The Customer is Always Right…?

With social media you can answer customer’s questions 24/7 on multiple platforms. This ability to connect, reach out, and help one another is extremely beneficial for successful businesses. Customers feel their voice is heard and they are being taken seriously. Who doesn’t like that? Social media customer service creates jobs, give a voice to your customers, and adds quality to your business. Just think about this, you’re a business owner and your customers have questions. Would you rather your business give a professional credible answer or leave it up to yelp or God forbid, fellow redditors? I think that’s even easier of a question than “Is the customer always right?”. Let’s be for real, rarely is the customer right, usually the person actually working for the business knows more. Which brings us into the downside of customer service: the social media edition. Hmm, what could go wrong? Well, I don’t have all week, so I’ll shorten the list. One negative interaction or wrong answer could cost you customer loyalty. On the other hand maybe, the customer was never loyal and they are trying to scam you for a refund or free product. This overcasts a shadow to the benefits. Another thing to think about is the representative, is that employee really helping or just trying to push through calls? This is a tough one because if done wrong it defeats the whole purpose of social media customer service. In this situation the roles are reversed, you have an employee who doesn’t care but the customer is legitimate. Endless opportunity may mean endless issues unless you can figure out how to be actually helpful.

Some examples of businesses that succeed will reply in a timely manner, reply public, when possible, be specific, and always be kind no matter what. Some examples of what not to do are, neglect grammar & spelling, becoming defensive, spam reply, & not doing what you really can to help. Personally, I don’t use social media help lines or any online chat boxes because 9/10 times it’s a waste of my time. I really don’t like automated responses unless it really is a simple question. However, I shopped at David’s Bridal for a maid of honor dress and they have a 2 week guarantee. If you don’t receive your dress in two weeks you get shipping returned right to your wallet. Well, I was on week 4 and decided to Google search “David’s Bridal two week guarantee” and I couldn’t find an answer to the simplest questions. Don’t worry, I got my refund, but really, there was n o t h i n g, nada. I searched over multiple days to read up on it and really couldn’t find anything to answer my questions and the chat was just as unhelpful as my searches. I believe it was an automated chat (at least when I used it last). I got the impression they don’t care for their customers that cared for them. It really felt as if profit was all they cared about. I was really stoked to be buying from there. My first experience with them just wasn’t impressive due to their online customer service and lack of information on what to do if the dress never came.

 Social media customer service is a forever project. If you come out with new products and ideas, you always have to be updating your automated chats and employees with the correct information. Your customer service should be high on the priority list. Ensuring that your customers are getting the right answer the first time. This will increase your customer loyalty and will result in positive word-of-mouth interactions.

Sources : https://edifyapp.stukent.com/EFY-ESMM/CC-9DD8C4 & https://blog.happyfox.com/social-media-customer-support/