Three Social Customer Care Trends You Need to Know

Social customer care should be entering an age of maturity.

The dominant social media channels have been around for awhile. Facebook is more than ten years old. Twitter is now nine. 

In reality, best practices are still evolving.

Here are three trends from the 2014 Customer Experience Management Benchmark (CEMB) study that’s co-produced by Executives in the Know and Digital Roots. These trends all seem to indicate that companies are still trying to find their way.

Trend #1: Channel Priorities

You can tell a lot about a company’s social media priorities by who owns it.

The CEMB revealed that customer care is an owner or co-owner of social media channels in only 50 percent of companies.

Why is this happening?

One explanation could be that corporate CEOs still don’t understand social media. A 2014 Domo study revealed that 68 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs have no presence on social media.

Another explanation is an apparent lack of social media adoption by customer care representatives themselves.

The Twitter backchannel was a virtual ghost town at ICMI’s 2015 Contact Center Expo & Conference. Only a few highly active participants regularly chimed in. 

Likewise, when I conducted an informal poll in my conference sessions, less than 10 percent acknowledged they were Twitter users.

We can't win the social customer care game until we're actually playing the game.

Trend #2: Wavering Commitment

Many companies are experiencing a commitment problem when it comes to social customer care. They're just not as invested in social like they are in other channels.

According to the CEMB, the growth of social media customer care has slowed.

And, fewer companies are training their social media agents.

Even worse, many companies are almost completely ignoring social media as a customer care channel.

Here are two stats that really jump out:

• Only 14% of companies measure CSAT via social (Source: CEMB)
• The Top 100 brands ignore 78% of Tweets (Source: Freshdesk)

Brands would love us all to have social media conversations about how great they are. They encourage us to share our positive thoughts using their carefully selected hashtags. 

But, they can't have it both ways. If they want us to engage with them, they'd better engage with us.

Trend #3: Strong Alternatives

Other customer care channels are a much higher priority than social.

The CEMB report revealed that social media is the preferred customer care channel for only 9 percent of customers.

Phone is still the top channel. According to ICMI Senior Analyst Justin Robbins, self-service is the fastest growing channel.

My own 2014 study of customer care via Twitter revealed that most customers view Twitter as a secondary channel, not a primary one. They only take to Twitter when another channel has failed them.

Another Twitter study I did earlier this year suggested that the impact of an upset customer ranting online may be overestimated. Or, viewed another way, a customer who receives poor service via any other channel is just as dangerous.

What’s Next?

Sadly, I could easily cut and paste the conclusion from a similar post I wrote a year ago.

It’s about time more companies figure it out. Key areas for improvement include:

• Faster response times
• Fewer ignored questions
• Consistent service quality across all channels

The few companies that get it right can really stand out from the rest that don’t.

There are a few additions, too:

• Customer care teams must gain a seat at the table.
• Customer care professionals must personally engage with social.
• Organizations must provide their agents with adequate training.

Perhaps most importantly, organizations must strive for consistency across all channels. A service failure can be just as damaging over the phone, in person, or via social media.

Five Customer Service Trends Worth Watching

Yesterday, I facilitated a webinar called Customer Service Trends to Watch in 2015. Here’s a re-cap along with links to additional information.

You can watch a replay of the webinar here.

Trend #1: Fixing Broken Systems

Most service failures are caused by broken systems.

It might be a rotten culture, an unfriendly policy, or an underperforming department. These issues go beyond a simple employee error. They can’t be fixed with training. They’re systemic.

The now infamous Comcast cancellation call is a terrific example.

In 2015, I predict we’ll see more companies getting serious about fixing broken systems and making it easy for their employees to provide outstanding service.

Trend #2: Preventing Service Failures

Matt Dixon was a keynote speaker at ICMI’s CC Expo conference last May. One of his slides really caught everyone’s attention:

Delighting customers is fine, but service failures are what really impacts loyalty.

