What ways have social technologies changed the customer service game?

Customer service is arguably one of the most intriguing elements of running a successful operation, given that:

• it can impact on, and be impacted by, every department in the organisation
• different customers may perceive the same level of customer service quite differently
• in today’s marketplace social technologies mean that everyone can see what you’re doing

I’ve outlined below ten traditional aspects of customer service, and how the emergence and adoption of social technologies has fundamentally changed the game in each (click on Read more below).

1. Reactive to proactive
One of the most significant transformations in customer service has been the shift in mindset from resolving customers’ problems reactively (i.e. acting when they ask) to taking a proactive stance. Listening to what customers are saying online, and targeting root causes, helps to eliminate their need to ask in the first place.

2. Many to many conversations
Traditionally the mechanic of a customer service interaction was a discreet communication between the individual and the organisation, a one-to-one communication so to speak. Today we see social technologies frequently extending these conversations to public, “social” places where customers can engage with fellow customers, as well as the organisation itself.

3. The knowledge base is public
Providing call centre agents with an internally constructed “knowledge base” has traditionally been a key approach to standardising the customer service experience. Increasingly, as customers share, find (e.g. via Google) and recommend information and experiences online, a public knowledge base of rich information (often more accurate than the internal version!) becomes the customer’s first port of call.

4. Managing customer demand
The concept of work-force management is fundamental in the contact centre industry, as a means of matching levels of demand with the skills and resources available to the organisation. Social technologies open up an additional groups of available experts with fantastic experience – their customers and enthusiasts.

5. From silo to shared data
Historically, call centres have operated in something of a silo, rather than integrating with other departments to provide a single view of the customer and support a more rounded customer experience proposition. By consolidating data gathered from across departments, and incorporating insight from social media spaces, the organisation is better positioned to understand the wants and needs of their customers, and target them appropriately.

6. Socially collaborative self-service
Many organisations have been effective in shifting customer service interactions from traditional channels such as in branch, or phone to online self-service, often supporting by online FAQ solutions. The appetite of customers in today’s market to search for recommendations, advocacy and support from fellow customers offers organisations a real opportunity to incorporate a social element to this, to deliver a socially collaborative self-service offer.

7. Measuring the right thing
Metrics to track customer experience performance have traditional been too focused on operational performance such as number of calls managed per hour. Today, the need to consider the end-to-end customer experience, and the impact on satisfaction and sentiment (e.g. when the organisation is mentioned online) sits far higher up the corporate agenda.

8. Learning from the customer
Closed focus groups (or static questionnaires) with a range of potential points of bias, have traditionally been used to help the customer service team improve their performance. The ability to run social innovation groups (i.e. using social technologies) and monitor online conversations in social spaces (e.g. blogs and forums), now enables the organisation to tap into richer, contextual insight to inform their customer service activity.

9. Socialising the salesforce
The hardy salesforce team have always been a core element of the organisation, driving new business through relationship building and proactively chasing down opportunities. In today’s marketplace however, the role of social technologies and the opportunity to incentivise customers to sell on behalf of the organisation means a rethink for how many saleforces will operate and focus their time.

10. Where to serve the customer
Carefully managing the “point of sale” has traditionally been a key concern for the sales team, to ensure the greatest possible reach and visibility to existing and prospective customers. However, the provision of online auctions and marketplaces is fundamentally changing how customers find and choose their purchases, and more importantly, their affinity to become repeat purchasers.

If you have any other examples of how social technologies have affected traditional customer service operations it would be great to hear them.

Image courtesy of gmahender.