Call Center Services

The call center and the social media network may not be married yet, but they are having a close personal relationship and it may be time to ask their intentions.

Turns out, many customer-facing organizations are doing just that.

Research group Market Force Information says it has seen a three-fold increase in demand for its call center and social media monitoring and outreach services over the past 18 months among a wide range of consumer industries, from restaurant to retail to “petro-convenience” (a combination of gas station and min-mart).

Market Force believes the demand is being driven by the ever-expanding number of media by which consumers expect to be able to interact with their favorite brands and stores. Consumers are posting comments on various social media and call forums and, even more important, they expect to get a response when they do so. Companies lacking a ready method to monitor and respond to all forums face a potential backlash, while those that can quickly identify root causes of a burgeoning problem – on, for example, their Facebook pages or via Twitter (News - Alert) – can then track the problems through to resolution and create a competitive advantage.

The impact of negative customer experiences has never been greater for brands, say Market Force analysts. Social media is not just a way to say “hello” to friends or see pictures of their kids. It also allows customers to instantly broadcast their frustrations and anger toward a certain company or store. What this means is that a relatively small number of consumers can turn a single adverse instance into a public relations nightmare within a matter of hours.

Since angry, frustrated customers will often share their negative experiences with eight to 10 people, and one in five will tell 20 people and social media makes it easier to share those experiences, companies cannot afford to ignore social media. In addition, a well-handled response to customer anger can actually increase loyalty.

“Resolving customer complaints and concerns is critical to customer retention and engagement,” said Janet Eden-Harris, chief marketing officer for Market Force Information. “Happy customers produce the gift that keeps on giving. They buy more. They tell their friends. They return more frequently. But, a few unhappy customers can undo all of your great work.”

So who better to monitor and handle customer issues via social media than the call center? With so much at stake, brands are recognizing that professional call center services, monitoring and responding quickly to social media chatter with store-specific comments, and the ability to glean intelligence from those customer interactions are crucial to keeping those customers loyal.

“Call centers and social media monitoring are key elements of a comprehensive customer intelligence view,” added Eden-Harris. “When combined with other customer perspectives, such as customer satisfaction metrics, mystery shopping scores or social media monitoring, brands have a powerful and comprehensive view of their customer. Consider that a five percent improvement in retention rates can raise profits from 15 percent to 50 percent.”

In other words, if you run or manage a call center, it’s time to stop hoping talk of social networking in the call center will just go away. It won’t.

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