Traditional methods of customer service are no longer equipped to deal with the expectations of today’s customer. An independent survey of 2,000 UK consumers that we commissioned earlier this year, revealed that more than 15 million UK adults rank being stuck on hold with a telephone operator their top annoyance of 2015. The same study also surveyed UK customer care managers, with one in three revealing they believe their biggest weakness is reliance on old customer service techniques, including traditional call centres.

Today’s consumers are savvy, not only do they demand an instant response; they expect that interaction to be exceptional if their loyalty is to be retained or developed. But what does this mean for businesses and how can these changing expectations be harnessed for marketing advantage?

To take their customer service to the next level, companies need to invest in a broader total community approach, that goes beyond the customer service department to tap into expertise from not only employees in other business units but also customers and stakeholders. This approach of growing and developing an online community, offers new opportunities for businesses to 1) improve their customer service, and 2) better market to existing and potential customers.

The impact of customer service on brand

Poor customer service can have a significant and long-term impact on brand health and sales. According to another recent survey, more than 50 per cent of consumers are unlikely to spend with a brand again following a negative experience – even more reason to adopt a more holistic approach to customer service.

On top of this, customers moving online have high-expectations that their queries will be responded to promptly, with 53 per cent of them expecting a brand to respond to a Tweet in less than an hour. In order for brands to capitalise on these customer interactions, not only do they need to respond quickly but the responses also need to be top quality.

Sky is a great example. A migration from their call centre to an online community increased their NPS for community support to 64 per cent.

The business argument for a total community model

Research by McKinsey shows that responding to customer service issues using social media costs less than one-sixth of a call centre interaction and results in greater customer satisfaction. Proof of this theory is giffgaff’s online community, which transformed its customers into powerful extensions of its sales and CRM teams, boosting the brand’s NPS to 73 per cent – one of the highest NPS scores in the world.

How did giffgaff do it? Community members provide all support for giffgaff (except for private account-related issues), with customers finding answers to their questions, on average, within 90 seconds. The community receives between 10,000-11,000 monthly questions, and produces solutions that are viewed at least 500,000 times per month.

Retention of visit time, loyalty and spend

It’s not just about saving money; brands have also found that customers who spend more time in online communities tend to spend more than regular customers. Over 80 per cent of Sony’s PlayStation Community members visit and make purchases from the online PlayStation Store. And Sephora’s Beauty Talk community members spend on average 10 times more than regular customers.

These customers view the online community as an important place to find reviews and recommendations by fellow customers before they purchase, and the support they find from peers makes purchasing more likely.

A compelling business argument

Many marketers may find the idea of linking social media and sales daunting. However, the move from a traditional call centre approach to a more holistic online community model has proven to reduce response times to customer service queries, is cheaper, and can increase brand loyalty and spend. The business argument is one even the most skeptical of C-suites will appreciate. Utilising a platform that can help your business build trusted relationships between customers and the brand, is key to retaining competitive advantage.

 

By Fabrice Etienne, EMEA Marketing Director at Lithium Technologies.

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