Why CMOs Must Become Chief Advocates of Social Messaging Customer Support

52 percent of consumers say they are likely to complain publicly if customer service did a poor job resolving their problems. 88 percent of consumers say they avoid brands based on bad things they hear on social media.

So why are CMOs slow to appreciate the power of social messaging?

Forward-thinking brands are rapidly embracing and promoting Messenger for customer care; it’s where customers are, and it’s quickly becoming the preferred channel for brand inquiries. Messenger makes the customer service journey significantly easier than any other channel, while also being highly efficient and easier to automate for brands–making it easier to scale and focus live agents on the right customer conversations.

Which is why CMOs can no longer sit on the sidelines. If they’re going to talk about customer journeys and experiences, they need to become their brand’s biggest advocate for social messaging customer support.

Customer expectations, quantified

Eight out of ten survey respondents say their expectations for digital customer service are higher than last year, according to research we conducted for our State of Digital Care report. Expectations rose similarly the year before. Consumers want lightning-fast personalized responses, no matter what channel they use.

How are brands doing at meeting these desires? Not good. Only seven percent of consumers say that their expectations are being exceeded on digital channels. Just about half felt that their expectations had been met. If consumers were to draw up a list of customer support demands, it would probably read:

• Near-instant response times: 66% expect a response on social media in < 1 hour (Ovum)
• First-touch resolution: 38% want their issue resolved in a single interaction (Conversocial)
• A personal touch: 47% say personalized responses increase their loyalty (Conversocial)

Consumers want lightning-fast personalized responses, no matter what channel they use.

Why Social Messenger is the game changer

We’re already seeing many brands make the shift to a digital-only model for service. Done correctly it can generate huge savings while delivering a great service experience. But for many brands, traditional digital channels just haven’t been responsive or mobile enough. Messenger has all the capabilities that would make a digital-only model great for both the customer on the move and the companies servicing them, as well as reducing the need for investment into native applications.

One of your best influences on your consumers’ engagement experience comes from the quality of your digital customer service offering. Digital care was once viewed as a nice to have, not a need to have by marketers. This has changed. It is no longer a cost center and needs to be invested in and viewed for what it now represents, a scalable, ROI positive driver of brand loyalty.

The case for a dedicated social messaging customer care platform

It’s time for brands to stop forcing digital customer support teams to resolve customer issues with marketing-focused social media tools. These systems are built for an entirely different purpose: pushing out content, amplifying messages, and tracking likes, shares, and responses.

But customer service teams need to receive content and dampen complaints. They need to intercept errant complaints and direct them to private conversations where they can be resolved.

Dedicated social messaging customer care support platforms give both marketing and customer service teams what they need to succeed. They allow customer service teams to resolve customer issues at scale while the marketing team retains its own purpose-built marketing tool and continues to amplify positive messages.

Research by Forrester found that customer service teams armed with a digital support platform like Conversocial were 167 percent more effective than their legacy counterparts. Buying a dedicated digital support platform resulted in a net gain of $945,000 in additional sales, retention, and brand value. And that’s not to mention the millions of dollars in unreported brand equity that resulted from happier customers who had their issues resolved instantly, on the first touch, and in a personal way.

“Only 7% of consumers say that their expectations are being exceeded on digital channels.” — Conversocial

CMOs that are interested in customer loyalty and offering experiences in the digital age have but one option: become advocates of social messaging customer support. It’s the only way they’ll keep small support blips from snowballing into everybody’s problems, and prepare their brand for the ever-evolving digital future.

What do modern customers want? Find out in The State of Digital Support 2018.

Originally published on the The Conversation Blog on 04/13/2018