is known for its fast, efficient customer service.
RESOLUTION
WITHIN THE
CHANNEL 15%

Customers expect that when they have an issue

or query, they can approach the company or
organization on the social media platform that
they are comfortable using. Not only do they
expect the company to have a presence on the
social media platform, but they expect resolution
on the platform in which they raised the issue. McKinsey found that customers who start and
end their service journey on a social media
platform have a satisfaction rate 15% points
higher than whose who have their query
NOTE: Use private communications like email or
deflected from a social media platform to
direct messaging when dealing with sensitive traditional channels.
information like names, phone numbers, order
numbers or bank account details.
CUSTOMERS AND
RESPONSE TIMES
Customer expectations for response times also mirror
their expectations of response time within their own
network. Most customers now expect a response
from businesses on social media within an hour.

Bear in mind a response doesn't have to be a

resolution but an acknowledgement that the query
has been received and the business is "looking into it"

71% of customers say that valuing their time is

the most important thing a company can do to
provide them with a good service.
Summary

CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR
▪ Consumer dependency on smartphones continues to grow – over 38% of consumers never disconnect from their
smartphones. Social media and mobile use are closely linked.
▪ Customers see the convenience of social media as an advantage (when contacting businesses) as they can multi-task
while waiting for a response. Ease of social media use to contact businesses is an advantage for customers.
▪ Private messaging channel use is growing with many customers and businesses using WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger
and other messaging services for customer service.
▪ It's easier than ever for customers to search for and find customer reviews about a business. Therefore, achieving good
customer service and fast resolution of issues is absolutely critical.
▪ Customers appreciate they have more control over the communication channel as opposed to a company’s own
support channel so it's important to engage with them on their terms and using approved language.
▪ Social media has given customers a voice which can be heard publicly and that using social media to try to get
resolution of customer issues started with consumers becoming aware that issues are often resolved quicker, as
companies respond sooner
▪ Customers expect issue resolution within the social channel where it originated where possible. Most consumers expect
a response on social media within an hour . Furthermore 71% of customers say that valuing their time is the most
important thing a company can do to provide them with a good service.
▪ More customers now prefer social messaging channels for care than email or phone
OVERVIEW: EFFECTIVE
SOCIAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE

Social Customer Service 18

Advantages of Social Customer Service 27

SOCIAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE

SOCIAL
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
AND TRAINING
Training for employees for responding to
customers on social media is critical. They need
to be empowered – while moving away from
scripted conversations, guidelines are still needed
for staff.
It's important that they can converse with people
as people in a friendly but helpful manner that is
appropriate to the business type and query.
I totally love your store and have loved your website till last night. I found a
beautiful gown on line and tried to purchase it. Got it into my shopping bag
but when i went to check out it suddenly said not available. I texted on line
with your customer service who were very nice but were not able to assist.
I was told the website gets updated every 4 hours. I looked for it again
early this morning but it was gone. I looked again at 10 am and it was
back-in my size, put it in my shopping bag, tried to check out and the
same thing happened again, why is this happening? I got so excited the
2nd time thinking that for sure i would be able to get it now but once again,
no such luck. HELP!
Like Comment Share
Nordstrom Hi Freda, thank you for bringing this to our attention
and we’re very sorry to know of the frustration caused! Would
you please send us a private Facebook message with the item
you’re interested in, including the color and size? We’d like to
take a look for you. - Matt
As demonstrated in the Nordstrom example - social
customer service agents need to adopt a natural and
friendly tone whilst always remaining professional.
A well-trained employee will feel comfortable,
confident, and empowered during customer
interactions.
 Early Intervention
If a brand doesn't intervene to resolve a
query, the chatter on social media can

BE WHERE snowball and become a much wider issue

with more people involved. Early intervention
YOUR is preferred to help social media issues

CUSTOMERS ARE
getting out of hand or going viral.