This isn’t a new idea. Dixon co-authored a 2010 Harvard Business Review article called “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers.” And, he released a book on the subject called The Effortless Experience in 2013.

So, why is this a trend now?

Because companies are starting to realize how badly service failures are costing them. Not just in terms of lost customers and lost business, but in terms of wasted time, increased costs, and lots of unnecessary damage control. 

I expect to see a few more companies get serious about service failure prevention in 2015.

Trend #3: Proactive Social Care

My 2014 study on what angry customers Tweet about yielded a surprising result. Waiting is the number one reason angry customers Tweet. The number three reason was no response to a message sent to the company.

In other words, customers send angry tweets because another service channel failed to resolve their problem.

Some smart companies are flipping the script. They’re actively searching for problems they can solve. 

Here’s a great example from cable provider Bright House Networks. The rep happened upon a casual Twitter conversation about cable packages.

​

@JG2pt0 Hi Johnny, I'd like for you to give us the chance to change your opinion about us. I'll be happy to assist you. - Joey

— Bright House Care (@BrightHouseCare) January 14, 2015

Trend #4: Fewer Surveys

In my 2014 article on the Salesforce blog, I detailed five signs that a customer service survey is missing the point.

People are getting tired of taking surveys. Even worse, most companies don’t do anything with them!

In 2015, I expect to see more companies fix their broken surveys. Or, better yet, abandon their customer service surveys altogether for one of these alternatives.

Trend #5: Employee Motivation

Managers just can’t seem to figure out employee motivation. 

Some try incentives. Others try threats. All too many don’t try.

A few are discovering Daniel Pink’s outstanding book, Drive, where he lays out three keys to motivating knowledge workers (e.g. customer service employees):

• Purpose
• Mastery
• Autonomy

Here’s a synopsis of how these principles work for customer service employees.

So, will any of these trends hold true? Only time will tell.

Customer Service Trends to Watch in 2015

Customer service was pretty bad in 2014.

The third quarter American Customer Satisfaction Index dipped to 75.6 percent, it’s lowest level since early 2011.

There were also an assortment of ridiculous service failures. It's hard to believe these things actually happened:

A Comcast rep repeatedly harangued a customer who tried to cancel his service. Executives later blamed the employee when it was really their own policies that caused the problem.

The Union Street Guest House made headlines when they tried to charge wedding party guests a $500 fee for posting negative online reviews.

United Airlines botched an apology letter where they addressed a customer as “Dear Mr. Human.” Sadly, they've done this before. 

A Korean Airlines executive berated members of a flight crew, allegedly assaulted the crew chief, and ordered a plane to return to the gate so the crew chief could be removed. It's been dubbed the "Nut Rage Incident" since the whole kerfuffle was over a bag of nuts.

These unbelievable service failures make it pretty easy to forget how challenging things can be for customer service employees. 

Customers expect increasingly fast responses to email and other communication. Many employees receive insufficient training and get lost on the learning curve. To make matters worse, many customer service jobs are giving employees ADD.

So, will things get any better in 2015?

Only time will tell. However, there are a few trends that companies should know about. 

Join me for a webinar on Wednesday, January 14 at 10 am PST where I’ll reveal:

• The leading cause of service failures. 
• A force three times more powerful than customer delight. 
• One thing that is most likely to trigger an angry Tweet.
• Why customer service surveys may soon be obsolete.
• The real way to motivate customer service employees.

Using Yelp Reviews to Improve Your Business

Your business’s Yelp rating is a beacon that signals to potential customers.

A four or five star rating will encourage new customers to give your business a try. A three star or lower rating might send people to one of your competitors instead.

If you want that coveted Yelp rating, you’ve gotta earn it.

This post is the third in a three part series. The first covered five Yelp trends every business owner needs to know. (Hint: Yelp can be very good for business.) The second post laid out three steps for responding to negative reviews.

This post will show you how to use Yelp reviews to improve your business and ultimately earn higher ratings.

