Be The Hero Your Customers Deserve

Branding a business on Facebook is extremely important because “everyone” is there, and it´s a great way to connect with your audience. Even though brands have had access to Facebook for years, there are still many who scratches their head and don´t know what to do there. I easily get irritated by brands on Facebook who don’t know how to treat their audience well. And getting this right will now be the focus for a series of blog posts. This one is about customer service.

Offer the best service

If you´re the one responding to the comments and messages, hold your tongue more than you respond. Be careful, is my best advice.

I have one example of bad customer service I experienced myself:
I bought a sunscreen with 50 SPF of a really expensive and popular brand. I got so burned, and I tried getting in touch with them on Twitter and Facebook. On twitter they had a block on (no pun intended). And since they didn´t follow me, I couldn’t message them. So I tried emailing them. The problem is that they have many offices. I tried the one in Norway first. No reply. The day after I sent an email to the American office. The lady in the email replied fast, but she blamed my fair skin. She had never seen my skin. I have olive skin. I hardly ever get burned. And my point is that you should never get burned by using 50 SPF, or even get a tan. I was highly disappointed. Whether or not I was in the wrong here isn’t the point, my point is that my relationship with this brand has now gone sour. They had the chance to create an everlasting loving relationship with me, but they let the opportunity go. The lady who responded could have said “I’m so sorry. Have you tried aloe vera to ease the pain? Can I offer you a free sample of our new skincare line to take the sting out of the pain?” That would have made me smile and feel like I had been taken seriously. Sunburns should skincare companies always take seriously, considering the increased risk of skin cancer.

Be approachable

If you´re on Twitter, don’t put a block on! Always be available. Think about it this way: your customer has actually taken time out of his or her life to get in touch with you as a brand. They deserve really good answers.  You want your customers to be in touch with you and it will benefit you to do it well.  And it’s a great opportunity for you to meet customers. Brands spends millions every year on giving away samples, and getting in touch with new customers. And if people are contacting you, it´s free business. Go get them!

Be professional

My other advice is to always take your customers seriously. Customers are mostly right and try to meet them at least halfway, You have nothing to lose by giving them a gift card or a new merchandise. There’s nothing worse than someone who has a good case who makes a YouTube video about their case and it goes viral.

Do it quickly and systematically

Have a system for responding, and do it quickly. Make a system with your colleagues or clear your schedule to look at your Facebook Page and Twitter alerts everyday at a set time. Clarify with your co-workers who will answer different subject, or on different days to delegate the responsibility. You can also use different tools to keep track of your statistics, like 24SevenSocial’s tool Inbox. Here you can even track the response time for your co-workers and rate your audience. So if you have trolls you can rate them one star and they won’t appear on your site. If you have really good fans whom you want to give special treatment, you can rate them with five stars, and you’ll get a notification every time they engage with your site.

What to take away from this blogpost     

Be approachable, give good answers and do it quickly.