In business, sometimes the flow of communication can look like the East Los Angeles Interchange: merging freeways and roads, resulting in traffic or complete gridlock, and commuters waiting for someone else to move. But, with enterprise social networking, there is no traffic. Communication is free flowing. Employees have better access to company leadership; collaboration is simplified across departments; and processes are more transparent. The network is valuable for improving internal communication and knowledge sharing, but it’s also great for another important element: customer satisfaction. Learn how you can provide better customer service with your private social network using the methods below:
- Provide proactive, not reactive, customer service. Since you can be a part of a private social community with each customer and follow all of their relevant notifications, not only will you know what’s happening, but you can also anticipate their needs and resolve problems ahead of time. Proactively, you can use your private social network to provide blog-posts, PDF documents, or videos with solutions, and improve the customer experience.
- Encourage feedback. By encouraging customer feedback via the community, you will become aware of minor problems before they turn into major ones that result in the loss of a customer. And, chances are this customer isn’t the only one with this issue – you will learn how to satisfy many other customers now and later who have the same concerns.
- Stand out from other organizations. Every company claims to value customer service, but not all of them walk the talk. Use your private social network to stand out from the competition. Answer customer posts promptly. Hold contests or provide awards to customers using the private social network. Keep customers coming back for more by encouraging their behaviors in a unique and compelling way.
When you elevate your customer service techniques and give your customers a positively memorable experience, they’ll be back for more. They’ll also do what social network users are prone to do: share it. And, when visitors see how your social network improves your level of service, they won’t want to do business with anyone who can’t match it. If you enjoyed reading this article, you might also be interested in 10 Ways to Break the Ice with Enterprise Social Networks.
