SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

THE ESSENTIALS

SWAT.IO
CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 3

CHAPTER 2: ONLINE VS OFFLINE 5

CHAPTER 3: STATISTICS 9

CHAPTER 4: WHY SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE 12

CHAPTER 5: BENEFITS 14

CHAPTER 6: FACEBOOK & TWITTER 17

CHAPTER 7: FUTURE CHANNELS 21

CHAPTER 8: BEST PRACTICES 24

CHAPTER 9: SOURCES & LINKS 29

2
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Changes such as the explosion of digital, the

empowered customer, and the acceleration of
innovation are having a profound impact on
customer expectations. In a digital world, with
digital customers, it is important that companies
step out of the traditional and embrace new
forms of reaching out to their customers and of
providing best-in-class customer service. We see
the speed of innovation increasing in every sector
and this should constitute the main motivation
for companies to create a competitive advantage
by putting more emphasis on the experiences
that they deliver to their customers. Otherwise
put, companies that will focus upon adapting their customer experience initiatives to meet the changing
expectations of customers, will be likely to survive the disruption brought by innovation.

Customers nowadays tend to be more informed and in charge of the experience they receive. Their
expectations are high and companies need to understand their unique needs and personalise the
experience accordingly. Furthermore, providing immediate resolutions to their problems may not be enough
in the future, as more and more customers expect companies to proactively address not only their current
but also their future needs.

CUSTOMERS SERVICE: RISING TO THE C-LEVEL

In this fast-pacing world, companies can either find ways to adapt or die a slow but certain death. This is
where social media comes in. To be relevant and out there in the coming years, companies must focus on
leveraging social media to create unique customer experiences and provide effective and personalised
customer service in order to grow and retain their customers.

As customer experience becomes a strategic, C-level initiative, the purpose of the “chief customer
champion” will be to create an unrelenting focus on the customer throughout the enterprise. Social
media thus becomes a means to an end, allowing all company representatives to interact with customers
regardless of place and time.

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CHAPTER 2
ONLINE VS OFFLINE
CHAPTER 2: ONLINE VS OFFLINE

Social customer services are all about immediacy, transparency, personalisation, human 2 human (H2H)
interaction, while traditional customer services are more often than not associated with queues, automatic
responses, lack of transparency and being transferred from one representative to the next.

A SHORT CHRONOLOGICAL JOURNEY FROM

TRADITIONAL TO SOCIAL
Chronologically speaking, if customers had a complaint 200 years ago, they needed to go to the source in
order to solve it. Face-to-face conversations were the only way. Later on, the telephone changed everything
by allowing customers to dial a fixed number to communicate with the company of their choice regarding
certain products and services. In the early 90’s, the internet was made available to the world, meaning
that customers could use this new channel as means of interacting with companies. In 2015, with the
widespread internet adoption, companies need to be able to provide customer services through a variety of
channels in order to meet their customers’ needs and expectations. Social media is one of those channels
and is constantly gaining traction.

TRADITIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE STILL

LINGERS ON
Although for big companies traditional customer services are necessary since scale equals survival and call
centres are the epitome of scale, the latter fail to provide the desired customer experience. On the contrary,
long wait times, dropped calls, restating a single problem dozens of times represent real pain points for
customers looking to solve their problems.

According to a 2013 study by Accenture, almost 75% of respondents cited being “extremely frustrated”
when having to contact a company multiple times for the same reason. Other frustrations that arise from
tried-and-true customer service methods include being on hold for a long time and having to repeat the
same information to multiple employees.

Nearly 40% of respondents from a Dimensional Research study said they avoided companies for two or
more years after a negative customer experience.

6
CHAPTER 2: ONLINE VS OFFLINE

SOCIAL MEDIA IS GAINING TRACTION

Not long ago social media was a service channel of last resort, with consumers turning to it only after
failing to get satisfaction in traditional ways, but this is changing. More customers recognize social as an
immediate and easy platform for service. Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are becoming a
channel of preference for many.

