Customer Service & Reviews

Week #13April 23, 2014

Utica CollegePRL 408: Social MediaThomas Armitage

In today’s lesson…

Importance of customer service Who's responsible Tips for a good experience Brands doing it right Your experiences Online reviews Why are reviews important? Where can someone leave a review? How can you get reviews? Tips

Importance of customer service

“Customer service is a fundamental activity for businesses participating in social media. Any time a business comes in contact with someone in social media, then there is an opportunity to raise interest, create desire and influence actions.” – Stuart Davidson

Importance of customer service

(Smith, 2013)

Who’s responsible?

(Fell, 2013)

Stats

62% of brands are replying to questions and comments on social

57% of customers think a brand’s customer service should be the same on weekends

72% of customers said that they expect a response from a brand within an hour

24 hours average Facebook response time 11 hours average Twitter response time

(Mendenhall, 2014)

Tips for a good experience

Tips for a good experience

Answer quickly Use the right tools (CRM?) Have a separate account?

30% of top brands now have dedicated customer service Twitter accounts

Aim for single-contact resolution Train your staff and have a plan in

place Be generous

(Belosic, 2014)

Brands doing it right

Best Buy Subway Target Walgreens J.C. Penney

(Stampler, 2012)

Brands doing it wrong

Supervalu Cablevision Publix A&P Shoprite

(Stampler, 2012)

Your experience

Throughout the semester, which brands responded and reacted to your tweets?

What are some brands you’ve seen who have done a good job at using social media as a customer service tool?

Online reviews

Trend

(XXX, 2013)

Consumer Reports

2008: $21.4 million profit 2009: $6.9 million profit 2010: $900,000 profit 2011: $3.5 million loss

(Romenesko, 2013)

Stats

(Gesenhues, 2013)

Why are reviews important?

Why are reviews important?

 90% of respondents said that positive online reviews influenced buying decisions

86% said buying decisions were influenced by negative online reviews

Word of mouth = trust Short term: Sales Long term: Reputation

Higher search rankings(Gesenhues, 2013)

Where can someone leave a review?

Retailer website/e-commerce website

Google+ (formerly Google Local, Places)

Yelp Facebook LinkedIn Angie’s List Yahoo Local Listings

(Eridon, 2012)

Example

Local search is the easiest way to access reviews of local co

Example

Role of SM within online reviews

Why does the social team often get sucked into managing this?

How can you obtain reviews?

How can you get reviews?

Create pages/profiles and/or built functionality into your ecommerce system

Good products/service ASK!

Traditional Email newsletter Social media

Tips when seeking reviews

Don’t offer incentives Don’t create fake reviews Make it easy for customers. Provide

links. Do it promptly since people are

most likely to give you feedback right away

Reminder emails

(Shotland, 2011)

Next week, we will discuss…

Managing a Personal Brand, Job Searching via Social Media

To do: Work on final paper Read chapter 8 in the text Read articles from #UticaCollegeSM and

comment Imgur presenter should be ready to present

References

Belosic, J. (2014, February 17). 5 ways to offer social customer service with Facebook. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-customer-service-facebook/

Davidson, S. (2014, February 7). Using social media for customer service. stuartjdavidson.com. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://stuartjdavidson.com/social-media-customer-service/

Eridon, C. (2012, October 23). 12 places businesses should be collecting online reviews. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33741/12-Places-Businesses-Should-Be-Collecting-Online-Reviews.aspx

Fell, J. (2013, February 22). 4 quick tips for using social media for customer service. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225912

Gesenhues, A. (2013, April 9). Survey: 90% of customers say buying decisions are influenced by online reviews. Marketing Land. http://marketingland.com/survey-customers-more-frustrated-by-how-long-it-takes-to-resolve-a-customer-service-issue-than-the-resolution-38756

Mendenhall, N. (2014, February 11). 10 reasons why you need to improve your social media customer service. Social Media Today. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://socialmediatoday.com/nate-mendenhall/2161881/10-reasons-why-you-need-improve-your-social-media-customer-service

Mouw, S. (2013, September 5). 4 steps to leveraging customer reviews online. Brand Driven Digital. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://www.branddrivendigital.com/customer-reviews/

Romenesko, J. (2013, October 30). ‘Change is hard:’ Consumer Reports restructures to survive in the digital era. jimromenesko.com. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://jimromenesko.com/2013/10/30/change-is-hard-consumer-reports-restructures-to-survive-in-the-digital-era/

Smith, B. (2013, May 9). Using social media as a customer service tool. Social Media Today. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://socialmediatoday.com/brianna5mith/1373121/using-social-media-customer-service-tool-infographic

Shotland, A. (2011, September 12). 5 tips to get more online customer reviews. SearchEngineLand. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://searchengineland.com/5-tips-to-get-more-online-customer-reviews-92311

Stampler, L. (2012, June 12). These are the bets (and worst) brands in social media for customer service. Business Insider. Retrieved on April 19, 2014 from http://www.businessinsider.com/these-companies-are-major-brands-that-are-the-best-and-worst-at-using-social-media-for-customer-service-2012-6