How LinkedIn Increases Customer Satisfaction on Twitter
Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. With more than 450 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet.
For this special edition of the HelpHandles Insight Series we meet the team behind the initials on those LinkedInHelp tweets, and we learn more about their customer support operation and performance on Twitter.
Overview
Supporting a diverse portfolio of recruitment, marketing and premium solutions the LinkedInHelp team are creating high levels of customer satisfaction and engagement from a dedicated community of professionals seeking advice and support across a wide range of platform related queries.
Meet the Team
The LinkedIn Community Support Team are headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, US. We caught up with the team to learn more about their own individual approach to social customer service and how they work together to keep customers happy.
Nicole Cloonan, Community Support Manager
Q. Hi Nicole, please tell us about yourself, your role at LinkedIn and your day to day responsibilities.
Hi! My name is Nicole Cloonan and I’m the Social Support Manger at LinkedIn. My day to day responsibilities include, but aren’t limited to managing an amazing powerhouse team of women who monitor and manage the LinkedIn Social Media accounts. Just a brief overview is monitoring our responses, response time, quality, and strategy on the team. My ultimate goal is for our team to be the best of the best Social Support teams on Twitter, Facebook, and any other avenues where our members need support!
Q. Tells us more about your team structure, your staffing plan, and how many support agents do you have working across LinkedInHelp?
The team consists of six people total, including myself, and everyone is skilled in all areas of LinkedIn! The entire team handles all tweets, posts, DM’s, messages, and Forums, and we rely on each other for each person’s area of expertise. Our team’s ultimate goal is to have 24/7 coverage, but as of now, we are trying to dominate the time zones with our team covering hours from 3 AM to 7 PM CST.
Q. What are the biggest challenges of supporting such a large community of professionals across channels like Twitter?
You just never know what you are going to get. We have members across the world, all using LinkedIn in a variety of different manners, so the questions are just that…all across the board! With that being said, planning for volume, training, and ensuring everyone is aware of all products, changes, updates, and functionality is imperative. They have to have their hands in all areas as the members on Twitter want the one stop shop to get their questions answered, and our team wants to be able to do that, in a quick and efficient manner.
Q. How do you create a seamless customer experience across different channels like email, forums, and social?
We are always looking for ways to improve our support experiences and are constantly tweaking our approaches and flow to provide the best member experience. Our team works well together and communicates daily to see where the need is for coverage, then rotates to ensure we have coverage by each member of the team in the respective areas. It’s great because all of our product knowledge can be applied in Twitter, GooglePlay, and our Help Forums!
Q. What KPIs do you measure and which are most important to you and why?
This is a tough one and I think one that may continue to evolve. Currently, we focus on our response time, our member satisfaction, our total volume handled (how many questions did we answer resulting in them not having to email us?), and how many members did we assist with that tweet/Help Forum post. While some of these have limited reporting, we are hoping to get a better grasp on these for our team in the future, ultimately, we want our members to come to us on Social Media and know there questions will be answered in less then an hour to their satisfaction.
Q. What’s your secret for keeping customers happy?
Building a relationship with them. While we are a Social Media Support team, we understand the value of every member of LinkedIn, and each person we interact with gets that specialized treatment, that we care, that we want to help them, we want them to keep coming back to LinkedIn, and LinkedInHelp to be exact!
We try to surprise and delight members by letting each of our team members take ownership of tweets, and let their personality shine through just as much as the members does. We truly think that the members appreciate the human touch and seeing each of our personal touch on each tweet.
Q. Can you tell us more about what skill-sets you look for when hiring social support agents?
It varies! We want a diverse team with different skill-sets, ensuring that our team can handle everything that comes at us.
I would say the biggest thing that I look for personally as a manager is someone who is self-motivated and wants to get stuff done all while truly caring about providing amazing customer service.
The product knowledge, the flow, the tools, all of those things can be taught, but someone with drive and passion to take care of people can’t be taught.
Also, it’s an added bonus if they have a sense of humor as that is needed on this team as joking is a daily/hourly/minutely thing.
Q. What does the LinkedIn staff on-boarding and training look like for new hires into the LinkedInHelp team?
One of our seniors, Amber Lujan, leads the on-boarding and training for our team. She’s an on-the-job trainer that shows people in action how the job works. The great thing is Amber is very flexible, and adapts to each person’s style when on-boarding them. If they are hands-on, visual, whatever it is Amber adjusts her flow to accommodate their learning style. We have a playbook that was recently re-vamped by June, our newest team member which was great as she built it from a new team member perspective. Amber is then responsible to add things and situations to the playbook as we come across them (on a daily basis it seems). The training varies on the person and their previous experience, but can range from two weeks to a month. They complete the training during the week with the support of their team members, and based off their comfort level is complete with both myself, Amber, and the new team member say, let’s do it, and let them fly!
