Building Customer Relationships through Multichannel Experiences

Social media has done more for people than offer them an outlet to share day-to-day updates and thoughts. It has in opened a gateway to reach companies a way they cannot be ignored. When customers complain on social media channels, their goal is usually to get the company to respond. The company’s goal, on the other hand, is to mitigate or eliminate any negative impressions, as well as show the customer and the rest of the world that they are there to support and help their customers.

Social media has also helped multichannel access to companies become a norm. Customers can reach customers through e-mail, phone and many social media outlets, expecting excellent customer service at each outlet. Alorica, a provider of business process outsourcing solutions that span the entire lifecycle, understands this completely. The company offers social customer relationship management solutions that integrate monitoring of social media conversations into a holistic care process that allows you to participate in the conversation and then build or repair relationships as needed.

Alorica’s social CRM services include monitoring, engaging and improving social media experiences, and it serves companies from fast food restaurant companies to electronics firms and sport association organizations.

One of Alorica’s client accounts supports a series of multichannel outlets that have evolved over the course of its business with the client. In its infancy, Alorica began an e-mail response program that was staffed 24 hours a day to handle customers with premium devices. Since call volume was minimal at night, the agents would swing into an e-mail mode and respond to customer inquiries via shared mailboxes. This was its most basic program which used a series of canned approved responses to answer generic customer concerns.

Since that initial endeavor, Alorica’s multichannel services have grown a bit more. This previous experience led to an opportunity to officially staff a social media team that is responsible for ‘trolling’ chat rooms, predetermined blogs, Facebook and Twitter (News - Alert). The agents dedicated to this group go through a training program outlined by the client that instructs them on appropriate methods for scanning the previously stated social media outlets looking for any customer complaints or dissatisfaction. Agents then quickly engage with the customer very publicly to show their concern and desire to gain resolution. If the issue appears to be complex or has the potential to become heated, attempts are made to contact the customer privately.

Additionally, these social media agents look for posts regarding general customer questions. They take the opportunity to officially respond as a company representative with tips, tricks and troubleshooting to resolve any quandaries the customer may be encountering. Information filtered by the social media agents is passed through to the client during the course of the work week. That data is then used by the client to aid in posting official articles on the company’s Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter pages.”

Another group created recently by the client is a team of e-commerce agents. This team was created to respond to e-mails regarding direct purchases from the company website. The agents assist purchasers with questions regarding billing, shipping and tracking of orders. Finally, the newest team created is an official e-mail channel for company e-mail responses. Members of the team utilize the client’s CRM tool to respond to direct e-mails from customers who have questions regarding device function, troubleshooting and warranty/policy issues. While the exact policies and troubleshooting steps are canned and directly pulled from the KB tool to ensure consistent information, agents are taught to customize their greeting and interaction so that the customer feels that they are being treated as an individual.

Companies understand that social media opens up numerous gateways for customer engagement. There are many opportunities for companies to reach out to customers in creative ways. One company in particular is Samsung (News - Alert), which recently customized a Galaxy S II for a Canadian customer after a Facebook post went viral. To get the attention of the company, Shane requested a free GS3 on a Facebook post along with a drawing of a cartoon dragon. Samsung responded with a standard response, “no” and a drawing of a kangaroo, and the thread soon went viral. Samsung took advantage the opportunity to award the “only customized Galaxy SIII in Canada,” creating a positive social buzz and a happily satisfied customer. 

There are many customer relationship opportunities out in the social mediasphere. Alorica’s three-pronged approach, listening, measuring and engaging, covers every component of successful social media marketing, allowing you to maximize the benefits of this vital channel. With Alorica, your company can enhance brand awareness, educate prospects, generate sales leads, promote new products and services, early-stage crisis management, build customer loyalty and improve retention and manage your brand reputation.

To learn more, visit http://www.alorica.com/Social_Media.aspx.