Roughly one out of every five people worldwide log on to Facebook each month. Even smaller networks,
like Instagram and Snapchat, are growing at an impressive rate. Interestingly enough, consumers are no
longer using social media only as a way of interacting with one another, they’re using it to communicate with
brands. Otherwise put, customers are using social media channels to tell brands about their faulty products,
to ask questions about their return policy, to express opinions and give suggestions.

Bottom line, brands cannot promote themselves as responsive, caring, and customer-focused if they ignore
the needs and complaints their customers express via social media. The solution is for brands to place as
much importance on social customer services as they do on traditional customer care, such as phone and
email communications.

7
CHAPTER 2: ONLINE VS OFFLINE
SOCIAL VS. TRADITIONAL AT A GLANCE
SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
Transparency
Everybody can see and take part in discussions
on social media.
Feedback & problem-oriented
Customers can look for a solution to
their problem but also provide feedback
on existing products and services.
Companies can then use the latter to make
improvements.
Personalized responses
Fast replies and personalised interactions,
which help build trust and bring companies
closer to their customers.
It’s constant and doesn’t depend on actually
having a problem. Companies can interact
with their customers without any particular
reason. They can just show that they care
and value their customers’ feedback.
It’s about and for the
customers.
TRADITIONAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE
Opacity
There are no third parties involved.
Mainly problem-oriented
In the sense that customers call a fixed
number to complain about a certain issue
and are then redirected to a customer
representative specialised in that field.
Automatic responses
Any times customers are being transferred
from one representative to another. It may
take ages.
Companies only hear of their customers
when the latter are confronted with a
problem they can’t solve by themselves.
And even then, it’s not certain that
companies will immediately tackle the
situation.
It’s about the company.
8
CHAPTER 3
STATISTICS
CHAPTER 3: STATISTICS

THE 2015 CUSTOMER SERVICE ON TWITTER STUDY

CONDUCTED BY SIMPLY MEASURED
Source: Customer Service On Twitter March 2015

Expect a response from a brand

24h 86% within 24 hours.

Expect a response from a brand

1h 56%
within one hour.

Expect a response from a brand

0.5h 33%
within thirty minutes.

NIELSEN-MCKINSEY VENTURE NM INCITE

Source: Turn customer care into social care

When you’re responding to customers, it’s better to be fast than effective. 33% of
respondents say they’d recommend a brand that offered a quick but ineffective
33% response, nearly double the number (17%) who’d recommend a brand providing a
slow but effective solution. Even “no company response,” at 19%, scored higher than
slow/effective.

A single negative post on social media has, on average, as much impact on customer
1 5 decisions as five positive posts.

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CHAPTER 3: STATISTICS

2013 GLOBAL CONSUMER PULSE SURVEY ISSUED

BY ACCENTURE
Source: Accenture Global Consumer Pulse Research Study 2013 Key Findings

Word-of-mouth, including that shared via social media, continues to be the most
important and impactful source of company information across industries and is used
71%
by 71% of surveyed customers.

THE 2014 SOCIAL LIFECYCLE: CONSUMER INSIGHTS

TO IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS BY HUBSPOT
Source: The social lifecycle consumer insights to improve your business

95% 95% of Millennials expect brands to have a Facebook presence.

87% of Gen X’ers (30- to 44-year-olds) and even 70% of those ages 45 to 60
87%
think brands should, at the very least, have a Facebook page.

Reported they’d complimented a brand in the past 5 months, 35% complained

about a brand and 30% requested support. Many populations, including those
50%
over age 60, are using social media to connect with companies to express their
gratitude, get guidance or express their satisfaction.