This post is intended to be educational rather than a critique of a particular business, so I decided to use San Diego’s Cucina Urbana restaurant as an example. They’ve earned an impressive 4.5 star rating on Yelp and are also one of my favorite restaurants. 

Their Yelp reviews are also proof that even the best businesses get an occasional customer critique.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to using Yelp reviews to improve your business.

Step 1: Sort Reviews by Date

Yelp uses an algorithm to sort reviews, but you want to look at the most recent feedback. You can click on the “Date” link to sort reviews of your business from newest to oldest.

Step 2: Start a Check Sheet

The next step is to dig into your reviews to search for themes. I like to use a check sheet because it’s fast, easy, and visual.

1. Take a blank piece of paper and create five columns along the top.
   
2. Label each column 1 through 5 to correspond with the Yelp rating options.
3. Read through each review and write down key themes

Put a check next to each theme you encounter in subsequent reviews. For example, if one five-star review mentioned “friendly service” and another five-star review mentions “our server was really friendly,” I’d write “friendly” under the five column and put a check next to the word to indicate it’s been mentioned two times.

Here’s my check sheet for Cucina Urbana’s Yelp reviews post in June 2014:

Step 3: Look For Themes

Your check sheet should reveal a few themes that separate positive reviews from negative ones.

For example, Cucina Urbana’s check sheet immediately told me that people love this restaurant because they nail three important categories:

• Food
• Atmosphere
• Service

There’s also a potential danger from their popularity. Many reviews, including positive ones, mention the need for reservations because the restaurant is so popular.

In fact, where things do occasionally go wrong, the problems are often connected to the restaurant being busy.

Step 4: Investigate

Once you’ve identified some themes, it’s helpful to investigate to get to the heart of the matter. Your biggest challenge is to separate outliers from icebergs.

Outliers are opinions that don’t match the norm. For example, a couple of three-star reviewers mentioned prices were too high. Does this mean Cucina Urbana should lower its prices?

Probably not. 

Very few reviews mention that prices are too high. Other reviews mention that the prices are very reasonable. They also have consistently large crowds, which would indicate that they offer good value. And, the people who complained about price tended to be very price-sensitive in their reviews of other restaurants. 

On the other hand, the way they handle crowds might reveal a few icebergs. An iceberg is a problem that’s much bigger and dangerous below the surface. 

For example, a closer look at the reviews reveal that a couple of people complained of poor communication and rude treatment from the hostess. In both cases, the guests had reservations but didn't arrive at their designated time. (One arrived early, the other late.) 

The 1 in 5 rule may apply here. This rule suggests that for every one complaint you receive, five people actually had the experience. It's a short-hand way of suggesting that the majority of customers don't complain about minor issues.

Using the 1 in 5 rule, it might be reasonable to assume that 10 or more guests in June were upset due to confusion over their reservation. 

Step 5: Take Action

Now comes the most important part - doing something to improve your business.

The whole point of this exercise is to generate actionable insight. You want to be able to identify specific actions you can take to improve service and ultimately earn better Yelp reviews.

Here, I won’t try to offer any specific advice for Cucina Urbana because I’d only be guessing. Without the benefit of doing an investigation myself (Step 4), I might not land upon the right solution.

However, it may help them discover how to make guests feel more welcome when there's confusion over their reservation. The customers often bear some responsibility in these situations, but that won't prevent an upset and unreasonable customer from writing a negative Yelp review.

There are two important caveats here for all business owners.

First, resist the urge to jump to step five before you find out what’s really going on. Otherwise, your solution may be off the mark. 

Second, getting angry at negative reviewers won't improve your business. Your goal should be to use their feedback to improve the experience for future customers.

A Last Word

I will offer one last piece of advice: don’t ever get complacent!

Your journey isn’t over even if you’re lucky enough to earn a four or five star Yelp rating. Just as ratings can increase, they can decrease too.

You and your employees have to earn your customers’ praise each and every day.

How to Respond to Negative Yelp Reviews

A negative Yelp review can feel like a punch in the gut.

