The days in which social media was merely
considered a fad are long gone. Consumers have embraced this new method of
communicating to closed groups and the public at large. Businesses are catching
up, having witnessed the impact social media debates have on their revenues.
So, who is in the customer service driving seat? The customer or the company?
For communications operators, this
question and answer is crucial. Ovum/Genysis reported that a whopping 73% of
customer churn due to poor service. It is widely recognised that social media
channels escalate any bad experience, with the disgruntled customer likely to
tell the masses about their grievance, creating negative impressions of the
operator.
Retaining control with new mediums
Retaining control and embracing the
social media world has never been so important for the communications industry.
Not only can it enable quick and easy resolution of issues and a more
interactive customer experience, social media provides a wealth of insight to
customer behaviours and desires. This in-depth data creates a huge opportunity
for operators, and a huge headache.
The insight this level of information can
bring can create profitable revenue streams for operators. Conducted correctly,
a marketing campaign built on information from social media, or, even better,
delivered directly through social media, will have more uptake, having positive
effects on ARPU rates. Yet, the challenge for operators is how to manage,
track, and analyse the data in the first place.
Single view of the customer
Creating a single view of customers is now generally the norm for traditional customer service channels, but adding data from social media, creates operational complexity for CRM systems. Can current CRM systems be adapted to effectively work for SCRM – Social CRM?
The answer depends on the existing system
in place. In truth, some can, but it must be a next generation system that has
been designed with the future in mind. Understanding that technology will
evolve and one that truly combines the customer data into one record, which can
be easily analysed.
For some time the major operators have
had monitoring systems in place to respond to problems and understand more
about their customers, but this next stage of engagement through social media
is an exciting step. With the right BSS support, operators can target
individuals with offers that are based on their specific behaviours. Some
operators are leading the way and whether you view this as a frightening or
interesting step, it can increase operator profitability.
The customer experience is now a two-way
street. Consumers will continue to dictate how they want to be interacted with,
and business will offer a variety of channels for them to do so. Whether social
media will stay as popular for future generations, we will see, but for now, it
is an important medium that operators should be engaging to enhance customer
experience and drive revenue streams.
CoralTree Systems is a leading provider of innovative BSS solutions, whose clients include some of the market’s leading communications operators.
You can find out more at our website www.CoralTreeSystems.com
This blog was written by Natasha Geldard,
Marketing Consultant for CoralTree.