11
CHAPTER 4
WHY SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
CHAPTER 4: WHY SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

In order to truly grasp the benefits of using social media for customer services, one must first understand
the factors that are currently making consumers extremely frustrated. In this sense, the 2013 Global
Consumer Pulse Survey issued by Accenture highlighted the following customer service experiences as
being irritating to consumers:

74% 69% 66%

Having to contact the Being on hold for a long Having to repeat the same
company multiple times time when contacting the information to multiple
for the same reason company employees or through
multiple channels

64% 74%

Dealing with employees or Dealing with employees

self-help sites/systems that who are unfriendly or
cannot answer my questions impolite

These may sound like minor inconveniences but they are actually very powerful factors that can impact
your business. And not in a good way! Actually, 66% of survey respondents said they switched service
providers due to poor customer service. To make things worse, a study conducted by Dimensional
Research has found that nearly 40% of consumers would avoid companies for two or more years after a
negative customer experience. Mind this: 95% of these dissatisfied customers will tell others about their
bad experience. And almost half will share these experiences via social. In other words, if a company fails
to provide effective customer services, not only will its customers leave, they’ll also tell other potential
customers to avoid doing business with that company.

13
CHAPTER 5
BENEFITS
CHAPTER 5: BENEFITS

LOWER COSTS
It costs less than $1 per interaction, whereas telephone care is typically at least USD 6 per call. Even e-mail
care costs USD 2.50 to USD 5 per interaction.

GATHER PRECIOUS CUSTOMER FEEDBACK FROM

EVERY INTERACTION
Nowadays, people are not just using social
media to communicate with each other but also
to communicate with their preferred brands. And
this is the best part! Customers are using social
media channels to tell brands about their products
and services. Consequently, companies can use
their customers’ feedback in order to improve
their products and services and stay ahead of
the competition. What they need to do is to learn
how to really listen and monitor conversations in
real-time or at least on a daily basis. Almost 30%
of social-media users prefer social care to phoning
customer service. Consumers with positive social-
care experiences are also three times more likely
to recommend the brand to others.

PROVIDE THE OMNI-CHANNEL EXPERIENCE THAT

YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE LOOKING FOR
Nowadays, people are using various channels (phone, social media, web, mobile, email) to interact with
brands. That is why it’s extremely important for companies to provide them with omni-channel customer
services, as opposed to investing their time and resources into covering a single communication channel.
Why? Simply because brands need to be where their customers are and make the most of every interaction,
be it via social media, phone, email, etc. It’s the only way for them to make their customers happy.

15
CHAPTER 5: BENEFITS

ENRICH THE LIVES OF YOUR CUSTOMERS THROUGH

DIALOGUE
If they chose to follow the right (human) approach to customer services, the first thing that companies need
to do is to understand that social media is not TV or other forms of mass marketing. Far from that! It is a
space that thrives on word-of-mouth, but the mouth people care most about is their own, or those of their
closest friends. That is why companies need to embrace change in order to truly succeed. And success
stems from meaningful conversations and the ability to address the precise needs and preferences of their
customer base.

OUTPERFORM THE COMPETITION ACROSS A WIDE

RANGE OF KPIS
According to a study issued by the Aberdeen Group, social customer care users enjoy higher year-over-year
performance advancements than those who don’t use social media for customer services.

SOCIAL CUSTOMER CARE USERS OUTPERFORM NON-USERS

-15% -10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

Number of quality SLA´s

Year-over-year percent change

Average revenue per contact

Agent productivity

Cross-sell and up-sell revenue

First contact resolution rates

Improvement in number of
customer complaints

Agent utilizaiton rate

n=235

Social Customer Care Users

Non Users

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CHAPTER 6
FACEBOOK & TWITTER
CHAPTER 6: FACEBOOK & TWITTER

Providing immediate replies to your audience, owning up to your mistakes and keeping your customers in
the loop go a long way to building trust.

SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE ON FACEBOOK

ACCORDING TO STATISTICS:

43% of customers consider a direct response to their question on a social media site as
most important, and 31% consider the social platform to provide direct access to company
representatives.

71% of customers who experience a quick and effective response are expected to
recommend the brand to their peers, compared to those who didn’t receive any response.

Only 36% of customers who made customer services inquiries on Facebook reported having
their complaint solved effectively and quickly.