It's important to know where your customers

are online and to be where they are. Most
customers expect the products and services
that they use to have a presence on the social
media platforms where they hang out.
RESPONSE
The success of a response to a customer is determined by three factors: the
speed of the response, the quality of the solution or answer, and how the

SUCCESS response is provided.

FACTORS Customer service employees working with social media need to be aware of all
the available methods to solve customer problems via social media. Ask your
team to give feedback to try understand common customer pain points and
empower customer service reps to act on them e.g. can they offer refunds or
order products for customers etc.

Response Time↗

Quality↗

Delivery↗
Customer service working with
social media need to be aware of all
the available methods to solve
customer problems via social media.
EMPOWERING To ensure customer satisfaction, your support employees must

CUSTOMER have the ability and autonomy to provide the best service

SUPPORT possible.

EMPLOYEES
 Advocate
KEY TERMS Someone who talks favorably about a brand
Some of the key social customer service terms: or product, and passes on positive word-of-
mouth to other people.

Customer
Reach ↗ Lifetime Value ↗

Advocate ↗ Average Resolution

Time ↗

Customer Satisfaction Net Promoter

Score (CSAT) ↗ Score (NPS) ↗
BRAND
CONSISTENCY
It’s important to maintain brand consistency in
customer interactions. When you engage with a
customer on social, they expect the digital world
to reflect the real world look, feel and experience.

For example, a start-up tech firm’s support staff

will communicate in a completely different way
to a financial services firm.

Netflix has a great track record of customer

interaction and customer care, and it does them
with charisma, wit, and humor.
INFORM
CUSTOMERS
If you create a social channel for customer
support, include the handle in your brand's other
social profile bios.

Mention this on your website, contact page,

FAQs, sales/order documents and specify the
channels.
ADVANTAGES OF
SOCIAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE
A WELL-
CRAFTED
CUSTOMER
SERVICE 92%
Customers who experience positive social customer
care are likely to recommend your brand to others.

Peer recommendation is the strongest motivator when There is 92% customer

choosing whether to do business with an organization. retention among companies
with a well-crafted customer
There is a high retention rate for both staff and service approach.
customers for companies with a well-crafted customer
service approach.
CUSTOMER
EFFORT
ASSESSMENT
Customers who have to invest a lot of effort into
the customer support process can end up being
dissatisfied and may move away from working
with your business.

"Customer Effort Score" (or CES) is a measure

used to assess the amount of effort a customer
has to use in interactions with a company. CES
surveys ask the question, “on a scale of ‘very
easy’ to ‘very difficult’, how easy was it to interact
with a business?”
CUSTOMER
LIFETIME
VALUE 7X 40%

Customers who have a good experience over

social, spend more money with a business. Studies have shown Customers who have a
Good customer service can also increase that it costs six to good social customer
purchase frequency or shorten the sales cycle seven times more to service experience
for future business transactions. acquire a new spend 40% more
customer, than to
retain one.
CUSTOMER
SERVICE: A
COMPETITIVE
DIFFERENTIATOR 62%

Customer care is recognized as a key factor in

building customer loyalty. It is an important A report shows that 62%
differentiator for businesses – those who of companies perceive
spend time integrating Digital into their customer experience
customer service are rewarded with brand delivered by contact
loyalty and increased revenue. centers as a competitive
differentiator.
Summary

