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Social Media: The New-Age Quintessence of Customer Satisfaction

Your organisation’s reputation in providing best-of-breed customer care is these days certified through the reactions of customers across social media

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PCQ Bureau
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- Gyanesh Kumar & Devesh Kumar Thakur, Directors, Axis Softech

Against the competitive backdrop of modern market, customer satisfaction is reaching new heights with escalating business strategies always ready to offer more. What consumer wants today is more than just products, what they want now is the ‘feel’ that the service is completely oriented towards them. Businesses, on the other hand, in their attempts to offer this ‘feel‘; are aggressively devising new ways to engage their customers. The return however, is massive; gaining good brand loyalty that ensures whatever the consumer spends on their necessities is siphoned to the enterprise.

Technically, the concept is termed as 360-Degree view of a customer. It is the phenomenal technique employed by businesses to crater the requirements for successful marketing, surrounding the consumer. Herein, substantiates the need of Social Media as a crucial aspect of modern business. As social media has metamorphosed as the lifeline of internet presence and easy connectivity for the present society, they are being leveraged as the most amicable avenue to reach targeted customers. Utilizing these popular channels businesses are enhancing customer experience by folds connecting directly to them.

One of the best advantages that social media offers, is allowing businesses to personalize their services through customization of their communication. Customer services can be brought to the personal realms of consumers through social media. Personalized interaction of the business with a prospective customer can be the key to brand loyalty. A good example, is wishing on a birthday or anniversaries. A message on the wall of the person on their birthday or any such special occasion from a brand naturally offers a better brand recall. This influences consumers personally and successfully implants brand loyalty in them. Interacting with consumers also increases the probability of their return exponentially. If continuous connection is made through unceasing communication, it is certain that the buyer with buy the next necessary item from the business itself.

However, while interacting, it must be noted that customers are not “bothered” or annoyed by constant marketing messages. Once spammed from the inbox, it takes months to recover! Usually, companies are observed to share updates on their official pages following the peak timings of public engagements with social media. For Google plus peak time is between 9am to 11am, for Facebook, between 1pm to 4pm, Instagram between 5pm to 6pm and for Pinterest; the time is between 8pm to 11pm. For Twitter, peak timing of user engagement is found out to be between 1pm to 3pm.

Social Media as benchmarks for customer choice

Social Media in fact, offers a two-way avenue. Apart from being the pathways to reach customers, these also serve as the route to businesses being always opened for consumers. Reports suggest that 67% of consumers use official social media sites to access any business enterprise. Social Media are the easiest way to contact and connect offering good sideways to finding an email and the uncertainty in them. An email id may be outdated and there are possibilities that they are not even logged on to by the company. Sending an open message in the social media solves it all. If the page is updated timely, a consumer can be sure that the message he or she sent is heard.

Customer service and satisfaction is now intrinsically related to social media because these platforms have turned into the most effective communication tool for complaints or queries. As they are easily accessible, any customers may post a complaint regarding a service or a product in the social media page. It is certain that a genuine company that values consumers cannot ignore the call, which is made openly and socially. Their reaction or action on such complaints determines their loyalty and responsibility towards customers. Which, being open, in return determines their image in public or consumer domain. Complaints on social media sites have become the best source of information and customer reviews. This helps a brand to build better products or to upgrade a service, eradicating its pitfalls. On the other hand, customers do not have to go through long bothersome process of complaint filing or service calls. Social media, through this aspect, materialized as a democratic empowerment of consumers.

Business enterprises have begun to offer more impeccable services through social media. Apart from utilizing these sites as feedback platforms, real time online chat facilities with customer service agents are offered by companies. This helps in resolving queries in just matter of minutes and even solving a complaint issue.

Social Media emanated as a game changer in the market. The implications of these platforms in business and customer services are multifarious with impacts in diverse strategic verticals. Social media have become synonymous with marketing platform, customer service platform and as a general communication platform. It has offered a cost effective and impactful tool for efficient handling of a number of business imperatives. Further innovations and creative usage of these media platforms could substantiate much better business paradigms for enterprises and further empowerment of consumers.

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