You work hard, train your staff, and pour your heart into providing great customer service. Then some bozo comes along and shreds it all to pieces with a scathing write-up.

Ouch.

It may seem counterintuitive, but these complaints represent an opportunity. The key is to handle them correctly. 

This post covers proven steps for responding to negative Yelp reviews. It’s the second post in a three part series. Last week’s post covered five Yelp trends every business owner should know. Next week’s post will focus on ways you can use Yelp to grow your business.

Here are three steps to responding to negative Yelp reviews. (Note: this post borrows heavily from another post I wrote two years ago on responding to online complaints.)

Step 1: Stay Calm

Your mom probably told you that two wrongs don’t make a right.

This sage advice holds true on Yelp. Nobody wins an online argument, so fighting a vitriolic review with your own incendiary rant will only make you and your business look bad.

It might even bring you and your business more negative publicity. 

In one extreme example, a small business owner was arrested and sent to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. The whole story was chronicled by Inc. Magazine.

That type of coverage is a lot worse than one bad Yelp review.

Step 2: Respond Strategically

There should be two goals whenever responding to a negative Yelp review. First, fix the problem. Second, maintain a positive public image.

Yelp provides tools to help you do both.

One option is to respond privately to a reviewer. To do this, you first must set up a free business owner account. 

You can approach this option just like you would a customer email. Use this connection to try to get to the bottom of the issue and, if possible, make the customer feel better.

The second option is to respond publicly. 

Your goal here is to signal to other potential customers that you care about their experience and will work hard to make things right. This makes the tone of your response very important.

Here’s an example of a terrible public response to a one-star review (full review):

It has been said , "An educated consumer is our best customer", clearly you do not fall into this category. You are an idiot.

That response probably won't win the business any future customers. It might even be picked up by a blogger who uses it as a "how not to" example. You don't want that.

Here’s an example of a terrific response to a one-star review (full review):

[W]e don't like to turn away business and we are sorry we can't work with everyone in every situation. We wish you well in your search for a company that is better matched for your contracting needs.

In this case, the person writing the review wasn't even a customer! The business owner used the opportunity to politely clarify the company’s position so other potential customers know what they can and cannot expect. (Full disclosure: I’ve used Ideal for years, in large part due to their awesome service. If you're in the San Diego area, they are the company for plumbing, heating, hvac, electrical, and kitchen or bath remodels.)

There's a third potential benefit to responding to customers who write negative reviews.

While you should never solicit this directly, some customers will increase their rating if a business resolves the problem to their satisfaction. 

Step 3: Look for the Kernel of Truth

Inside all be the most clueless of reviews is a kernel of truth. This is a signal that can be used to improve your business.

Let’s say you run a restaurant and someone writes a one-star Yelp review because there was a two hour wait to get seated. You look closely and notice they didn’t even dine in your restaurant.

Is that fair?

Maybe not, but this reviewer may also be doing you a favor by pointing out an iceberg. An iceberg is a seemingly small problem that is much larger and more dangerous below the surface.

Here are just a few reviews this iceberg might signal:

• Wait times might not be communicated with empathy

• Table turnover is taking too long

• Your reservation process is inadequate

If any of these issues are real, you can make a lot of customers a whole lot happier by fixing them.

Yes, the reviewer might just be a clueless jerk. They may also be one of the 16 percent of reviews that are fake.

Smart business owners will take a deep breath and investigate before dismissing the complaint outright. They might even use it as an opportunity to signal other customers by posting a good response. For example, they could thank the customer for their feedback and suggest some times of the week when they are much less busy while also providing a gentle reminder about their online reservation system.

Will that customer come back? Maybe not. But other customers might see the response and appreciate the thoughtfulness that the owner put into it.

How Negative Reviews Are Good For Business

There are at least three ways that negative reviews can be good for business.

First, customers mistrust businesses with 100 percent positive reviews. They know that a lot of fake reviews are actually written to support a business rather than tarnish a competitor. The occasional negative review makes all the other positive reviews appear more authentic. 

