The Engaging Brand : Customer Service

Posts categorized "Customer Service"

Apr 03, 2013

Is Your Goal Right for Social Media?

The business process and especially the sales process, is about network connections but never make the mistake that the connections are the same for both you and the customer.

Business want.. need to create connections to build customer loyalty.

The consumer chooses (or connects with) a brand that will take them closer to their dream. That dream may be living within their means, it may be to improve their life, to learn, to increase their social or cultural capital.

The problem - especially with social media marketing - is that brands see connection as their goal. They measure their social media (return on investment) efforts through followers or likes etc....but to build brand loyalty through social media it is not the number of connections per se, it is how many people believe that your brand can connect them to their 'dream'....

...because it is through this belief that they will move from a consumer of your social media content...to a buyer of your product or service.

So how can you connect a customer to their dream...

By creating social media that reflects their needs not your solutions.
By creating social media that reflects their worries not your desires.
By creating social media that reflects empathy to their life not empathy towards your goals

The fact is to connect someone to your brand cannot be a goal in itself...it is the outcome of putting your customer first.

Posted by Anna Farmery in Customer Service, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 02, 2013

Are you making your customer's sing?

Customer feedback is both the good and bad of social media. Social media is not only about what you say about your brand or how you try to connect with others...it is also an extra sales team if you want it to be....

The problem is that you have to trust IN your brand enough to encourage customers to SING about your brand for you...

Trust is difficult in all walks of life because it open you up to being hurt...but it also opens you up to being loved.

Brand love to 'control the message'.....but the control should be aimed inside your business by controlling the desire to create customer experience.

How?

Well you start by being very clear about what is branding? Branding is knowing who you are, who you are not and what values you want to express. If you are clear about that then in everything you do - you should aim to live that everyday. Branding is living those values no matter the cost, no matter the problems.

Customers will always forgive a mistake if it is recognised early and dealt with promptly. If you live those brand values through the whole of the customer experience and through business marketing you can increase customer satisfaction....and customer loyalty will flow.

Trust is a key element in business...trust within teams, trust to the vision and trust in the product/service....and now through social media marketing, trust in your customer service to make the customer sing about YOU.

Posted by Anna Farmery in Branding, Customer Service | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Feb 27, 2013

How British Gas Played Between the Customer Service Notes

In several podcast interviews I have spoken to musicians who speak about engaging your audience not by simply playing the notes but also by how you play between the notes.

It is a concept that really resonates with me as a business idea.

We sell, we market but to me they are the notes....what we need to do is to play between the 'business marketing notes.'

And that is where social media marketing, customer service and customer experience helps....transforms the business from a transactional process to an "experience symphony".

I had an example this morning, I was looking at my gas and water supply charges. I tried to chat online with my current supplier (Southern Electric) but couldn't as I needed Windows OS (and I am a Mac User). So I went onto the British Gas site and got frustrated as the tariff calculator kept saying that my details were not correct. I logged off from the site.

Within 5 minutes a customer service lady named Christine phoned me back from British Gas and said "I noticed you had difficulty on our site, let me help". As we were filling in details she noticed it had been my birthday last week, she said "Is it too late to wish you a happy birthday, let's see if I can give you a late Birthday gift today".

She sorted it all out and yes, I have transferred. Why? Because they played between the notes and made me feel valued.

It wasn't the tariff, although cheaper.

It wasn't the site, it wasn't the service even remember their site didn't work either!

It was that feeling of being noticed...firstly by quickly ringing me when she could see I had left the site...and secondly, her desire to connect at a human level with the birthday wish.

Customers are not numbers, they are not transactions. They are people who need to be needed.

What Christine did, was to play between the customer service notes. No script, though clearly she was following a procedure.

Today - with your team, your colleagues, your customers....can you find a way of playing between the tasks and connecting at the human level?

Posted by Anna Farmery in Customer Service, Employee Engagement | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Feb 21, 2013

What is the customer experience

The customer service experience is not a process, yes you need a process in place but then all companies do....

If you pre plan too much though, it doesn't feel like a spontaneous gesture. Standard lines when something goes wrong or even right, feel that...they feel mechanic.

When you look at companies who differentiate through customer service they may have a process but they make it spontaneous.

For instance, at the Aunty Acid Giftstore a customer ordered for overseas delivery one item which was costly when compared to the delivery cost. They recognised that and put in the package a note to say thanks for the order and to help ease the cost they included a free notebook.

