Tag Archives: improving customer experience

The State of Social Media Customer Support – Statistics and Trends

Social Media Customer Support – Statistics and Trends

Social Media Customer Support – Statistics and TrendsIf you’re not using social media as a customer support tool to connect with people already buying your products or those likely to buy in the future, you’re missing out big time.

With about 3.6 billion combined users, social media offers an excellent platform to meet your customers, engage them, answer their questions, and thank them for their loyalty. It’s also the perfect place to run a few loyalty programs.

If you’re still in doubt, INVESP has done extensive research on the role of social media in customer support today. The findings are eye-opening!

Social Media Engagement

The research shows that about 80% of consumers use social media to engage with brands. Of these people, 69% say they feel more confident in a brand they can directly message. Social media is arguably the best platform to message and perhaps chat with brands directly.

It’s not all about confidence, though. When the brand answers those direct messages, there’s a great chance of a repeat purchase. At least 91% of the respondents say that they are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to become a repeat customer to a brand that answers their questions. Another 25% say they are likely to become the brand’s advocates.

Check out the rest of the research findings to learn how else you could benefit from offering customer support services via social media.

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[Infographic] Email Personalization – Get Beyond the obvious

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Infographic-Email-Personalization-How-to-go-beyond-the-obviousThe digital age is characterized by new modes of communication popping up every day. Some communication platforms have reached their optimum and collapsed, some are growing up with greater momentum. However, one communication platform has remained strong for ages and it’s still going strong – and that is email communication.

Email communication is really popular and an individual person likely receives tens of emails per day. With this, one has no choice, but to ensure that his/her email is able to stand out in the recipients’ inbox. The following is how to go beyond the obvious.

Email list segmentation

A popular way to segment your email list is email personalization. Coming up with different segmented lists helps one to come up with dynamic content for every target audience. Getting relevant data on your subscribers through signup forms is one of the best ways of collecting data.

Individualized email messaging

Through this, the subscribers are able to get a connection with the sender. This goes beyond just including the name of the recipient – one needs to come up with an engaging content relatable to the consumer’s needs. For instance, you can send product-focused content relating to specific email lists, or personalized videos and images. As well as, come up with creative content based on the consumer’s needs.

Email personalization is an integral part of every successful marketing campaign. Customers want to feel valued and listed. Though this campaign may seem challenging, making use of prudent tools will make the whole process easier.

Thanks to the great people over at Email Uplers for this informative infographic.

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Content Intelligence: How Can it Empower My Business? [Infographic]

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Content-Intelligence--How-Can-it-Empower-My-Business-315-1In 1996, Bill Gates wrote, “Content is king”. More than 20 years later, that motto still holds true. Content may have evolved, but it remains to be the most important ingredient of online marketing — so important that content intelligence (CI) came into being.

CI refers to technology that analyzes content and transforms gathered data to practical insights meant to improve content strategy. Therefore, thanks to CI, content is no longer just a means to rank in search engine result pages; it’s also a way to attract and sustain the attention of your target audience.

CI helps you Achieve Several Goals

Producing relevant content

CI looks at past data to determine the content that best appeals to the audiences you want.

Distributing content

CI identifies the locations where specific marketing campaigns will leave the strongest impact.

Improving content

CI highlights areas for growth in order to increase favorable results.

Figuring it all out

CI answers the pressing questions on why a certain piece of content succeeds or fails to engage.

Keeping up with the competition

CI gives you an edge over competitors by ensuring your marketing strategies are effective.

If you’re serious about content marketing, you better get serious about CI. It’s a powerful tool in your digital marketing arsenal.

Many thanks to Spiralytics.com for this

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Choose the Right Customer Service App [Infographic]

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Choose-the-Right-Customer-Service-App--315You know this to be true, no matter if you sell tools or tech. Customer service can make or break your business and can do it more quickly than ever before. How many of us have stories we’ve heard of bad customer service experiences that have gone viral, ruining or cementing a company’s reputation and perhaps future?

Customer Service

Customer service rules, and if you don’t have a culture that encourages good customer service and don’t make time to constantly analyze and improve your customer service, you’ll be in trouble. That means empowering not only the department that deals with customers every day but also every other department to make those critical customer interactions better, every time.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that you and your team won’t screw up from time to time. You will screw up. The difference between you and someone else is whether you screw up and then fix it, and how quickly you fix it.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

One tool that didn’t use to exist to help manage customer interactions is, of course, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. And now, too, there are CRM apps. These apps have really changed the nature of customer service, helping you to instantly deflate problems and answer questions. If you find the right one to use, you are also instituting another level in your customer service management department, helping inspire thankfulness and then in turn loyalty.

But choose the wrong app and you’re likely to be in a pickle, because it won’t work for you and it won’t work for your customers, either. And that can lead to even more problems. This app should fit into the overall structure of your customer service approach, working with a call center and digital solutions, among other items. So what does that look like? This graphic helps explain it.

Thanks, Salesforce for this informative infographic.

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9 Ways to Make Your Customers Happy

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When making a purchase, people want to get more than a product or service. They want experience and a great one at that. Thus, it’s important to focus on making your customers happy.

Remember, happy customers make loyal customers. Fortunately, there are practical ways to achieve customer satisfaction. Here are a few examples:

1) Deliver on your promises

When you say you’ll do something, then do it within the expected time frame. Unmet expectations lead to disappointment, and that’s not something you want customers to feel about your brand.

To avoid letting people down, stick to realistic commitments. There’s no point in luring people in with grandiose promises only to break them later on.

2) Hold yourself accountable

Behind brands are people, and people make mistakes. But it’s how you handle them that makes a world of difference. If you commit a mistake, own up to it and do your best to rectify it.

Doing the opposite — running away from the problem, acting defensively, or denying everything — will make customers less forgiving.

3) Involve your customers

Feedback from your customers is valuable, so ask for what they want to see more from your brand, when they expect these changes to take effect, and how else you can improve your customer service.

Once you’ve applied your suggestions, don’t forget to let your customers know right away.

Thanks to our friends at Headway Capital for this great infographic on ways to provide stellar customer service.

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