EFFECTIVE SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

▪ Training for employees is important when it comes to responding to customers on social media. It's important that they
can converse with people as people in a friendly but helpful manner that is appropriate to the business type and query.
That also means knowing what platforms they are using and not leaving the dialog to others online.
▪ If a brand doesn't intervene to resolve a query, the chatter on social media can snowball. The success of a response to a
customer is determined by 3 factors: the speed of the response, the quality of the solution/answer and how the
response is provided.
▪ It's important to communicate with customers in a brand specific way. For example, a start-up tech firm’s support staff
will communicate in a completely different way to a financial services firm.
▪ It is also important to alert customers that you support social customer service. Social customer service is more efficient
than phone support as reps can deal with more than one customer query at a time
▪ Customers who experience positive social customer care are likely to recommend your brand to others.
▪ There is a high staff and customer retention rate among companies with a well-crafted customer service approach as
customers feel they are being taken care of in a manner that fits their expectations
▪ Most customers who have to invest a lot of effort into the customer support process can end up being dissatisfied and
may move away from working with your business. Customers who have a good experience over social, spend more
money with a business. Good customer service can also increase purchase frequency or shorten the sales cycle for
future business transactions.
▪ Customer experience can be a competitive differentiator for many companies
OVERVIEW: DIGITAL
TOOLS FOR CUSTOMER
SUPPORT

Live Chat and Chatbots 34

Social Listening and Reputation Management 42

LIVE CHAT
AND CHATBOTS
DIRECT
MESSAGING
APPS
Messaging apps initially became popular because mobile users
found SMS messages expensive. Now, many businesses have WhatsApp WeChat Twitter Direct
implemented ‘live chat’ through messaging apps which are often
integrated directly into customer support systems. Here are
some popular messaging apps.

Click on each to learn more: Skype Instagram Direct

Facebook Messenger
BENEFITS OF
Specific advantages of live chat are shown
here. Click on each to reveal more:

LIVE CHAT

24/7Low Cost ↗
Accessibility ↗

Enables Multitasking ↗ Customers prefer live chat as it enables them to multitask.

Faster Interaction ↗
Easy to Analyze and Look for Patterns ↗
Provide Valuable Insights ↗
According to a recent report, 51% of customers prefer
live chat for multitasking purposes, with another 21%
preferring live chat so they can shop while they work.

Records of Interaction ↗
Higher Customer Satisfaction Rates ↗
CHATBOTS
Chatbots are automated messaging tools that can be
used to communicate with customers on social media.
Built as AI-powered computer programs, chatbots are
capable of conducting human-like conversation via text,
social media and audio platforms.

This reduces the need to use humans on simple or

common queries and frees employees up for more
valuable tasks

For a company that sells flight tickets, a chatbot

can send customers a range of information, such
as their purchase confirmation; reminders for
checking in; and alternative options when their
flight has been cancelled.
CUSTOMER
ENGAGEMENT 80%
AND CHATBOTS
Most customer engagements can be handled by chatbots.
According to Accenture, 80% of customer
As there is a need for quick resolution, businesses are
engagements can be handled by bots.
increasingly using chatbots to deal with high volumes.
 ADVANTAGES OF CHATBOTS
FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

They provide a
consistent experience
across platforms.
They provide quick
There is no wait time They do not
answers to customers. They are
for customers get tired.
available 24/7.
 DISADVANTAGES
OF CHATBOTS

Not all bots Bots can Bots can

are created + be too + alter
equal mechanical analytics

Poorly developed bots can
annoy users and waste their
time instead of assisting
them.
Bots don't understand Bots can also potentially
context like humans do (so alter analytics by artificially
they may, for example, like or inflating traffic (or followers).
retweet messages that do not
reflect your brand
positioning).
 CHATBOTS WITH HUMAN
CUSTOMER SERVICE

HealthJoy is a chat-based app that lets

employees manage their own healthcare
The main function of the bot is to explain
benefits by combining a team of doctors,
individual benefits and providers to users, to
insurance experts, and the chatbot Joy.
provide different healthcare options, and to
lower health insurance costs for companies
by directing users to higher quality care
that’s also less expensive.
The bot is supported by a team of
professionals who can also help users with
contacting doctors, booking appointments,
and more.
SOCIAL LISTENING
AND REPUTATION
MANAGEMENT
CUSTOMERS
TRUST PEER 99%
RECOMMENDATIONS
99% trust peer
recommendations.
Customers trust peer recommendations a lot more than ads.

In fact, people will be swayed by an online review from a person

they have never met much more than a banner ad or other ad
format from a reputable company.

