Revealed: What *Customers* Demand from Social Customer Care

Since it is called social customer care, does it not make sense for businesses to concern themselves with what customers want?

Far too often, businesses develop their sales, marketing and customer service strategies from a position of insularity. They craft strategies based on an overview of their own resources, their own operations and their own competitors. They evaluate performance based on metrics that make sense to their independent notion of excellence. They treat advice from a group of their peers and allies as a source of "best practices."

Glaringly absent from all such formulation is the voice of the customer. Represented by little more than a hollow commitment to the abstract notion of "customer satisfaction," the voice that should entirely dictate customer management strategy comes to epitomize the word irrelevance.

And the consequences are dire. A magnet for costly investment, a realm like social customer care requires careful planning and astute monitoring of results. If businesses focus on internal—rather than external issues—when formulating those plans, how can they assure their spend is optimal? How can they evaluate performance? How can they measure ROI? How can they assure they consistently and correctly adapt to market demand?

While often employed by critics of a limited, status quo approach to social customer care, this line of argumentation can also be a weapon against the cry of such social media advocates.

The fact that only 44% of major brands respond to customer Tweets within 24 hours might seem disappointing on the surface, but without hard evidence that customers demand that sort of service, how can one expect to convince inert businesses to offer it?

The dog goes woof. But what does the customer say?

Recognizing a dearth of the data most pivotal to customer management strategy, Lithium and Millward Brown recently collaborated to understand how customers feel about service on social media.

Their findings support the idea that customers do not think of social like a fringe, supplemental channel. They take social customer care very seriously, and as a result, they have very serious expectations for quality of service.

While a majority of major brands require more than 24 hours to respond to a customer’s Tweet, the majority of customers (53%) demand a response come within a single hour (the number rises to 72% when the inquiry is a complaint). 14%, believing that choosing Twitter over the phone should not come with a tradeoff in responsiveness, expect an instant response.

Only 26% of customers will tolerate a response that takes longer than twelve hours; only 14% will wait more than twenty four.

That data, customer-driven data, reveals the extent to which quality, responsive social customer care is no longer a pipe dream but a necessity for today’s marketplace. Customers are not rewarding businesses for making an effort on social media; they are condemning them for not doing enough.

Clear enough at face value, the true level of customer expectations might be even higher. Because so few businesses respond with ferocity, customer expectations for social customer care have likely been tempered by conditioning. In an ideal world, demand—which already recalls for a response time of within an hour—would likely be even more stringent.

Does it matter?

If a customer says it wants something, a competent business should do everything in its power to deliver. Some businesses, however, choose to operate from a position of stubbornness.

For many bottom-line-oriented businesses, a customer’s indifference or even mild dissatisfaction is of no issue until he compels him to switch to a competitor. If a customer is not willing to put his money where his mouth is and leave when he does not receive an optimal experience, why should the business feel obligated to optimize that experience?

Well, businesses, consider yourself obligated, because the Lithium/Millward Brown study reveals that ineffective customer care comes with real consequences.

When a business missed the aforementioned service targets, a whopping 38% will instantly develop a negative perception of the brand. An even more staggering 60% will take "unpleasant actions" to express their dissatisfaction.

Whether that entails posting a further, more damming complaint or taking one’s business elsewhere, customers do not accept mistreatment lying down. They are empowered in the age of digital customer care. Care for them, or they will stop caring about you.

Care for them AND they will show you how much they care.

When done poorly, digital customer care drives decidedly negative consequences. When done correctly, digital customer care can yield immense value.

According to the study, when customers receive timely social media responses from businesses:

• 34 percent are likely to buy more from that company;
• 43 percent are likely to encourage friends and family to buy their products;
• 38 percent are more receptive to their advertisements;
• 42 percent are willing to praise or recommend the brand through social media.

Whether a business is driven by fear or promise, the evidence is there and in ample supply: doing right by digital customers will do wonders for the business.

And it is that notion that should drive social customer care. It is that notion that should serve as a reminder that social customer care is not about saying one is there but by being there…with an answer…in a very timely fashion.