Customer Service in the Social Media Age
So how much of a difference has social media made on our everyday lives? Are we all now a nation that tweets regularly; reads online blogs instead of newspapers; downloads music from iTunes instead of buying CDs; and watches TV via on demand websites or clips from Youtube?
The chances are that we have all tried at least one of the new media mentioned above, so with a shifting change in consumer activities how do contact centre best respond to these changes. Do the traditional values of good Customer Service still apply in the new 2010 social media decade?
To find out more then why not join us at a seminar in London on Thursday 21st January that explores this very topic. Hosted by Channel 4 TV and sponsored by their call centre outsourcing partner Gem, RXP Managing Director Paul Weald will be speaking at the event, which is fitting as we have been involved with Channel 4 since 2005 when they first developed a multi-media contact strategy.
How should contact centres embrace social media?
There are two ways in which contact centres can use social media. The first is that they use these new channels for information distribution. As well as providing web site information via their corporate sites, many forward thinking organizations now have Facebook pages; twitter accounts and contribute to the online communities that their customer use via blogs. They recognise that customers are already using these services and it is a ready-made vehicle to quickly disseminate information.
The second approach is to be able to respond to customer when using the companies online site. There are several methods here that the contact centre can provide:
- Callback – where the system recognizes that a user is ‘stuck’ on a particular page and a pop-up window appears allowing the user to request a telephone call from an agent
- Webchat – which is similar to call back but where an online live chat session is instigated by the contact centre agent
- Collaboration Tools – are specialist functions like online whiteboarding where content is pushed to user by the contact centre agent
- Chat Moderators- which I where the contact centre agents has direct online involvement in a community – this is popular in the gaming industry where chat moderators act as hosts in an online bingo hall.
Do the values of good Customer Service apply?
A simple answer – Yes! RXP are finding that customers expect the same level of service from organizations however they chose to interact with the company – online as well as offline. So the role of contact centre needs to embrace these new social media and become the human interface for web. This is where contact centre agents can facilitates a two-way dialogue – voice or written – to help the user to achieve the outcome they want. It is worthwhile remembering that it is your front line contact centre staff that provide the ‘social’ elements of this new age networking - providing empathy and reassurance for your customers as they embrace these new channels.
Find out more
So to find out more about how apply social media in your contact centre then please contact us.
