How Social Media Is Replacing Traditional Customer Service

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Your first question may be, is social media really replacing traditional customer service? The word “Replacing” may be a little misleading. Social media is being used by some companies to plug the gaps in their current customer-service service. The more foolish companies are removing money from their traditional customer service in order to fund their social media customer service – this is foolish strategy since social media will never fully replace traditional customer service. It is not a prediction; it is just a common sense fact, just as how the Internet never fully replaced TV or how cell phones never fully replaced landline phones.

What is traditional customer service?

This involves phone lines, online customer service forms, email, visiting in person, mail, fax, online instant messages (IM) and online conferences. They are means through which the customer may go about communicating with a company without using social media.

What are the benefits of traditional customer service?

Contacting a company by phone gives you a very quick response to your queries. Phoning a company is a good way of demanding quicker answers and allows you to voice your concerns and questions with the company. Online customer service forms make communicating a question or problem very easy, and leave the responsibly of re-contacting the user something for the company to consider and deal with. Email is a very convenient form method of communicating because it can be done at any time of the day and again leaves the resolution of the problem in the hands of the company.

Visiting in person will get you your answers in a far swifter fashion since companies do not like to keep people on their premises for too long if they are not spending any money. Mail and fax are older method of communicating with a company but often elicit a positive response. IM is a very effective and non-intrusive way of finding solutions to a problem, and allow the user the inconvenience of speaking on a phone, video or in person. Online conferences are very close to meeting in person and will often elicit a faster response. The person on the other end of the conference tool will usually be more diligent in their answer to your queries as they feel that they are more directly responsible for you and your problem (they are more engaged with the user).

What are the flaws of traditional customer service?

Calling a company can only be done at a certain time of the day and requires staff. The consumer is often very angry if they are put on hold, and the company’s reputation will suffer as a result. Online customer service forms can be ignored, as can emails. Visiting in person is inconvenient and it only takes one rude receptionist to illicit an angry response from a customer. Mail is a very slow way to get a response and fax machines are almost extinct in the modern world. IM can be frustrating when the other user does not understand what you are putting into words. Conference calls are a very good way to create misunderstandings online.

How can social media plug the flaws in traditional customer service?

Surveys on social media are a good way of finding out how good your customer service is. Social media customer service combines IM with email and online customer service forms, except that other people are able to view the queries and answer to questions. It turns customer service into one big FAQ section. The historic conversations are going to answer the questions of many customers, which means they will not have to contact customer service themselves.

What are the benefits of installing a customer service function within social media?

Just like IM, social media is able to offer swift resolution to customer’s query whilst also being convenient at the same time. It is convenient for people who frequently use social media since they will have access to their answers at a faster rate, as they are likely to check their social media profiles on a regular basis. A social media customer service module may be manned by few people and yet still give productive results. It is also a function that is very easy and cheap to set up. The company will not have to invest in further phone lines or computer systems (and associated controls).

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2013-01-24 22:57:11

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