Social Media Conversations vs. Customer Service
When making purchase decisions, affluent online consumers are using social media channels to share their own customer-service experiences and learn about those of others, according to a new study from the Society for New Communications Research, MarketingCharts reports.
Some 59% of respondents to a survey said they use social media to ‘vent’ about a customer-care experience.
More than 300 consumers who are active internet users participated in the survey, sponsored by Nuance Communications, focusing on how customer care influences brand reputation in light of the quickly growing adoption of social media.
Other key findings from the report, “Exploring the Link Between Customer Care and Brand Reputation in the Age of Social Media,” include the following:
74% choose companies/brands based on others’ customer-care experiences shared online (see chart).
72% research companies’ customer care online prior to purchasing products and services at least sometimes (see chart).
84% consider the quality of customer care at least sometimes in their decision to do business with a company.
84% consider the quality of customer care in their decision to do business with a company at least sometimes.
81% say blogs, online rating systems and discussion forums can give consumers a greater voice regarding customer care, but less than 33% say they believe that businesses take customers’ opinions seriously.
Search engines are the most valuable online tools for this research, says the article. I do not agree with this statement! I have experienced that conversational tracking (software and services) gives much sharper and deeper learnings about consumer conversations and brings far betterconsumer insightss than search engines.
Those rated of no value include micro-blogging sites like Twitter or Pownce (39%), YouTube (27%) and social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace (22%).
Dell and Amazon were cited more often than any other company when asked which types of companies have done the best job in using social media to respond to customer care issues.
As for industry segments, technology, retail, and travel companies were reported as doing the best job, while utilities, healthcare, and insurance were least likely to receive positive endorsements.
“[T]here is a growing group of highly desirable consumers using social media to research companies: 25 to 55 years old, college-educated, earning $100,000+ - a very powerful group in terms of buying behavior,” said Dr. Ganim Nora Barnes, senior fellow, Society for New Communications Research.
“These most savvy and sought-after consumers will not support companies with poor customer care reputations, and they will talk about all of this openly with others via multiple online vehicles. This research should serve as a wake-up call to companies: listen, respond, and improve.”
Source: MediaBuyerPlanner.
Related Posts
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
laurent April 28th, 2008 at 16:45
I agree with your disagreement about search engines not doing the job to research experiences with companies products and services. They lack the social and time dimension that are really necessary to build relevance with the new realm of conversations. Conversation tracking allows to find communities where people share their stories on product/companies experience and listen to those conversations to grab insights that are truly relevant.
Igor Beuker April 28th, 2008 at 16:57
@Laurent
I like your vision! I know search engines can be helpful, but buzz + conversational tracking are much more sophisticated in tracking conversations at blogs, forums and social networks.
It even helps to gain new consumer insights, start communities around products and brands, to identify sneaker freaks for Nike etc..
Cheers
Igor
laurent April 28th, 2008 at 17:14
Igor,
I think behind search engine is the notion that you can find what you want in one click and a bit of browsing. Works for simple things like how to repair a broken chain on your bike. It can be described precisely, search with keywords and everyone who has published on it will say more or less the same thing. Not so true for other things like the one you’re talking about in your blog.
Speaking of my own experience, I’ve assembled 100s to 1000s relevant communities for what I was interested in and scanned them regularly for the particular thing I was interested in; at the end, i’m educated about what relevant people are saying and i can even engage with them by staying relevant and adding value. It’s a lot of work but a big payoff as nothing is more important than staying connected with your customers.
Igor Beuker May 6th, 2008 at 22:32
@ Laurent
I’m very curious in the assmebly of communities. Please tell me more about the background of your interest. And about the study and learnings..
Very interested in that.
If it is info that you can’t share with the whole world, please drop me a line per email.
Cheers
Igor