Second, many customers look specifically for negative reviews. Most reviews are positive (67 percent are 4 or 5 stars), so customers want to see what problems people are noting. A business that responds quickly and positively to reviewers instills confidence that problems are being addressed.

Finally, the content of negative reviews can help you improve service. (See Step 3: Look for the Kernel of Truth) Stay tuned for next week’s post, the third in a three-part series, where I’ll break down the steps to using Yelp reviews to improve your business.

Three Social Customer Care Trends You Can't Ignore

Note: This post was originally posted on LinkedIn. You can find more of my LinkedIn posts here.

Social customer service was a big topic at last week’s Contact Center Expo and Conference. (You can read my re-cap here.)

At the conference, Susan McDaniel from Execs in the Know participated in a panel on social customer care where she shared some interesting statistics that really captured the audience's attention. Afterwards, she was kind enough to give me a copy of the 2013 Customer Experience Management Benchmark Study that’s co-produced by her firm and Digital Roots.

Here’s a breakdown of three big trends revealed in the report. If your company serves its customers through social media, you'll want to know about these.

Customer Care Involvement

One of the most promising trends is that customer service teams are getting increasingly involved with social channels.

The numbers looked bleak a year ago.

The Execs in the Know benchmark found only 10 percent of customer service departments owned social customer care. A Ragan study reported this number at 19 percent. Regardless of whose study you follow, the number was ridiculously low.

That number has jumped to 36 percent in the latest report.

It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s also a clear sign that many companies still don’t get it. The majority of corporate social media is still controlled by marketing (42 percent).

Two things happen when marketing dominates social media and doesn't coordinate with customer care.

1. Customer support issues go unanswered.
2. Service channels offer an inconsistent experience.

Social media is social + media. It’s not just for marketing.

Impactful Customer Communities

Remember when everyone was talking about Web 2.0 being the next big thing? We envisioned a world of social interaction where communities of customers could help each other.

That was in 2004.

Ten years later, we may finally be getting serious, with 41 percent of companies hosting a community forum.

Customer service software providers like Zendesk are making it easier than ever to set up communities that put FAQs and customer-driven forums side-by-side. These communities can help customers get the answers they need quickly while reducing service costs.

The online student community at Penn Foster was recognized at the Contact Center Expo and Conference with an award for Best Use of an Emerging Channel. Two stats from their success story really jumped out:

• Emails were reduced by more than 40 percent
• Their cost per interaction has dropped an average of $1.06 per year since 2010

Reduced cost is enticing, but it's important to remember that costs were reduced by making a community that people actually found useful and engaging.

Companies Slowly Getting Serious

This last trend is really a collection of metrics that suggest companies are starting to take social customer service more seriously.

• 82 percent of social media engagements are made by employees (vs vendors)
• 80 percent have policies about what conversations to engage in
• 66 percent provide social media agents with training

All of these represent significant increases over last year’s benchmark.

Of course, the one that really jumped out was ONLY 66 percent provide social media agents with training. Apparently, the remaining 34 percent are left to their own devices. Perhaps figuratively and literally.

If you’re not training your social agents, you’re asking for trouble.

What’s Next?

Social customer service finally seems to be maturing, but it still has a ways to go.

Facebook is 10 years old. Twitter is 8 years old. More than 90 percent of companies use these channels to engage customers.

It’s about time more companies figure it out. Key areas for improvement include:

• Faster response times
• Fewer ignored questions
• Consistent service quality across all channels

The few companies that get it right can really stand out from the rest that don’t.

Five Yelp Trends Business Owners Need to Know

If you’re a business owner who dislikes Yelp, you’re not alone.

Business owners worry that unflattering reviews might scare away potential customers. They’re suspicious that negative reviews might be fake, perhaps planted by an unscrupulous competitor. These reviews of your business can sometimes feel like a personal attack.

Yelp has even been accused of extorting businesses who don’t advertise with them by suppressing positive reviews. (A claim Yelp denies is true.)