KEY TIPS

BE TRANSPARENT. Always remember that transparent and honest brands are just better

brands. If you’re not able to commit to something, or there is a problem with your product/service,

share as much information as possible with your customers and keep them updated even after the

problem is fully resolved.

BE QUICK. Your customers expect a quick response on Facebook. Remember that if they
reached out to you on social media, they most certainly wouldn’t like to be kept waiting for hours.

Social media should be different from endless phone calls without any result. That is why, every

business should have at least one staff member dedicated to addressing customer service requests.

Demonstrate your willingness to address complaints; most customers will appreciate you for being

proactive despite their frustrations. Avoid deleting any negative posts as this will only infuriate

customers more and make things a lot worse.

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CHAPTER 6: FACEBOOK & TWITTER

RESPOND AROUND THE CLOCK to both negative as well as positive feedback.

Customers won’t stop voicing complaints because you want to take your 5 p.m. beauty sleep.

Many of the complaints that companies receive are not made within office hours and if your social

media manager is not at his/ her desk when an angry customer voices his dissatisfaction, you

may be in for an online firestorm with dire consequences. That’s why companies need a software-

solution that automates responses and enables them to keep track of complaints without having

to switch back and forth between countless Facebook tabs.

SOCIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE ON TWITTER

Customer service has long been one of Twitter’s killer features. Consumers use the social channel to ask
questions about products or, more likely, complain about poor service from a rental car company, airline,
restaurant, etc. For businesses, it’s an opportunity to learn about problems that haven’t reached call centers
and, if handled well, can turn dissatisfied customers into advocates.

Customer service interactions are accelerating on Twitter; the company reports a 250% increase in such
conversations in the last two years.
Source: Make your Brand as Human as Possible

Brands that got personal in customer service interactions did far better than those that kept it
businesslike.

When the interaction wasn’t personal, 66% said they were unlikely to recommend the brand.
Customers were also 19% more likely to reach a resolution and 22% more likely to be
satisfied after personalized conversations.

When brands created personal interactions — defined as conversations that included

the customer’s name and the customer service rep’s signature in tweets — 77% of those
customers were likely to recommend the brand.

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CHAPTER 6: FACEBOOK & TWITTER

KEY TIPS

BE NICE. Of the consumers who reported friendly customer service interactions, 76% said they
were likely to recommend the brand; of those with an unfriendly interaction, 82% were unlikely to

make a recommendation.

BE FAST. Customers want answers fast, with 60% in the survey saying they expect a response in
less than an hour. Twitter reports that brand response times are slightly slower than that on average -

1 hour 24 minutes.

Go all the way to solve the problem. The research found that there were an average
of five interactions between brand and consumer per customer service inquiry. This means that a

single tweet is rarely enough to find a solution to an issue. Furthermore, the survey found that 30% of

consumer issues remained unresolved.

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CHAPTER 7
FUTURE CHANNELS
CHAPTER 7: FUTURE CHANNELS

WHATSAPP
The mobile messaging app bought by Facebook for $19bn – could become the primary customer service
channel of the future. Here is why:

IT’S WHAT THE STATISTICS SAY. As compared to Twitter which reported having
241 million active users, WhatsApp has 450 million. Of those, only 46% of users on Twitter
return daily – on WhatsApp, it’s 70%. Twitter has 135,000 new users signing up each day,
while WhatsApp has 1 million.

IT’S MORE PERSONAL. People usually use WhatsApp from their mobile device, and
they’re more likely to have them enabled because it’s more personal. As a consequence,
when companies reply to customer queries using WhatsApp, customers are more likely to see
it, rather than it getting lost in the spam folder of an email inbox.

BETTER SUITED FOR A WIDER RANGE OF CUSTOMER SERVICES.

When people tweet brands for help, the conversation is public or assumed to be public –
which is not always great for the consumer who could have a more personal problem in mind.
On WhatsApp, consumers and shoppers can ask sensitive or private questions, and receive a
quick, personal response, without their comments being indexed on the internet for eternity.