Now imagine the delight when the company, the brand recognised a value problem. The customer wanted the item and had to pay the delivery item...but despite no complaint the company created a customer experience.

Adam who runs the site - I will try and get him on the Enaging Brand business podcast - says "it is the little spontaneous gestures that create brand loyalty. In the situation it is not what the company did as much as what the brand did without being asked. We are only a start up company but we want to create a brand loyalty, we recognise that loyalty needs to be earned rather than waiting for it to happen"

When you think about your personal life is it the birthday card that you expect or the little gesture that you don't...that makes you love them more?

Posted by Anna Farmery in Customer Service | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Jan 23, 2013

Choice is not Customer Experience, How I feel is....

Choice is everywhere. We are lucky little bunnies aren't we?

The business opportunity is huge...

"Stop competing on choice, start competing on experience"

The web naturally offers the choice, what social media allows is the chance to offer a better experience.

So being active on the web with a strong website is only the first part of a social marketing approach. Active doesn't mean being social, it doesn't mean being consumer focused.

Customer experience is about how I feel before, during and after the transation...as I say on the podcast...it is not what you say, it is not what you do...it is how you made me feel.

Even this week trying to set up a second business bank account with Lloyds has sent me mad...and it is symptomatic of many of my experiences.

Yes, I can do more online...but it doesn't save time, it actually increases the time before the account goes live? How can that be?

If I ring I have to go through 3 different people asking the same type of security questions only to find that the number you ring from the website is wrong...and then having to go through it all again.

The key business ideas should be based on simplifying the process for the customer, owning the problem, making it easy to communicate with the brand. No matter what you tweet, or like, or blog....I will still judge you on whether you value me as a customer.

Social marketing at it's core is do I value you as a human being...social media is not there as a plaster...no....social media is there as a mirror and as a way of expressing how you value my custom.

Posted by Anna Farmery in Branding, Customer Service, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Jan 22, 2013

Big Data - Being Open Can Bring Success

Yesterday I wrote about the power of local search and it made me think about how the expectations of business has changed as well.

When I started in the business world a growing concern was how the business affected the world. Was it green? Was it treating people equally?

During the last couple of decades this sense of purpose in the world and doing good in the world, has been joined with the concept of CSR and looking at how businesses support their local community as well.

However, this magnification of the business has taken a further step forward.

In an era of big data companies need to be aware that their role is now under scrutiny as to how the business is dealing with me as an individual.

This can be seen as a challenge, yet when you think about it.....it makes sense.

As a business we have the wonder of knowing so much about our consumer's and potential consumer's. More than we have ever known, more power than we have ever had to personlise our brand and our customer experience's.

Personal data is sacred and therefore there is a business opportunity for companies that embrace the concept of trust, transparability and responsibility.

If as a business you recognise your responsibility and make it transparent what you collect, of how you use it and why you use it....then two things happen.

If you adhere to strict guidelines and principles then the consumer will feel safer and often improve their brand loyalty.
Think about the huge effect internally on culture. If you see the personal element of the data, you are putting the customer and the customer experience at the heart of your brand, then you are showing your brand personality to internal "customer's" as well as the external customer's.

People love social networking, they love the access to choice but they are afraid of their internet security. As with Maslow's hierarchy of needs shows....people basic needs are vital to be satisfied.

So...I would never argue against big data per se, but I would say it is the how it is expressed and deployed.

By openingly showing you collect data...you breed trust

By explaining why...you breed trust.

By taking security of that data as a solemn duty of care...you show your imperative of putting the customer first....

Don't be afraid to be open, openness leads to trust but do all you can to ensure that the trust is NEVER broken.

Posted by Anna Farmery in Branding, Customer Service, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Oct 25, 2012

Your Customer - The Undercover Economist

Don't be fooled that no one seems to understand economics - not even the economists! - these days..because one person is practising economic theory each day...and that is your customer.

As part of the purchase process, a customer automatically weighs the trade off between risk and benefit.

Risk in terms of choosing the brand, spending that money, making the wrong choice, of problems down the line, of what it does to their personal brand!

Benefit in terms of the use, the pleasure, the self gratification and of course the kudos.

We all do it....

Yet when it comes to social media or business communication....rarely do you see the brand helping the customer through the purchase crisis.