33%

Only 33% trust ads.

JETBLUE:
CASE STUDY
When an unhappy customer chooses to publicly vent
their frustration, the impact can seem irreparably brand-
damaging. However, you can use the public customer
interactions to your advantage.

Let’s look at this example with JetBlue:

Reputation management involves
tracking, monitoring, and taking action
to protect your online reputation.
SOCIAL
LISTENING
We know that social listening involves
monitoring social media and web for topics,
keywords, competitors or industries of
relevance to your business.

It also includes situations when your company

may need to engage to protect your reputation,
as well as for business opportunities.

Delta Hotels: Room with an

ugly view
ALERTS
Google Alerts is a notification service that sends emails
to notify you whenever keywords and phrases like your
brand name, products, industry or competitors is
mentioned in online publications, newspapers and
resources.

In addition, social channels (such as Facebook and

Twitter) have search functions which allow you to find
content that references you or your brand within their
platforms which have not been tagged.
ALERTS
Google Alerts is a notification service that sends emails
to notify you whenever keywords and phrases like your
brand name, products, industry or competitors is
mentioned in online publications, newspapers and
resources.

In addition, social channels (such as Facebook and

Twitter) have search functions which allow you to find
content that references you or your brand within their
platforms which have not been tagged.
SOCIAL MEDIA
TOOLS
TO MONITOR
MENTIONS
There are specific tools which can be used to track
mentions of your brand or other priority words across
multiple networks, blogs, forums, news or review sites
TRIGGERING
SOCIAL
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
It is essential for businesses to keep an ear out for what's
being said about their products and services on social
media. This process of social listening, which allows
organizations to step in when required, is a key entry point
to the social customer service process. The need for social
customer service is triggered whenever your brand is
mentioned in a context which may negatively reflect on you.
Summary

DIGITAL TOOLS FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT

▪ The messaging apps on social media that allow customers to contact businesses via live chat: include: WhatsApp,
Facebook Messenger, Twitter Direct, WeChat, Skype and Instagram Direct.
▪ The benefits of connecting with customers on live chat are: lower costs, many customers prefer live chat, easier to
analyze call logs, faster problem resolution, instant access for web visitors
▪ Chatbots are automated messaging tools that can be used to communicate with customers on social media. A sizeable
number of customer engagements can be handled by bots. There are advantages and disadvantages to them.
▪ Customers trust peer recommendations a lot more than ads.
▪ Reputation management involves tracking, monitoring and taking action to protect how others see and perceive you
online, i.e. your online reputation.
▪ Alerts can be set up (for example Google Alerts) to monitor the web for specific key words and phrases like your brand
name, products, industry or competitors
▪ Search functions within social channels (such as Facebook and Twitter) allow you to find content that mentions you or
your brand which have not been tagged
▪ Specific tools (such as Mention) can be used to track mentions of your brand or other priority words across multiple
social networks, blogs, forums, news and review sites
▪ A key entry point into the social customer service process is triggered when an organization or its products/services are
mentioned in a context which may reflect negatively on the brand
OVERVIEW: IMPROVING
SOCIAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE

Social Customer Service Challenges 54

Monitoring Customer Service 61

SOCIAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE
CHALLENGES
SOCIAL MEDIA
CUSTOMER
SERVICE ISSUES:
EXAMPLE
Sometimes social customer service issues can go
viral or become a bigger deal than they should be.
Often that is due to a delayed (or no) response;
unprofessional tone of voice; or a lack of knowledge
from the customer service agent.

The consequences can be serious!

INFORMATION
OVERLOAD
One drawback drawback with social customer service is that
agents sometimes have to read through a lot of content to
identify the customer service issue and this can take time
which is a drain on company resources.

This can be improved by creating a checklist of things to look

out for with customer queries to help reps works through the
queries, e.g. does the customer mention money or billing, are
they concerned about service, quality of product or
operations etc.

