A conversation on Twitter
As a company, what you’re probably thinking is:
“I’ve just routed him to our support channels because we have this awesome ticketing system that is designed to be the most efficient for us and our customers”
As a customer you’ve just lost me. Why? Because what I’m hearing is:
“We’re too busy to listen to you”
And I’m already frustrated with your service, whether it is my fault or not. You’re not helping the situation.
A different conversation on Twitter
In this version of the conversation, you’ve just broken down my initial defenses. While I’m frustrated, you’ve responded showing you’re listening.
What’s the next step?
Let’s see how the conversation unfolds
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It’s solved
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It ends up as a support ticket
If you solve my issue, you’ve just saved me some time and messing around. If you haven’t, for whatever the reason, you’ve given me the opportunity to help myself by helping you.
But it won’t work…
You could argue that this doesn’t work because it’s not the most efficient for your support team.
It’s not about your support team. It’s about the customer.
You could argue that this doesn’t scale.
If you can’t make it scale, don’t be on social media. But I’d argue it does. There are quite a few very large companies out there that are getting it.
You could argue that if you give someone a hand, they’ll take your arm.
True. But there are ways to handle those situations also. And it’s not always the case.
Enable your customers. Don’t build a fortress to protect yourself from them. They want to deal with a human being and be treated as one.