By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    football analytics
    The Role of Data Analytics in Football Performance
    9 Min Read
    data Analytics instagram stories
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Make the Most of Instagram Stories
    15 Min Read
    analyst,women,looking,at,kpi,data,on,computer,screen
    What to Know Before Recruiting an Analyst to Handle Company Data
    6 Min Read
    AI analytics
    AI-Based Analytics Are Changing the Future of Credit Cards
    6 Min Read
    data overload showing data analytics
    How Does Next-Gen SIEM Prevent Data Overload For Security Analysts?
    8 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Social customer service
Share
Notification Show More
Aa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > Social customer service
Uncategorized

Social customer service

mfauscette
Last updated: 2009/11/08 at 3:44 PM
mfauscette
6 Min Read
SHARE

200911061257.jpg  One of the more promising areas of focus for social business transformation is customer service. This week at e2.0 I attended a panel discussion of social customer service moderated by Clara Shih. It was an interesting discussion and I think there are some good solid practices growing up, enabled by some new tools. Since I’ve managed support organizations for a few software vendors in the past and I’ve done a lot of research on social business, I started thinking about some of the possibilities for changing the way we think about customer service.

200911080639.jpg

You will note in the simple diagram above that there’s still an underlying customer service system, which is the key to enterprise level scalability (although there are a few variations on this idea that could create a different type of backend system, I’ll explain that later). There are essentially two “new” types of channels for the development of the conversation. The first steps outside the enterprise and into the social cloud to use rapidly growing social networks like Facebook and real time conversation vehicles like Twitter to interact with customers “when, where and how” they choose. As more and more customers become …

More Read

benefits of ai in customer service

Problems Solved with AI And Machine Learning in Customer Service

The Growing Importance Of Data Collection For Customer Service
Big Data Leads To An Impressive Array of Chatbots In Customer Service
Predictive Analytics Reveals Secrets To Boosting Customer Loyalty
Is Big Data Important In Your Social Media Customer Service Strategy?

200911061257.jpg  One of the more promising areas of focus for social business transformation is customer service. This week at e2.0 I attended a panel discussion of social customer service moderated by Clara Shih. It was an interesting discussion and I think there are some good solid practices growing up, enabled by some new tools. Since I’ve managed support organizations for a few software vendors in the past and I’ve done a lot of research on social business, I started thinking about some of the possibilities for changing the way we think about customer service.

200911080639.jpg

You will note in the simple diagram above that there’s still an underlying customer service system, which is the key to enterprise level scalability (although there are a few variations on this idea that could create a different type of backend system, I’ll explain that later). There are essentially two “new” types of channels for the development of the conversation. The first steps outside the enterprise and into the social cloud to use rapidly growing social networks like Facebook and real time conversation vehicles like Twitter to interact with customers “when, where and how” they choose. As more and more customers become comfortable with these online public communities they grow in importance in reaching customers effectively.

There’s a secondary use case for real time conversation tools like Twitter that has emerged from Best Buys that uses Twitter, a broad group of employees and a backend system that aggregates the Tweets into a single web page, which helps the process scale and at the same time creates a way to leverage collective intelligence to get the best answers to customer questions. I wrote about it here. The point though is that even in the Best Buys example there is a “system” and a process for scaling the interaction. Some CRM companies are starting to provide a way to integrate the conversations into their customer service systems “out of the box”, for example the salesforce.com Service Cloud offering.

The second channel is growing up around public or private customer communities. The concept is to create a customer community of mutual assistance that provides the first level of “support” for customer questions. The idea is actually similar to the social cloud concept but provides a concentrated group of brand / product focused customers in a network rather than a broad public social network. The concentration yields the opportunity for knowledgeable customers to share their expertise. A lot has been written on creating and managing effective online communities so I won’t spend time on that now but you might check out this post from Dion Hinchcliffe for some best practices.

So the process is pretty simple, customers ask and answer questions, when a question remains unanswered or not satisfactorily answered for some period of time it is escalated to the company’s customer service reps for resolution. One additional concept can be used to enhance the community experience, creating a way to collect, vet and publish customer generated content adds to the available knowledge base. There are several companies that facilitate the creation and management of online customer communities and integrate to (or offer their own) customer service systems, for example Lithium, HelpStream and Get Satisfaction.

This is a rapidly evolving area of the new social business and one that can provide very high ROI. Are there other new social customer service practices that I’ve missed?

TAGGED: customer service
mfauscette November 8, 2009
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

Shutterstock Licensed Photo - 1051059293 | Rawpixel.com
QR Codes Leverage the Benefits of Big Data in Education
Big Data
football analytics
The Role of Data Analytics in Football Performance
Analytics Big Data Exclusive
smart home data
7 Mind-Blowing Ways Smart Homes Use Data to Save Your Money
Big Data
ai low code frameworks
AI Can Help Accelerate Development with Low-Code Frameworks
Artificial Intelligence

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

benefits of ai in customer service
Machine Learning

Problems Solved with AI And Machine Learning in Customer Service

11 Min Read
data collection for customer experience
Big DataData CollectionExclusive

The Growing Importance Of Data Collection For Customer Service

5 Min Read
chatbots in customer service
Artificial IntelligenceExclusive

Big Data Leads To An Impressive Array of Chatbots In Customer Service

7 Min Read
secrets to boosting customer loyalty
AnalyticsExclusivePredictive Analytics

Predictive Analytics Reveals Secrets To Boosting Customer Loyalty

9 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence
ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?