WHY COMMUNITY IS ESSENTIAL TO YOUR DIGITAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT IN 2018

WHY COMMUNITY IS ESSENTIAL TO YOUR DIGITAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT IN 2018

Serving customers with excellence is imperative in today’s highly competitive, fast-moving world. We all know that—every advantage is important.

Recently, I was a panelist on a session at the Incite Customer Service Summit in New York City called “Proactive Social Care: Engage Your Online Community.” Attendees learned how to proactively engage their communities to solve their issues before they become complaints, as well as raise awareness of social care channels and facilitate self-service, facilitate peer-to-peer service, identify customers and potential issues on social networks and online communities, and learn when it’s appropriate to engage and when it is not.

While better customer service was naturally front and center at such an event, what we also examined was how communities can help build customer loyalty and brand trust. Those are big. A modern digital customer service experience is what customers expect and a great online community, available 24x7, delivers that.

If it isn’t already, community should be a critical part of your digital strategy for customer service and for digital marketing. I can potentially turn a one-time customer into a lifetime customer by helping them feel empowered, cared for and valued.

Along with this event, I participated in a podcast called Socially Supportive—if you’re not familiar with it, check it out. This podcast explores how leaders in strategy and technology in the digital customer care industry are getting real business results and transforming their businesses and their brands’ reputations. In 20 minutes or less, listeners can find strategic and tactical information that can move their digital customer care program forward and give them a competitive advantage.

Sound interesting?

Check out the podcast I did in November and learn more about how communities can provide call deflection away from more expensive service channels such as voice and chat, and how your business can gain valuable insights from the community interactions to improve the products and services it provides.   

All of the podcasts are available to listen to or download for later, so I encourage you to listen to the archives and tune in (or download) daily.  There’s even one from today you’ll find helpful that talks about giving exclusive access to community content with private groups (or micro communities we sometimes call them).

Happy listening!