Social Customer Care Requires Compassion

O’Flahavan suggests that companies keep a small library of scripted writing for what she dubs “fiddly content” that mixes numbers and words. “Let’s say you have a sale running and you have a percentage off and a code for one product and a different percentage off and code for another product. You don’t want agents to have to type that. It’s a number and a symbol and a code, and it’s likely that they’re going to make a keyboarding error. It’s just tiresome to type. That’s the kind of thing that should be scripted,” she says.

Additionally, a combination of scripted and customized responses is essential for diversifying companies’ social media feeds. “You never want your feed to be the same tweet 5,000 times,” O’Flahavan advises. “The script should be short, and it should be the kind of information where the customer wouldn’t want you to keyboard it. Do you want the company to keyboard how late their stores are open? No, it’s fine if they copy and paste that.”

Tom Jullings, director of onefoursix, a digital marketing agency, expresses a similar sentiment, saying that he is an advocate for “semi-scripted” responses. “Customers often take to social media because of a desire for human interaction,” he says. “Provide your staff with training and flexibility to add some personality into the interaction at the right moments. That helps customers to feel at ease and have confidence that someone is looking after them.”

DEALING WITH ANGRY CUSTOMERS

On social media, as with any customer service channel, anger and outrage is to be expected. Most customers are reaching out because something has gone wrong, and they are naturally upset. The key is being able to identify their level of anger and to respond appropriately.

Most of the time, such situations can be handled one of two ways, according to O’Flahavan.

In one scenario, it might be best to let the community handle the situation. “If the claims are ridiculous, then a lot of times the community will handle it,” she says. “If the customer says, ‘These crackers are the most disgusting, flavorless crackers I’ve ever tasted,’ and no one else agrees with him, they will shut the person down or say, ‘I don’t see it that way’,” she explains.

The second way of dealing with an overly angry customer would be to move the conversation to a more private forum where the company can learn more about the issue. In the cracker example, the company might want to find out where the customer bought the crackers, whether the package was damaged, or whether the customer had tried other flavors or varieties.

If the company wants to communicate publicly with an angry or negative customer, it should ask what it can do to make the situation better for the customer, acknowledging the problem and letting everyone see that it is willing to make things right, O’Flahavan suggests.

When customers go to the farthest extremes, posting abusive or harassing comments, O’Flahavan suggests more drastic action. This could include hiding the comments, discontinuing the dialogue, or blocking the person, though doing the latter requires the company to have a published social media comments policy that it can use to justify a decision if it is challenged. Such a policy, she cautions, “is essential in a customer care operation.”

The policy statement doesn’t have to be too complicated. In fact, O’Flahavan recommends putting together just a few sentences that say something like this: “On our social channels, we will not allow any commentary that’s hateful, abusive, aggressive, harassing, or profane, and if you behave that way, we will block you.”

This protects not only the company but also the agents who field these kinds of contacts. “Being a social media customer service agent is a tiring job. You need a thick skin, but you don’t need anyone swearing at you. If the agent is going to be able to shut down or stop participating in a conversation where the customer is being profane, you want to be able to link to the policy.”

Jullings adds that companies should avoid being too casual when dealing with angry customers on social media. “Even if your brand has a calm, chilled, relaxed vibe, now is not the time to be any of those things,” he says. “Businesses should use professional, courteous language and, if the opportunity arises, show personality by providing a first name of the person dealing with the issue. That will help to break down some of the barriers.”

But no matter the customer’s issue, or how she presents it, the company involved has one basic responsibility upon which everyone can agree: “Listen to the customer. Tell him what is being done and when it is being done,” Jullings says.

That’s a social media best practice that will serve everyone best.

Associate Editor Sam Del Rowe can be reached at sdelrowe@infotoday.com.