The past five to 10 years have seen consumers become more empowered than ever before. Buoyed by increased choice and how easy it is to change products or services, they’re ready and willing to take their custom elsewhere if the customer experience is not as they feel it should be.
Gradually, this is becoming the way of things in the world of B2B too. It is simpler than ever to take business to another provider, and B2B brands are focusing far more on customer experience than ever before.
This was highlighted by market research group B2B International earlier this year. A study of 250 senior B2B marketers revealed a more value-led approach with greater focus on CX. More than half of respondents admitted customer retention was one of their top five challenges, yet just 14% stated customer experience was ‘ingrained in the fabric’ of their company.
This challenge – customer retention through delivery of first-class CX – has seen many B2B companies expand the range of channels they deploy, particularly embracing digital and social media. These can be powerful tools for any B2B organisation seeking to deliver exceptional customer experience, but it needs to be done correctly and it needs to be part of an overall omnichannel strategy to be really effective. Here’s how to be a customer experience leader on social media:
1) Start at the top
Providing a good customer experience involves a combination of people, processes and technology. It doesn’t just happen, and needs someone to drive it forward at all times. In short, customer experience always has to start at the top of an organisation, particularly when it comes to social.
Involvement and engagement at a senior level creates a culture of providing a good customer experience across the organisation. If the CEO or MD isn’t focused on the customer, then how can you expect a social media operative to be? If there isn’t a company-wide culture of delivering good CX, then it’s impossible to do so on social media.
2) Choose the best channels and decide how to use them
There are many social media platforms available, and it’s far better to perfect one rather than use several poorly. In B2B, Twitter and LinkedIn are probably the most appropriate for the majority, but that certainly shouldn’t mean discounting Facebook or other platforms if that’s what your customers use.
It’s also important to be clear about how you use social media. Is it going to be about thought leadership and engaging with customers on a more general or promotional level? Or are you going to field customer complaints and queries? If the latter, then it’s advisable to have a bespoke account to handle such interactions. That way you can avoid cluttering your main account – which can share tips, thought leadership, helpful advice and other engaging content – with customer service queries.
3) Train your staff
When a customer expresses dissatisfaction with a service or just wants a question answered on social media, it requires a slightly different approach to other channels. Phone calls, live chats or face-to-face interactions take place in private – social media interactions take place in public.
And while millennials have grown up with social media, there’s a difference between how it’s used personally to how it’s used professionally. Make sure your staff are clear on what they can and can’t say on social media and give them training on your products and services. Only then can they be informed, helpful and provide a good experience.
4) Integrate social media with other channels
The single most important factor in becoming a customer experience leader on social media is to not overly focus on it. Rather than becoming its own siloed department, social media should be fully integrated with other channels.
In itself, social media is not that effective in addressing queries and delivering a good customer experience. The format is limiting and agents will mostly steer the customer towards chat or another channel as a matter of course anyway.
But socially-savvy customers now recognise a few tweets can save them time spent on frustrating calls. Twitter and other social channels should be plugged into marketing, PR and sometimes even the CEO, so issues can be addressed as a priority.
This is not sustainable and cannot come at the expense of other channels. Instead, brands should offer an omnichannel strategy, providing customers with a unified, consistent and contextual customer experience, across all channels. This integration is truly the only way to become a customer experience leader on social.