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CHAPTER 7: FUTURE CHANNELS

FACEBOOK MESSENGER
Early 2015, Facebook turned its Messenger chat app into a platform that can integrate third-party apps,
allowing consumers to send multimedia messages, such as GIFs, stickers, and videos. The platform
reaches 600 million users a month, representing a real opportunity for businesses to better engage with
their customers.

Businesses are able to privately message users who leave wall posts or comments for them. Users in turn
will be able to message businesses straight from Facebook News Feed ads, and then companies can reply
with pre-saved support messages to save time.

Facebook has also created a new standard for customer support response time. Businesses that reply to
90 percent of messages within five minutes are awarded a “Very Responsive To Messages” badge on their
Page.

Employees using instant messaging can simultaneously handle multiple customer queries at the same time,
thus keeping company’s customer support costs to a minimum.

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CHAPTER 8
BEST PRACTICES
CHAPTER 8: BEST PRACTICES

KING OF SHAVES – “VERY RESPONSIVE TO

MESSAGES”
This is the first thing that you see in their
Facebook page, right below their picture
and, after taking a closer look at their feed,
you actually understand that they are actively
practicing what they preach and actually listen
to what their customers have to say. Their
customer service representatives are fast and
caring. Apart from that, they are also doing a
great job at keeping spirits high and promoting
their products via funny posts.

STARBUCKS & MATCH.COM – THE “WORLD’S

LARGEST #STARBUCKSDATE”
Starbucks teamed
up with Match.com
to host the world’s
largest coffee date in
honour of Valentine’s
Day. They were set to
throw what was aimed
to be the ‘World’s
Largest Starbucks
Date’ on February 13 at
participating Starbucks
locations. There was
romantic music, menu
specials and photo props! Starbucks and Match.com also added a ‘Meet at Starbucks’ feature to the
popular dating site, which allowed members to easily schedule coffee dates. The social media strategy for
this campaign was based mainly on Twitter where both Starbucks and Match.com had been very active.
They posted on a daily basis and received positive feedback from their customers, plus many retweets and
favourites.

25
CHAPTER 8: BEST PRACTICES

MCDONALD’S
Mayor McCheese is the mayor of McDonaldland,
the magical world seen in McDonald’s commercials.
He has an enormous cheeseburger for a head.
Mayor McCheese is the most corrupt politician in
McDonaldland. Apparently, some customers are tired of
seeing him mayor and ask McDonald’s to conduct an
investigation into how the elections are organised.

HIPPOPOTAMUS RESTAURANT – THEY SEIZE EVERY

OPPORTUNITY!
Looking at their Facebook page, you easily
understand that these people seize every
opportunity of connecting their promotional
messages and campaigns with exterior events be
they the last days of spring, the beginning of sales
periods, the hot weather, Father’s Day, the end of
university and the list can go on. The great part
is that they are very good at this and they build
every campaign around their mascot, the hippo,
which their customers love. Similarly, they’re also
doing a good job at providing replies to customer
queries. Although they still need to work on the
timing (it sometimes takes them a whole day to
respond), none of their customers feel ignored.
For Twitter, they have the same strategy. Although
they post on a regular basis, their customers’
preferred channel is clearly Facebook.

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CHAPTER 8: BEST PRACTICES

THE BEST EXPERT ADVICE

“We are in a new era that is more “For me, good social customer
relationship driven than marketing service is about empowering
or message driven like the 40 years customers, not making them a slave
prior.” to your channel.”
Frank Eliason is currently Director Global Social Media at Citi. Richard Baker is currently Senior Internal Communications and

Engagement Manager at Carlsberg.

“Treat people as humans. Be nice. “Retro-fitting traditional service

Use the right tone of voice. Always
try and fix things. And remember –
EVERYONE IS WATCHING!”
Richard Baker is currently Senior Internal Communications and
Engagement Manager at Carlsberg.
models to a new channel is do-able
but building the service model from
the ground up around the customer
and their preferred channel mix, that
is where the real opportunity lies.”
Graeme Stoker is a Freelance Digital Consultant, currently

Interim Project Director at Northumbria University.

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CHAPTER 8: BEST PRACTICES
“We have reached a point where
social media is not just a necessary
component of a credible customer
service strategy but one which
offers powerful insights that drive
better innovation, co-creation and
collaboration. To make this a reality,
social media needs to be a central
part of a coherent, sustained and
long-term focus on customer service
strategy, something that many
organisations are yet to do.”
Jo Causon, CEO of The Institute of Customer Service.
“If you can find the right function
and channel combination, it is
definitely worth exploring as long as
automation is a critical part of it.”
Esteban Kolsky is Principal & Founder ThinkJar LLC.
“Now for me there are two very
distinct groups in Social Customer
Care; one is doing customer care on
Social Media sites, such as Twitter
and Facebook, and the other is doing
Social Customer Care within a forum
community setting. And when done
well, one is highly scalable and the
other unfortunately is not.”
Vincent Boon is Co-Founder & Chief Community Officer at
Standing on Giants.
“Your social customer care strategy
should be aligned to your company
strategy, and aligned to your overall
customer service strategy.”
Kate Leggett is VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research.
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CHAPTER 9
SOURCES & LINKS
CHAPTER 9: SOURCES & LINKS

SOURCES

Facebook Launches a New Feature - Page Responsiveness

http://www.solomosalsa.com/blog/facebook-launches-a-new-feature-page-responsiveness/

17 Social Customer Service Reports You Can’t Live Without

http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/17-social-customer-service-reports-you-cant-live-without/

How 20 top UK retailers handle social customer service

https://econsultancy.com/blog/65478-how-20-top-uk-retailers-handle-social-customer-service/

Brands Disappointed Fans in Q4 with Poor Social Customer Care

http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/2352-brands-disappointed-fans-in-q4-with-poor-social-customer-care

Customer 2020 - The Future of B2B Customer Experience

http://www.walkerinfo.com/customers2020/

The Complete Guide to Using Social Media for Customer Service

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/courtney-seiter/the-complete-guide-to-usi_b_5556188.html

6 Social Customer Interaction Management Tips. Use Them Wisely!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6-social-customer-interaction-management-tips-use-them-kamleitner

10 Social Customer Service Tips

http://blog.swat.io/2015/03/17/10-social-customer-service-tips/

How Social Media Can Turn Your Customers into Brand Evangelists
http://blog.swat.io/2015/01/27/social-media-can-turn-customers-into-brand-evangelists/

The 7 Bs to perfecting your Social Media Community Management

http://blog.swat.io/2015/01/13/the-7-bs-to-perfecting-your-social-media-community-management/

New Social Media Research Shows What People Expect From Brands
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-research-shows-what-people-expect-from-brands/

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CHAPTER 9: SOURCES & LINKS

87% of User Posts on Facebook Pages Ignored

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-business/adhutchinson/2015-06-17/87-user-posts-facebook-
pages-ignored-report

Social Customer Care: Steps to Success in 2014

http://www.avanade.com/~/media/documents/social-customer-care-steps-to-success-in-2014.pdf

Accenture 2013 - Global Consumer Pulse Survey Global & U.S. Key Findings
https://www.accenture.com/t20150523T052453__w__/gr-en/_acnmedia/Accenture/Conversion-Assets/
DotCom/Documents/Global/PDF/Strategy_3/Accenture-Global-Consumer-Pulse-Research-Study-2013-
Key-Findings.pdf

Accenture - The changing consumer dynamic

http://click-accenture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/accenture-changing-consumer-dynamic.pdf

Infographic: Your wealthiest customers want service on social media

http://www.mckinseyonmarketingandsales.com/infographic-your-wealthiest-customers-want-service-on-
social-media

Customer complaints see 8-fold rise on social media

https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/1711-17692/Customer-complaints-see-8-fold-rise-on-social-
media.html

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