SOCIALCUSTOMERTHE

UNDENIABLE

AUTHORITY

OF

THETHEDAWNOFTHEDIGITALAGE,along

with

the

explosive

growthof

social

media,

has

forced

theevolution

of

customer

service.With

it

came

the

rise

of

a

newcustomer—one

who

has

beenknown

to

topple

even

the

mostrespected

of

brands.THIS

NEWFOUND

AUTHORITY

IS

KNOWN

ASTHESOCIALCUSTOMER.WHOISTHESOCIALCUSTOMER?THESOCIALCUSTOMERTOUCHESNEARLYEVERYCORNEROFTHEGLOBE.20%ATLEAST20%OFTHEWORLD’SPOPULATIONUSESSOCIALMEDIA.THAT’SMORETHANHALFOFTHE2.4BILLIONINTERNETUSERSACROSSTHEWORLD.TODAY’SSOCIALCUSTOMERIS:…WHICH

HAS

CHANGED

EVERYTHINGBUSINESS

OWNERS

THOUGHT

THEY

KNEWABOUT

CUSTOMER

RELATIONSHIPS.LISTENINGTOPEERSRESEARCHINGHEAVILYONLINEPOSTINGCOMPLAINTSONSOCIALMEDIAEXPECTATIONSAREHIGH.In

today's

age

of

constantconnectivity

and

instantsolutions,

the

Social

Customerdemands

immediate

assistanceat

any

hour

of

the

day.FACEBOOK

46%

46%

of

customers

want

to

engage

with

brands

via

Facebook

to

solve

problems.39%

of

them

are

looking

to

give

feedback

about

products

or

services.

29%29%

of

customersexpect

responses

within

2

hours.

22%22%

of

customers

expect

same-day

responses.TWITTER81%

of

Twitter

usersexpect

same-daycustomer

serviceresponses.22%

of

Twitter

usersexpect

responseswithin

2

hours.30%

of

Twitter

usersexpect

responseswithin

30

minutes.

81%22%30%80%MORE

THAN1

MILLION

PEOPLEview

tweets

aboutcustomer

serviceevery

week.ROUGHLYof

customer

servicetweets

are

negativeor

critical

in

nature.SOCIAL

MEDIA

HAS

PROVIDEDANINTIMATECONNECTIONAMONGALLCONSUMERS.

88%88%

OF

CUSTOMERS

arein

uenced

by

reading

reviews.SOCIAL

CUSTOMERS

NO

LONGERLISTEN

TO

COMPANY

MESSAGES;THEY’RE

LISTENING

TO

PEERSINSTEAD.

THE

POWER

HASSHIFTED

FROM

BRANDS

TOTHEIR

CUSTOMERS.

On

average,

1

SOCIAL

CUSTOMER

will

tell

42

OTHER

PEOPLE

about

a

company.HOWDOESTHISSHIFTINAUTHORITYAFFECTCUSTOMERSUPPORTFORBUSINESSES?UNFORTUNATELY,MANYORGANIZATIONSSTILLDONOTBELIEVEINTHEAUTHORITYOFTHESOCIALCUSTOMER.60%of

companiesdon't

respond

tocustomers

viasocial

media,

evenwhen

asked

directquestions.7

OF

THE

TOP

20retailers

have

evenerased

customerquestions

on

theirFacebook

pages.88%

of

consumers

are

lesslikely

to

buy

from

companiesthat

ignore

complaints

andquestions

on

social

media.ONLY

17%

of

consumerswho

had

negative

serviceexperiences

recommend

thosecompanies

in

the

future.88%17%BUTTHEY’REPAYINGFORITMONEY

SHREDDERTHEMOSTSOCIALLYPROACTIVECOMPANIESSEESOLIDRESULTS:

Customers

who

engage

with

companies

over

social

media

spend

20%

to

40%

more

money

with

those

companies

than

other

customers.81%

of

companies

with

strong

capabilitiesfor

delivering

excellent

customer

serviceare

out-performing

their

competitors.81%HOWSHOULDYOUPREPAREYOURSELFFORTHECOMINGAGEOFTHESOCIALCUSTOMER?ALWAYSRESPOND.NO

MATTER

HOW

EMBARRASSED

OR

FRUSTRATED

YOU

MAY

FEELWHEN

A

CUSTOMER

COMPLAINS

ON

SOCIAL

MEDIA,

YOU

SHOULD83%of

customers

whotweet

complaintslove

it

whencompanies

respond.WHENRESPONDINGTOTHESOCIALCUSTOMER,DON’TFORGETTO:STRIVEFORFASTRESPONSETIMES.BEHUMANAND,ATTIMES,APPLYHUMOR.DON’TBEDEFENSIVE.ALWAYSTHANKTHECUSTOMER.SUGGESTASOLUTIONTOTHEPROBLEM.12345TOIMPROVEYOURCOMPANY’SOVERALLPLANFORSOCIALCUSTOMERSERVICE,CONSIDERTHESETIPS:LISTENTOYOURCUSTOMERSANDBUILDRELATIONSHIPSWITHTHEM.HAVEADETAILEDCRISIS-MANAGEMENTPLAN.DESIGNATEATLEASTONEMEMBEROFYOURCOMPANYTOBEAVAILABLE24/7ONSOCIALMEDIA.COMMITRANDOMACTSOFWOWFORYOURCUSTOMERS.STRIVETOALWAYSPROVIDELINKSTOHELPFULINFORMATIONATTHEENDOFEACHRESPONSE.EVEN

IF

THE

CHANNELS

(FACEBOOK,

TWITTER,

ETC.)

EVOLVE,THESOCIALCUSTOMERISHERETOSTAY.IN

THE

NOT-SO-DISTANT

FUTURE,CONSUMERS

WILL

EXPECT

EVENFASTER

RESPONSES

FROMCOMPANIES

LIKE

YOURS.DON’TLETYOURCUSTOMERSERVICEEFFORTSFALLBEHIND!DESK.COM

IS

THE

ONLY

CUSTOMER

SERVICE

PRODUCT

BUILT

FROM

THE

GROUND

UP

TO

SERVE

THENEW

SOCIAL

CUSTOMER.