Q. Can you tell us more about any projects you are working on?
Well there are always projects in motion on our team. The team has the ability to create project ideas and pitch them to me, we brainstorm on best paths, practices, timelines, etc. From there, the project lives with that team member and we keep track of them on a spreadsheet and touch base in our team meetings and our 1:1’s. I can’t give away all of our secrets, but a few glimpses is Amber Lujan, our senior, is working with other Social Support teams to discuss best practices. A second one that I’m excited to see happen as well, is from Jeanette Pavkov, looking to see what items aren’t directed at us, but that we could be helping members on Social Media, going out there and searching for members facing problems, but don’t think to come to us directly on Twitter.
Amber Lujan, Senior Community Specialist
Q. Hey Amber, please tell us about yourself, your role at LinkedIn and your day to day responsibilities.
I’m originally from a Chaplin, CT but joined the military a couple of days after graduating high school. The Air Force brought me to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska and I’ve stayed here ever since. I started working at LinkedIn in August of 2008 as an Account Manager at the time and have had several roles up through now. I am now a Senior Community Specialist on my team. My daily tasks include providing world class support to our members through a variety of different channels including Twitter and Facebook. I also get the ability to present to companies, universities in the area on how to use LinkedIn and the importance of branding.
Q. Which skills do you think are the most important for working specifically across social media support?
I think one of the biggest skills that a person must possess is just the human factor. It’s easy sometimes to forget what it feels like to be on the other end and the people who do the best are the ones that can relate and just be realistic and have a sense of humor.
Q. What are the biggest challenges with supporting customers on Twitter?
I think one of the biggest challenges is that we are limited to a certain amount of characters and although I wish we could troubleshoot completely through Twitter, sometimes that’s just not possible. It’s also about figuring out what else that we can do. A part of that is a project I’m currently working on where I’m reaching out to other companies that are killing it on social media with their customer service and then meeting up with them to discuss what we’re doing and what they’re doing. The nature of our businesses may be different but at the end of the day if we can bounce ideas off of one another and share strategies that are working and not working, it only helps us all out.
Q. Tell us what you enjoy the most about working at LinkedIn?
One of the biggest things is that it isn’t just a job; it’s much more than that. We treat each other like family! I also love how the company empowers us to do more and to try new things. Lastly, LinkedIn lets us be us, without any restrictions.
Q. What’s your secret for keeping customers happy?
My secret isn’t much of a secret, it’s really just about being a human being, being relatable, and just having a sense of humor. Sometimes it can be something as simple as truly understanding where a member is coming from.
Jenae Kaska, Senior Community Specialist
Q. Hi Jenae! Please tell us about yourself, your role at LinkedIn and your day to day responsibilities
My seven year anniversary at LinkedIn is coming up in February… which means that less than 4% of employees have been at LinkedIn longer than I have. I’ve been a member of the social support team for the last 6 years — and was hired as the first member when the team originally launched. If someone tweets or Facebooks LinkedIn with a question/concern, the core of my responsibility lies in helping the member as quickly as possible - preferably making him/her smile in the process. I am not opposed to finding gifs/memes to lighten the mood. When I’m not surfing the interwebs, I also conduct training courses which are available, free of charge, to our members. I am one of two people in our local office that is certified to speak on behalf of LinkedIn. Because of that, I attend speaking engagements for the local Omaha, Nebraska community regarding profile creation and how to use the network to connect to opportunity. I have worked with various educational institutions, non profits, large corporations, startups, and networking groups in the area.
Q. Which skills do you think are the most important for working specifically across social media support?
The ability to laugh at yourself and not take things too personally. The world is filled with keyboard warriors — and if you don’t develop thick skin, interacting with upset members so publicly (where a comment directed toward you can be retweeted and shared with thousands of people) can feel a little daunting. I regularly remind myself that someone can be very mad at a situation, but that does not mean they are mad at me. You also have to understand the responsibility that comes with acting as ‘the face’ of LinkedIn. When you represent a company, everything you say matters.
Q. What do you enjoy the most about your job?
I enjoy surprising members who don’t expect a reaction from us via social. We’ve been known to forward on feedback and get new site ideas implemented, send random gifts to people who obtained new employment through LinkedIn, or just join in on a joke between two friends interacting on Twitter. It’s great.
Q. What’s your secret for keeping customers happy?
Give them what they want! Kidding. Kind of. I think it’s important to be real with customers. If I can’t give them what they want, I will explain why I can’t and offer any other alternative solutions. I believe people can tell if you’re trying to side-step an issue, so the more genuine and real I can be.. the better. I think it goes a long way when you say something like ‘I know this isn’t the answer you’re wanting but…. and here’s how I think we can make it right’ or ‘ You’ve stumped me on that one.. I don’t have the answer for you, but I want to find someone who does.’
Jeanette Pavkov, Community Specialist
Q. Hey Jeanette, please tell us about yourself, your role at LinkedIn and your day to day responsibilities.
Hi! I’m Jeanette and I am a Social Support Specialist on the LinkedIn Community team. I have the pleasure of educating and empowering our member base via social channels and the help forums.
Q. Which skills do you think are the most important for working specifically across social media support on Twitter?
Empathy. Having Empathy towards our members when they are frustrated or needing help is what I find is key to success in our roles.
