Customer Service in a Social Media Environment

The huge popularity of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have created a consumer awakening where damaging remarks and complaints from retail customers have the potential to reach thousands, if not millions, of consumers at the speed of the internet.

Customer service is vital to retailers, and because a great deal of their business today is done online, negative reviews can sometimes have an immediate and devastating impact on their sales if they're not taken care of immediately. In fact, 82 percent of Americans say they've stopped doing business with a company because of poor customer service, according to a recent global survey from Genesys.

So how can today's businesses leverage social media to not only protect their online image, but also to positively impact the relationships they have with both current and potential customers?

First, companies need to adopt a customer engagement solution that can seamlessly capture discussions that are happening in the social media sphere.

A crucial aspect of good customer service is listening to what customers have to say. With social media, retailers can listen to their customers in real time to better understand their feelings about their brand. For example, if there's a problem and a customer voices their criticism on the company's Facebook or Twitter page, the retailer will immediately know about it and make the situation right before things get out of control.

In addition, companies can immediately position themselves via social media to recognize customers’ issues and then address these problems as quickly as possible.

With such a high volume of customer service inquiries each month, the retail industry needs to address how it can reduce this volume. There are a number of ways this can be achieved. Social media is a great way to disseminate vital pieces of information to a large number of people, quickly and often.

Social media sites allow for real-time, two-way dialogue. Customers can communicate with a retailer publicly, and companies can then respond promptly and courteously, either publicly or privately as appropriate.

Retailers need to tap into social media as a customer service channel. For example, some companies create their own social media identity to help customers via a specially created Facebook page or Twitter handle. Some retailers even build a team of experts dedicated exclusively to their company's social media accounts, with their sole focus on finding and resolving customer-related issues and concerns.

A large percentage of consumers today go online first to try to resolve their issue, so it's critical that consumers can find information quickly and easily. With social media, consumers can now talk and bond directly with each other about their feelings for particular brands and products.

As a result of its rapid adoption by consumers, social media has shifted power and influence away from companies and into the hands of customers. Today's customers expect quick answers, and social media needs to be a cornerstone of those solutions.

It's critical to be available where your customers want to reach you: your website, Facebook, Twitter, email, phone or chat. Retailers that support their customers across multiple channels drive higher engagement and respond faster to customer inquiries, all increasing satisfaction.

We've entered "the customer's era," an age where the attention is all on consumers. The awareness of today's customers has a powerful impact on the metrics of a retail company, ranging from customer loyalty and brand equities to cost savings and increased revenues. This is a reality most companies are awakening to today.

Having a social media-based, customer-centric approach is truly a retailer's best chance at having a competitive advantage. The quality of the customer's experience will convert straight into the retailer's ability to obtain and keep customers, improve sales, and ultimately inspire loyalty and continued support.

Mikkel Svane is the founder and CEO of Zendesk, a cloud-based customer service software solution.