Bots tend to be a bit of a controversial topic in the social customer service realm. The truth is, if they’re built correctly and managed by an engaged and informed team, bots can be a really useful tool for brands. Automated workflows, like bots, for social customer care are more helpful for social teams in the long run and ultimately resolve issues faster.
In this week’s #SproutChat, Sprout All Star, Taylor Hall of GVC Mortgage, joined us to talk about social customer care and the incorporation of bots. Taylor has implemented one of Sprout’s Bot Builders into his company’s social strategy and talked best practices in social customer care and automation.
Customer Service Inquiries Require Response on Any Platform
You should pay close attention to where your audience lives on social. Let their presence dictate where you emphasize your broader social customer care efforts, but be accessible on any platform and take care to never ignore customer inquiries.
A1 Absolutely, there are a few platforms that are a good rule of thumb but it's dependent on where your audience is #SproutChat https://t.co/XlF5Ie1Vfs
— Taylor J. Hall (@taylorjhall) July 5, 2017
Q1: Each platform provides you and your consumer opportunity, the question really is are you making your brand accessible? #sproutchat
— Josh Kohnert (@JoshKohnert) July 5, 2017
A1: We're definitely most active on Twitter & our users' Facebook group for customer service. #sproutchat
— Jessie (@JessieAtAC) July 5, 2017
A1 The customer dictates the social media platforms. You want to respond from where customers are, not where they're not. #SproutChat
— Jim Katzaman (@JKatzaman) July 5, 2017
A1: This will obviously depend where your audience is, but Twitter is a great platform for handling customer service. #SproutChat
— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) July 5, 2017
A1: Either Twitter or Facebook — these platforms let you directly interact with customers #SproutChat https://t.co/IsIXClR4NY
— Metter Media (@mettermedia) July 5, 2017
A1: Definitely Twitter, ton of CS extras for DM's & FB more than ever using a bot platform. Tip: Always have a human available! #SproutChat
— Jeff Higgins (@ItsJeffHiggins) July 5, 2017
A1. Twitter is a great platform to respond to your customers in real time and also quickly #SproutChat
— Cheval John (@chevd80) July 5, 2017
Always Track Brand Mentions
Pay close attention to brand mentions on social so your brand doesn’t miss out on opportunities that’ll further engagement with your audience. It’s easy to get caught up in monitoring and managing any negative mentions, but be sure to keep a sharp eye out for the positive mentions you can possibly capitalize on and share with your audience or internal teams.
A2 It's vital, if you're not monitoring your brand's mentions you're missing out on at least being part of the conversation #SproutChat https://t.co/S0UyOdTEVy
— Taylor J. Hall (@taylorjhall) July 5, 2017
A2: Brands need to keep their ears to the train tracks to hear any and all mentions, across platforms. #SproutChat
— Josh McCormack (@joshmccormack) July 5, 2017
A2. You also could be missing good PR and retweet opportunities if you ignore mentions. #SproutChat
— Reva Minkoff (@revaminkoff) July 5, 2017
A2 Not monitoring for mentions on social media is like having a super power but never using it. #sproutchat
— Martin Lieberman (@martinlieberman) July 5, 2017
If you aren't monitoring mentions, social is almost useless. #SproutChat
— Probably Geoff (@mynameisGEOFF) July 5, 2017
A2. Of the utmost importance! Makes people feel like they are being heard and responded to. #SproutChat
— J. Nolfo 🦏 (@jnolfo) July 5, 2017
A2: Definitely important! Even a small business should be in the loop with the conversation. #SproutChat
— MyCorporation (@MyCorporation) July 5, 2017
A2 Monitor mentions & competitors. I've had a lot of success gaining new customers thru #CustServ. Ex: https://t.co/Vy6jdvJeFG #sproutchat
— Jennifer L Kirk ✈️🍴 (@The_Jenius) July 5, 2017
Immediacy Is Best
Consumers often turn to social for customer service issues because it tends to be the path of least resistance, with more immediate response times. Establish response time with your customer service team early when developing a social customer service strategy. If your brand receives a large amount of customer care messages, a bot may be just the right answer.