Social media can play a key role...in identifying the risks, reducing the risk, offering customer service, offering comparisons, and by showing the benefits.

For me this works best when the risks are presented in a rational, logical way then the customer is taken through the emotional story of the benefits - both of the product and to their individual life.

To do this you need to know...what are the risks and what are the benefits from the customers perspective - again social media can be a great tool to find out but also to research what they are saying in relation to you and your competitors.

Posted by Anna Farmery in Customer Service, Marketing, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Oct 02, 2012

Do you measure your emotional capital?

All businesses need capital to turn ideas into reality.

Successful brands understand that there are two kinds of capital and develop sources for both...

Number (1) is a no brainer, without some access to cash or credit- be it personal or from other financial sources - then a company cannot function.

However emotional capital is so much more important and yet receives much less focus. Emotional capital relates to people who can create ideas, deliver ideas, share ideas and connect people to the value of those ideas. The ability of people to use the money invested to create great experiences for employees so that they deliver fabulous experiences for customers.

Social media can help emotional capital across all of these areas...but only, ONLY if the right people are in place to participate or drive a social business.

And I think this is where people do get confused. Leaders of emotional capital growth, don't have to be funky, creative bods who want to speak to people all of the time! Leaders of emotional capital growth just need to understand the role of people in the business process. They are people who understand

Business is not about process, it is about people who deliver through processes. The process needs to get out of the way of the experience...the experience of delivering from idea to product inside the business and the experience of the consumer from thinking about to actually buying the product or service.
That business is emotional and foster teams who create emotion through passion.
That just like financial capital, emotional capital needs to be measured. You need to look at the depth of talent, what that talent needs to maintain its strength and what value that talent is producing.
That emotion sells better than any features. Remember the quote at the end of each Engaging Brand podcast "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did BUT people will never forget how you made them feel"
That emotional capital involves an element of risk....all investment does! You will have people and ideas that don't work out, it is about developing an emotional portolio of different talents who can come up with different ideas and who passionately believe in the emotion of the product and service.....within that portfolio, there will be winners and losers...but it isn't about playing safe after a loss, it is about ensuring the portfolio creates value.

Emotional capital is vital. It involves the ideas, the people, the experience of the company.

So question - do you understand your emotional balance sheet? Do you measure your emotional return on investment?

Posted by Anna Farmery in Creativity, Customer Service, Employee Engagement, Leadership | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sep 25, 2012

The Customer Service Manifesto Test

What we say and what we do, are so often different when it comes to business. Here are 10 manifesto pledges which can act as a checklist

If you value my custom why can I not find a contact list on your website and therefore have to hold for up to an hour for help?
If you value my views why tell me what I should think and buy?
If you value customer service, why do you see it as an transactional overhead?
If you answer the phone asking how can you help - why do you say it is not my department?
If you want to grow year on year, why do you only offer rewards for coming and not staying with you?
If you love social media, why do you only broadcast messages rather than engage with me?
If you want more sales, why not see a satisfied customer as a potential 'recommender' and influence me to recommend you to my friends?
If you I spend my time researching before I buy, why are you not providing content that helps me make the right decision for me?
If I help pay your wages, why do you concentrate on internal meetings rather than external conversations?
If you want to create business value, why don't you create value for me to buy rather than products?

Any of these ring true to you as a customer? Any ring true within your business? So often the customer service side is seen as a cost rather than a revenue generator....so often the people least valued are the ones who act as your customer contact, customer service is not a transaction centre...it is a centre for customer happiness!

Posted by Anna Farmery in Customer Service | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sep 02, 2012

Internet demographics are about the 3 P's

There was a time when all companies looked at age as the distinct demographic consideration BUT the Internet has changed that...and I believe companies are too slow to recognise the new, important demographics.

If I look at my family - my 82 year old mother is in the market for an iPad, I have an iPad and my nephew works soley with Apple products. Age is not the differentiator......it is the simplicity of the product that unites us all.

The demographics that matter in a web based world are interest based, features based, community based. To attract customers it is about

Identifiying your strengths and values and what you bring to the world - passions
Identifying communities that share those passions - people
Create or join communities not to sell but to share those passions with each other - participate

And all these 3 P's form the basis of what you want from social media....another P....profit!

Posted by Anna Farmery in Customer Service, Marketing | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)