With a checklist like this, you can help apply an efficient

process to understanding the query and responding to it in
an adequate way.
TRACKING
CONVERSATIONS

Multiple public and private messages from a single

customer can be hard to track (and get lost between
agents) so it's important to keep track of interactions and
share them with the relevant stakeholders like managers,
other departments or product specialists etc.
RESOURCING
The resourcing of social customer service can be more
difficult than with traditional customer service because in
the beginning special training and technological
implementation may also be required.

The long terms benefits however, are much greater than

with traditional.
INTEGRATED
TOOLS
Social media platforms have analytics to help you
understand how pages are performing with customers -
metrics like the reach, customer demographics, and
which posts are attracting attention.

A lack of integrated tools can slow down the process –

e.g. using traditional methods such as using spreadsheets
instead of the in-built analytics or automated reporting
tools which offer more speed and flexibility.
Facebook, for example, allows customers to rate
their experience and even informs the business of
its average response time to queries.
MONITORING
CUSTOMER SERVICE
SOCIAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE METRICS

24/7
Response
Accessibility
Time ↗↗

Brand sentiment is the general attitude

Faster Sentiment
Brand Interaction ↗
↗ towards your brand. Social media comments
are assigned a degree of sentiment: positive,
Less
Mentions
Costly↗↗ negative or neutral.

Records
Resolution
of Interaction
Rate ↗ ↗
 12 vs 1
IMPORTANCE
OF DATA
It takes 12 positive
Data helps you change and improve your customer experiences to make up for
one unresolved negative
service strategy. It can help you see where any problems
experience.
are, what to improve and what you’re doing well.

It can also help with goal tracking and setting service level
agreements (SLAs). Response and resolution times are
common SLAs to measure.

Consistency is also important with response times.

For example, going longer than 24 hours without
Three in five Americans
responding can backfire. (59%) would try a new brand
or company for a better
service experience.
CONTINUOUS
TRAINING
Social tools are rapidly evolving. So keeping up to
date with the latest social media tools and
technology is important in order to continually
engage customers and provide ongoing support.
It also allows you to spot opportunities to improve,
and keeps your team at the cutting edge.
 10

REVIEWING
CUSTOMER Indeed, loyal customers are
considered to be worth up to

INTERACTIONS 78%
10 times as much as their first
purchase.

A key part of improving your social customer service is Consumers have abandoned a
regularly reviewing your interaction with customers. transaction, or not made an 70%
intended purchase, because
of a poor service experience.

There is a 70% chance that

customers will do business
with you again if you resolve a
complaint in their favor.
REVIEWING
CUSTOMER
INTERACTIONS

A key part of improving your social customer service is

regularly reviewing your interaction with customers.
Summary

IMPROVING SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

▪ Improper response, lack of response, lack of knowledge on employees’ part, and other issues may cause social media
customer service issues to go viral or become a bigger deal than they should be.
▪ One drawback with social customer service is that agents sometimes have to read through a lot of content to identify the
customer service issue and this can take time which is a drain on company resources.
▪ Social customer service can also be confusing, as multiple public and private messages from a single customer can be hard
to track (and get lost between agents)
▪ Resourcing of social customer service can be more difficult than for traditional customer service because in the beginning
special training and technological implementation may also be required.
▪ A lack of integrated tools can also slow down the process – e.g. using traditional methods such as using spreadsheets
instead of native or automated reporting tools which offer more speed and flexibility.
▪ You can track response time, brand sentiment, number of mentions/complaints, and solved issues on customer service via
social media using readily available third party tools. This can help you see where any problems are, what to improve and what
you’re doing well.
▪ Consistency is important in monitoring (e.g. why going longer than 24 hours without responding may backfire)

▪ Continuous training is important (especially in social media tools and technology) for the long term improvement of social
customer service. It allows businesses to spot opportunities to improve as new tools/trends emerge and also keeps
employees at the cutting edge.
▪ Reviewing agent’s responses (and giving feedback) is also important in order to continually improve.