The catch is that Yelp impacts your business whether you like it or not. Think of Yelp as a wave in the ocean. You can’t change or stop it. But you can learn to ride it gracefully.

This post is the first in a three part series about the review website Yelp. 

1. Today, we’ll take a look at five big picture trends. 
2. The next post will offer suggestions for responding to negative reviews.
3. The final post  will focus on ways Yelp reviews can help grow your business. 

For now, here are five Yelp trends you need to know.

16% of Yelp Reviews Are Fake

It turns out there really are a lot of unscrupulous people and businesses writing phony reviews.

A recent study by Georgios Zervas and Michael Luca determined that 16 percent of Yelp reviews are fake. They’re either written to boost a business’s online reputation or to unfairly tarnish a competitor’s.

Yelp acknowledged the study on their blog. They also added that 25 percent of reviews posted on the site are weeded out by their filtering software. 

What can you do about it?

It may be easier to describe what you shouldn’t do.

• Legal action probably isn’t worth the time and expense.
• A profane counterattack can backfire and make your business look bad.
• Ignoring the issue won’t help much either.

Many experts suggest a polite, professional response. 

Keep in mind that you aren’t just responding to the person who wrote the review. You’re responding to people who might read the review. Customers are much more understanding of a negative review if the business owner provides a good response.

Groupon Deals Lower Ratings by 12%

Georgios Zervas and Michael Luca, authored another study (this one with John Byers) that coined the “Groupon effect.” Their data revealed that Yelp reviews that mentioned the word “Groupon” averaged a 12% lower rating. 

The study also determined that businesses received a 60 percent increase in reviews after offering a Groupon promotion.

In other words, a Groupon promotion can hurt your Yelp rating by leading to a flood of below average reviews.

The lure of additional business can make services like Groupon and LivingSocial quite tempting. It’s important to realize that might be substantial hidden costs to acquiring new customers this way.

A Free Yelp Account is Worth $8,000

The Boston Consulting Group did a study on the impact of advertising through Yelp. They discovered that just opening a free Yelp account boosts revenue by an average of $8,000.

Here’s what business owners get with that account:

• Communicate with your customers, both privately and publicly
• Track the User Views on your business page
• Add photos, a detailed business description, up-to-date information, history, and specialties
• Recommend other businesses

Customers will talk about your business whether you like it or not. Grabbing your free business account will allow you to actively participate in that conversation on Yelp.

High Ratings Boost Revenue

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but it’s nice to know there’s data to back it up.

Another study from Michael Luca found that restaurants increased revenue by 5 - 9 percent when their Yelp rating improved by one star. 

This impact isn’t just confined to restaurants. A fascinating case study on the Pipeline Marketing Blog illustrated how a painting contractor’s Yelp page delivered $123,040 in revenue one year - nearly a third of the company’s total sales.

And, it seems that people generally like to give positive reviews. People give businesses a four or five star rating 67 percent of the time.

Source: http://www.yelp.com/faq#rating_distribution

How can you raise your Yelp rating? 

I’ll answer that question in the next post in this series. However, I can give you a big hint. It involves listing to and acting on customer feedback.

82% of Yelp Users Are Ready to Buy

A Nielson study found that four out of five Yelp users visit the site looking for information to help them make a purchase.

This makes Yelp an important source of advertising.

Customers visit Yelp much like people used to reference the phone book. They search for a specific business category and then decide which businesses to contact.

Surprisingly, 44 percent of Yelp users say it’s the text of the reviews that matter most when making a decision. They look to the specific pros and cons and how the business owner responds to complaints. 

It’s also important that customers can easily find you once they decide to give your business a try. Make sure your contact information is up to date and your hours of operation are correct. Restaurants can post their menu on Yelp and even offer a link to make reservations.

You can learn even more by visiting Yelp's Business Support Center.

Stay tuned for my next post on Yelp. In the meantime, here are even more interesting statistics, courtesy of Nielson and Yelp: