With the increasing presence and interaction of social networks within businesses, it is now more important than ever that companies have their finger on the pulse when it comes to what their customers think. After all, the worst thing that a company can get is a bad reputation.
Bad reputations are so easy to gain and so difficult to get rid of especially in a digital age as word of mouth spreads even quicker via the click of a mouse. The fastest way to gain and keep a bad reputation is by providing bad customer service. With the immediacy of email, internet and social networks, customer service is now at the forefront of every business.
Poor customer service can affect not only a business and its customers, but in extreme cases, an entire industry. The cold weather and snow that the UK has been experiencing recently, has already led to much speculation and worries from customers that E-tailers will be unable to keep to delivery estimates for merchandise.. News reports have been riddled with stories lamenting the poor performance of companies, and how customers have failed to receive information from customer service departments regarding their purchases.
This mass of angry consumers has encouraged companies to install and implement CRM systems that were previously untried and untested in real-world scenarios. However, businesses haven’t realised that consumers now have an easier avenue to query a business Social networks and the internet as a whole, have given customers a new means by which to question a business. As a result the increasing speed at which information can flow through these channels has inflated customer expectations and upped the stakes for providers.
However, it is fair to say that companies are now catching up with the technology and are ensuring that customer service is taken as seriously online as they are in person. Technology is transforming businesses from top to bottom in terms of how they communicate with their customers.
For instance, Salesforce.com has introduced force.com, which is a platform that enables companies to run cloud services. Alongside ServiceCloud, which configures business applications quickly, it ensures that- for instance- call centre workers are able to become self-service when it comes to interacting with clients. This easy to use process gives all kinds of businesses the freedom to interact with customers and carry out day-to-day activity seamlessly by using the web, mobile and desktop working. This integrated method ensures that now businesses have the freedom to work how they want, when they want and most importantly providing good customer service when the consumer wants.
Customer services, with an emphasis on social media should be a key element to any successful business. Just look at the recent research from Gartner which predicted that over 80% of growth in enterprise use of social networking tools will be driven by customer engagement projects, and in particular CRM software. Those businesses that use the technology as a platform for improving customer service and interaction will not only see the benefits with happier customers but also a greater return on investment.
