What is customer service in 2024: Definition, types, benefits, stats
More than pricing, and even the product itself, customer service is a huge driver of customer loyalty. Discover all you need to know about customer service in this deep dive.
One of the key trends that has been bubbling away for the last few years is social CRM.
While it was first a rather vague, elusive concept that no one really had much of a handle on, it has since evolved into something far bigger and more valuable.
The epiphany that brands have had is that social CRM isn’t just about small talk on Yammer or posting promotional content on Twitter, it’s about treating all your social channels as part of your entire engagement strategy, and, ultimately, humanizing your processes and interactions, whether that be sales, marketing, or customer service.
Social CRM: The future of engagement
According to Econsultancy’s latest figures, 31 percent of marketers see an increase in customer engagement from the use of social media. But this isn’t by using it as a broadcast medium—it’s also capitalizing on its value as a rich data source from which unique insights into the customers’ mindset, wants, likes and dislikes can be gleaned. Social CRM provides a window into the soul of the customer.
It’s about conversation and engagement, and sales are a serendipitous by-product.
Social media is becoming an increasingly common segue into sales – just think about YouTube’s announcement consumers will soon be able to buy products directly via video ads.
A quick glance at the stats should quell any unconvinced parties that dipping their toes into social sales should be be a priority. After all, sales via social commerce are expected to reach over $39 billion in the next five years.
Beyond marketing and sales, social media is also changing the customer-engagement landscape by heavily influencing the evolution of customer service. Social media is an increasingly popular channel for service complaints and interactions, with research from Business Systems estimating that social media enquiries will account for over 10 percent of interactions in contact centers this year.
The business case for introducing social customer service is supported by plenty of research studies that reveal time and again that consumers prefer using social media for its ease and speed of response, as compared to traditional phone and email channels. In fact, 15 percent of 18-24 year olds prefer to interact with brands via their preferred social media channel.
However, while the field of social CRM is evolving rapidly, there are still obstacles to overcome. With so much of social operating in departmental silos, the real Holy Grail of engagement will be to connect all the stages of the customer lifecycle (awareness, purchase, advocacy) into a more holistic and strategic approach.
More options. More conditions. More stakeholders. More circling-back.
Modern selling is anything but simple.
Intelligent sales enablement starts HERE.
Verity Gough is is the author of this post.