Organisations failing customers on social media service channels

Research shows companies recognise need for sophisticated social media in customer service, but are not geared up to use it effectively

New social media research reveals that whilst businesses recognise the need to move beyond simply 'monitoring' what happens on social media, they are not yet geared-up to act on social media activity with anywhere near the same quality of customer service as offered through more traditional channels, such as telephony and email.

When asked about the usefulness of social media for business activities, 25 per cent were using it to deliver marketing and product information, and 34 per cent to monitor what is being said about the company and its products and services, but only 16 per cent see social media as a key customer service channel.

Of those businesses surveyed in the report from ContactBabel – The UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers' Guide 2011 (9th edition) developed on behalf of Alcatel-Lucent and Gensesys, only 26 per cent saw social media as vital to their company's future.
Forty-five per cent of respondents described themselves as actively engaging in social media, but only as a minor channel, and a further 37 per cent were happy to wait and see.

Of the social media channels used, Facebook came out on top with 72 per cent of respondents engaged in this channel, closely followed by Twitter at 67 per cent, then comes Linked-In at 44 per cent, followed by Blogs (32 per cent) and finally YouTube (17 per cent).
Steve Morrell, Principal Analyst, ContactBabel commented: "The results from this report distinctly show that companies are not yet ready to provide effective customer service via social media, partly due to the fact that it is often seen as a drain on resources.

"This perhaps isn't surprising, as committing people to deal exclusively with social media can often be seen to weaken more traditional, and often better quality, voice operations. Yet it is essential that companies work to integrate social media effectively into existing customer service operations, so to reap the benefits of this highly engaging and increasingly popular communication channel. We hope this ContactBabel report will prompt businesses into addressing their approaches to customer service."

Manish Sablok, Head of Marketing, North Europe, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise said "The integration of social media and customer service operations is no longer an option. By integrating social media with existing communication channels, organisations can significantly extend its value throughout the enterprise. Those organisations which recognise the need to integrate social media more fully into existing customer service operations – not just as a marketing channel, but also as a customer service and conversation channel – will see significant improvements in customer engagement and loyalty as a result."