Q. What’s your secret for keeping customers happy!?
Always including a J if I can! I hope that I can be a ray of sunshine for them when they come to us for help.
June McGrath, Community Specialist
Q. Hi June, please tell us about yourself, your role at LinkedIn and your day to day responsibilities.
My name is June McGrath. I’m a Nebraska native, but have lived in Arizona, California, and Colorado as well. In my previous professional life, I was an Early Childhood Educator, but left education to join LinkedIn in 2013. As part of my transformation at LinkedIn, I joined the Community Support Team in May of 2016 as a Specialist. As a Community Support Specialist, I collaborate with my team and cross-functional partners to provide top-notch support to our members on a wide-array of topics.
Q. Tell us what you enjoy the most about working at LinkedIn?
What I enjoy most about working at LinkedIn is the investment the company puts into its employees, and how transformation is promoted.
Q. What’s your secret for keeping customers happy?
My secret for keeping customers happy is pretty simple: Be respectful and human. Be as clear as possible. Share accurate information.
Karen Ernst, Community Specialist
Q. Hi Karen, please tell us about yourself, your role at LinkedIn and your day to day responsibilities.
I’m so excited to start officially as a Community Support Specialist. I’ve had the opportunity to help the team in that last year when a little more support was needed, but now KE is officially a member of the team! I’ll be helping support our members on Twitter and Facebook and bridging the gap between Social Support and Trust and Safety across our social platforms.
Q. Tell us what you enjoy the most about working at LinkedIn?
I love the relationships that I’ve made since being here. Relationships truly do matter and I’ve made many that will last a lifetime. I like that I can be myself and not be judged. The free lunches are pretty epic too!
Q. What’s your secret for keeping customers happy?
I always try to show my personality. I like to have the chance to show that I’m a person behind the keyboard, and I like to think I have a great sense of humor.
Social Customer Service Reviews
Due to the high levels of support the LinkedInHelp team provide its members, the team have seen a marked increase in the number of reviews posted on their dedicated HelpHandles profile.
For many consumers, reviewing products purchased online has become the norm. The GlobalWebIndex recently published that over half of internet users say they regularly post reviews online. While The New York Times believe that product reviews are broken and that knowing how a company treats its customers is just if not more valuable*
With so many conversations happening on Twitter in real time, positive outcomes from successful resolutions can be lost in the noise of tweets and re-tweets.
To maximise the value in these positive outcomes on Twitter, LinkedInHelp are pioneering a breakthrough in social customer service reviews helping people make better, more informed (pre)purchase decisions.
By creating a low effort experience of easily accessible customer service reviews, people who research LinkedIn solutions with intent to purchase, or who are unsure on how to use LinkedIn Solutions can cut through the noise and see for themselves that there is a responsive, dedicated team of support professionals on hand to ensure they receive the most value from their LinkedIn membership.
Customer Satisfaction
In return, LinkedInHelp are increasing their reputation as providers of exceptional and responsive social customer service and are seeing high levels of satisfaction from customers who leave ratings and reviews for the team on their HelpHandles page.
Each rating is calculated into an average real-time satisfaction score and displayed clearly on the LinkedInHelp HelpHandles page.
Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score® or NPS® is a measurement designed to predict business growth and can be used to gauge the loyalty of a companies relationships with customers. A live NPS score is calculated for companies on HelpHandles via a single question.
Customers are asked a simple question designed to indicate how likely they would recommend LinkedInHelp to a friend or colleague on a scale of 1–10. The overall NPS score is calculated in real time and represented as a separate metric on the LinkedInHelp Dashboard. This metric helps the LinkedIn team inform key decision making, and drives actionable strategies around improving service for customers.
Sentiment
Together with a high satisfaction and NPS score, the LinkedInHelp team are also seeing positive levels of sentiment across their help handle. This positive sentiment score is attributed to the appreciation the team receives from members in return for fast, engaging resolutions to queries posted on social media.
Conclusion
Supporting the largest professional social network on the Internet is no easy task, and the LinkedInHelp team work hard, not just to respond to members quickly but to also resolve issues with their own unique style.
The team are an integral part of leading the LinkedIn members community. Working on the front line, they are maximizing the benefits of Twitters public, real time platform to engage with members and create memorable customer experiences.
LinkedInHelp recognize the value of sharing positive outcomes and transparency.
Together with social customer service reviews, and transparent performance metrics they are leading the way, creating awareness of their social customer care team, helping people make better, more informed decisions, while also facilitating high levels of customer advocacy, satisfaction and loyalty from an engaged community of dedicated professionals.
Leave a social customer service review for the LinkedInHelp Team on HelpHandles.com
Unlock your free company profile on HelpHandles.com, add your support team profiles and start increasing your brand’s reputation and performance with social customer service reviews and performance analytics for Twitter.
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Thanks to Andrew Faires at LinkedIn for the team photos
Thanks to Jeff Lesser at Twitter for sharing the link to NY Times Relying on Product Reviews? Knowing How a Company Treats Its Customers Is Just as Valuable
