Big Business Should Take Tips from SMEs on Social Customer Service

I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to see the recent Brandwatch Customer Service Report 2012 research, but it revealed a pretty shocking level of customer service on social media channels by our biggest brands.

The study analysed 40 leading brands and spoke with thousands of consumers to gauge the levels of customer satisfaction online.

Amongst other things, it found that the majority of brands do not listen to social media feedback in order to improve customer satisfaction.

It is clear big brands have a lot to learn when it comes to dealing with consumers on social channels and I think they should look for guidance in what might seem an unlikely place for them – the country’s smallbusinesses!

We work with thousands of smallbusinesses in the UK, and we see them doing an excellent job on social media by being authentic, open, reactive and genuine in response to their customers – it is the passion for their businesses that really helps them here.

O2’s recent network outages created an interesting case study of what works well, and what doesn’t, on social media during a crisis.  After taking some pretty heavy flack on Twitter about their network outage (I was affected too!) the person manning their handle replied in a way that was both funny and  sympathetic – you can see some of the tweets here.

The response from followers wasreally positive; now they were in the joke and didn’t feel so separated from the big corporate machine.

Sadly, O2 chose to take the tweets down a couple of days later. It was as if this big business showed some heart, and then got all embarrassed about it.

Social media channels, like Twitter, are great ways of interacting with customers during difficult periods, so it’s perfect for getting out snappy and informative responses to your customers. You can let them know you’re aware of an issue and ensure all questions are answered, either on the channel or by following up‘off air’ with an email that explains the solution in a bit more depth, and if appropriate, find some way to make it up to them.

The Brandwatch report found a quarter of us interact with brands on the web at least once a month, and more than a third of us do it to complain. Of the 40 brands analysed in the study only three (three!) came out with a score above zero – which indicated their customer service was satisfactory.

It’s disappointing to see that so many brands are taking a lax approach to their customers’ feedback on social media channels.  Smaller-sized organisations are experts when it comes to customer service due to their personal approach and enthusiasm for what they do. It’s this personalised engagement that make small businesses really stand out.

Larger organisations could take a leaf out of the socially savvy small business owners’ book and look at how to improve the ways in which they interact with customers online. Not only is this type of customer service good for a company’s reputation, but it also builds genuine and loyal customer relationships that can drive business growth and encourage sales.

One thing all businesses must consider when it comes to social media is that these channels are a strong customer services tool, not just a marketing tactic. They also serve to showcase open and transparent customer relationships, and give organisations the opportunity to demonstrate their know-how and expertise. In turn, this keeps customers coming back to a businesses’ social media profiles when they require help or information.

In fact, it makes little difference whether you are a small local butchers with five followers or global brand with 100,000 followers – either way customers will get frustrated if you have an online presence but aren’t using it to answer their questions and help address their needs. I would love to see all businesses, large and small,using social media as a positive customer service tool, but I think that’s not likely to happen with many big businesses for some time to come.