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Customers Use Social To Cut The Double Waiting Time

Last week, I met the customer service team of an insurance company. I showed them a road map to help them integrate social networks effectively. They need to embrace Social Customer Service because an increasing number of customers ask for information and support thru Facebook and Twitter.

As you can imagine, I had to answer many questions. But one topic, in particular, hit the spot: customers want to get rid of the double waiting time.

Read on to learn more in this article.

First Waiting Time [the most hated one]

It’s the one we always had to deal with for over 30 years, but we’re really fed up:

Waiting TO GET IN TOUCH with customer service. E.g., you try to call, but you’re kept on seemingly eternal hold before being able to speak with somebody. Long ago, this became unacceptable. Customers just can’t stand it anymore because social networks allow them to deliver their questions in real time!

Credit image: Unsplash.com

The following questions will help you focus on this topic from an organization’s standpoint:

Related reading: build your digital customer information hub

Second Waiting Time

This is crucial for customers, as well as very important for brands:

“how much time do I have to wait to get a response?”

Fact: customers tweeting or commenting on a brand’s Facebook page expect a faster response compared to when they send an email. That means getting it within very few hours. Otherwise, they lose patience and use other channels to replicate the same questions.

Unfortunately, many brands are still not ready to meet customer’s expectations, so that there’s a gap between expected and delivered response times.

Infographic: Sproutsocial.com

Cutting Down On Double Wait Time

Smart brands have already realized that they need to cut down the double waiting time. Consequently, they’ve re-organized their support structure integrating social channels and the most effective way to do it is adopting a strategic approach:

Related reading: why you can’t do without these 3 customer service pillars.

Over to You

As customers cut the double waiting time, focus on reducing response time across all your support channels. As for Social Customer Service, start building your structure when the volume of social interactions is still relatively low (less than 100 per day). The sooner you start, the better you’ll deliver.

Have great conversations.

 

Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_makkuro‘ / 123RF Stock Photo

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Paolo Fabrizio

Digital Customer Service Consultant, Trainer, Author, Speaker. Paolo has been helping companies to harness digital customer service as a business driver. Founder of CustomerServiceCulture, author of books and speaker at conferences in Italy and abroad. Lecturer at the Bicocca University of Milan