A3 Ideally within minutes but I'd say depending on your industry within a couple hours is still acceptable #SproutChat https://t.co/RAo0MxlI9y
— Taylor J. Hall (@taylorjhall) July 5, 2017
A3: Again, depends on the brand/industry. But set the expectation. Days on days = way too long. #SproutChat
— Kevin Juliano (@KevinJJuliano) July 5, 2017
A3 Good or bad, brands should respond to customer service messages soonest to show they are active and that they care. #SproutChat
— Jim Katzaman (@JKatzaman) July 5, 2017
A3. For us (B2B), depends on the channel, time of day, and the day of week (4 – 24 hours). #SproutChat
— J. Nolfo 🦏 (@jnolfo) July 5, 2017
Q3: As soon as they're able to!! but set a limit for when messages HAVE to be responded to. #SproutChat https://t.co/3hVWeLhCDy
— Eman H. Aly (@EmanHAly) July 5, 2017
A3. The closer to real-time the better. #SproutChat
— Reva Minkoff (@revaminkoff) July 5, 2017
A30 Generally if they are commenting on social a fast response is expected and required in some cases. #Sproutchat
— Steve Cassady (@SteveCassady) July 5, 2017
Bots Shouldn’t Be Robotic
If you’re thinking of building a bot for your social customer care needs be sure to put yourself in the customer journey when thinking through the process. Think of common pain points for customers and look for patterns in your data to find frequently asked questions you can incorporate in your bot approach. Keep your brand’s tone and voice in mind when writing copy for your bot to maintain consistency across all platforms.
A5 Can you provide immediate value to a customer without getting a person involved? A disadvantage is the ability for empathy #SproutChat https://t.co/Cbcc05Vg4z
— Taylor J. Hall (@taylorjhall) July 5, 2017
A5: Don't try to fool people with your bots. Be transparent. #SproutChat
— Josh McCormack (@joshmccormack) July 5, 2017
A5: I think the key to bots are using them WITH real people, not INSTEAD of real people. #sproutchat
— Dave Macdonald 🇨🇦 (@rdavemacdonald) July 5, 2017
A5b. interacting with a bot or a human? Suit your final decision on what your customer wants, and fulfill it 2/2 #SproutChat
— Top Uniforms (@topuniforms) July 5, 2017
A5: consider a customer journey thru the bot & when talking to a real person will be needed.#SproutChat
— Jennifer Daugherty (@GlitterOtter) July 5, 2017
A5: Brands should definitely make sure the chatbot is user friendly and has easy navigation.
I.e: A button that leads back to the main menu— Sam Schmir 🤷♂️ (@SamSchmir) July 5, 2017
Bots Will Become Smarter
As more brands bring bots into their customer service strategies, it becomes easier to see the ways bots can get smarter, potentially identifying customer service issues before they even occur. Bots have the potential to make social customer service a seamless and efficient process, allowing your team to focus on furthering customer engagement.
A6 Think they have the potential to deliver even better customer service, especially with knowledge base integration #SproutChat https://t.co/FfWdr0IBUx
— Taylor J. Hall (@taylorjhall) July 5, 2017
A6. They're going to get more sophisticated, and maybe beat the voice recognition CS on phones. #SproutChat
— Eman H. Aly (@EmanHAly) July 5, 2017
A6: They will "learn" more. In our business, the questions are so repetitive I can see them being pre-dominant. #sproutchat
— Brad Lovett (@Brad_Lovett) July 5, 2017
A6: combining personalization data with sentiment tracking will create a better cust. exp. w/bots that feels more natural. #sproutchat
— Jennifer Daugherty (@GlitterOtter) July 5, 2017
A6: More user friendly, more intuitive – using a chatbot will be the norm, not the exception. #SproutChat
— Rebel.com (@rebeldotcom) July 5, 2017
A6: Siri, Alexa & other home assistants will set expectations for cross-channel customer service #SproutChat https://t.co/wupy0h5Jta
— Su Doyle (@sudoyle) July 5, 2017
A6: I think there will always be a need for the human touch. I would hope bots can better lead end user to the right human. #sproutchat
— Deserae_Dorton (@Deserae_Dorton) July 5, 2017
A6: Bots will notify you before you contact CS based off user action, search, or app usage. Squash the problem before it is one! #SproutChat
— Jeff Higgins (@ItsJeffHiggins) July 5, 2017
Join us in #SproutChat next Wednesday, July 12, at 2 p.m. CDT to chat about branding your business on social media with Sprout All Star Elite, Rebekah Radice. In the meantime, join our Facebook community to connect with other folks in the industry.
This post #SproutChat Recap: Using Bots for Social Customer Service originally appeared on Sprout Social.
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