The Top Industries in Social Customer Care – vía @socialbakers

Each quarter, we release a ranking of the most responsive industries on Facebook, so that you can benchmark your level of customer care against the market standards. Check out the latest results for Q2!

Since we introduced Socially Devoted as a standard in social customer care, brands have improved the way they deal with questions on their Facebook and Twitter walls.

Taking a look at a year’s worth of data, we’ve spotted some interesting trends. For example, our quarterly industry rankings show that Airline, Telecom, and Finance are consistently the three most responsive verticals on Facebook. The latest results show that the Airline industry is in the lead (with a 79.1% Response Rate), followed by companies in Finance (77.7%), and Telecom (75.2%).

Leaders in Respective Industries

The average Response Rate of all the studied brand pages (22 961) was 62% with an overall average response time of 1 153 minutes. That means that the FMCG, Electronics, Alcohol, and Automotive Industries performed below the overall average. Keep in mind that our Socially Devoted criteria state that brands must reach a 65% Response Rate.

1. Airlines

Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) have the most responsive Facebook Page in their industry, with an outstanding 97.21% Response Rate and a Response Time of 45 minutes.

Airlines industry benchmark: Response Rate: 79%, Response Time: 475 minutes

2. Finance

South African FNB responded to 97.61% questions on Facebook in Q2 and did so within 60 minutes, on average.

Finance industry benchmark: Response Rate: 78%, Response Time: 575 minutes

3. Telcom

Clients of Claro, a mobile operator in Gautemala, can expect most of the answers to their questions (98.34% Response Rate) in about 32 minutes.

Telcom Industry benchmark: Response Rate: 75%, Response Time: 495 minutes

4. Retail

In case you have any inquiries concerning Tesco products, you can rely on a 93.35% Response Rate and a 98 minute Response Time.

Retail industry benchmark: Response Rate: 66%, Response Time: 743 minutes

5. Fashion

Hungry for fashion tips? Black Milk Clothing covered most of the questions during Q2 (91.06%) in 72 minutes on average.

Fashion industry benchmark: Response Rate: 65%, Response Time: 733 minutes

6. FMCG

Indonesian baby formula Aku Anak SGM dominates the FMCG industry with an 87.79% Response Rate and a 906 minute Response Time.

FMCG industry benchmark: Response Rate: 57%, Response Time: 1 026 minutes

7. Electronics

Samsung in Norway (Samsung Norge) reached a high Response Rate in Q2 (87.63%), however it takes them more than 17 hours to respond (1 062 minutes).

Electronics industry benchmark: Response Rate: 47%, Response Time: 1 166 minutes

8. Alcohol

Tequila Centenario became the most Socially Devoted brand in the alcohol industry with a 89.43% Response Rate and a 389 minute Response Time.

Alcohol industry benchmark: Response Rate: 38%, Response Time: 812 minutes

9. Automotive

SEAT Mexico customer service is nearly perfect thanks to a 93.26% Response Rate and a 547 Response Time.

Automotive industry benchmark: Response Rate: 38%, Response Time: 985 minutes

Don’t forget to check out www.socially-devoted.com! You’ll also be able to see the Twitter results for the last three quarters.

How To Measure Your Loyalty Program’s Incremental ROI – vía @cmo_com

Prior to launching a loyalty program, smart marketers build ROI models…

Vía CMO.com
…that forecast incremental profits based on anticipated lifts across three key customer revenue variables: average order size, yearly purchase frequency, and yearly retention rates. These models make assumptions on funding, breakage, and participation rates to estimate results.

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS:

How can you tell what loyalty members would have spent if no program existed?
New customers are a particularly good segment to break out for high-level comparison.
The purest way to measure incremental lift is to randomly assign every existing and new customer to a control group.
Full article 🙂

For example, “Compare Members versus Nonmembers” section, we performed the following analysis:

• Identified every shopper, loyalty program member and nonmember that made at least one purchase over first three months of loyalty program. For the member group, the purchase had to be made within 24 hours of registering for the loyalty program.

CMO Wake-Up Call: Actionable Insights Await In The Contact Center – thnxz @incontactCMO

«Marketers are abuzz over numerous new ways to reach out and engage with customers«.

by Mariann McDonagh. Follow Mariann @incontactCMO

Social media is becoming a mainstay, mobile marketing is surging, and voice-of-the-customer (VoC) research programs are in vogue. Marketers are even setting up command centers to track and analyze online customer feedback. We’re learning how to listen, relate, adjust, and respond to customers in ways we never imagined.

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS:

The contact center presents a unique opportunity to hear the real voice of the customer.
Actual customer conversations are potentially more authentic than research gleaned from controlled studies.
Your contact center is on the front line of customer service

Full article? here 🙂

Repeat after me: Social is not about 1 metric, its about all of them // @socialbakers

Social engagement, social content, and storytelling
Social commerce
Social advertising – there are about another 10 metrics to follow here
Influencer marketing – influence measurement & building framework
Social listening – there are many metrics to measure here
Social customer service

We have been particularly focused on social media customer service, since it hasn’t gotten much recognition. If we created the impression that the majority of your social marketing efforts should be directed to social customer service – we apologize. Although social customer service should weigh heavily on your social strategies, it should not be the only thing to consider. Though some companies may experience exceptions to this rule, the vast majority can not rely only on social customer service as the only metric. Developing an effective social media strategy is about choosing the right mix, building your own framework for measurement and score cards that work for your business.

Full article 🙂

How Are you Measuring Up? Tracking the Right KPI’s for Retail // thnxz socialbakers.com – @socialbakers

Last week we brought you an overview of the important Key Performance Indicators for the Aviation industry. This week’s study focuses on how Retail brands can measure the performance of their social media customer care and marketing strategies.

Retail KPI’s

Marketing and promotional advertising are critical components for every retail brand around the world. Social media platforms provide an economical and user-friendly channel that, if used effectively, can resolve business problems that may arise. With the proper measurement tools, retail brands can boost their social media performance to provide best social media care available, calculate ROI for online sales, increase brands awareness and much more!

Important Social Media KPIs for Retail

Fan Growth: The increase in Fans during a select time range.

Engagement Rate: The amount of user interactions (Likes, comments and shares) that occur with your Page.
Response Rate: The percentage of user posts or questions that the admin responded to.
Response Time: The average amount of time that it takes for the admin to respond to user posts or questions.
User Activity: Identifying the times of days and the days of week in which your users are engaging most frequently with your Page.
Shareability: The amount of shares a Page receives per day.
Interactions: The number of interactions that a Page or post receives and the types of interactions (Likes, comments and shares).

Social media KPIs provide many business solutions for the Retail Industry, such as:

Direct ROI for hits on the page
Direct ROI for redeemed coupons posted on social networks
Soft ROI for in-store transactions via social promotions
Brand Awareness
Customer Acquisition
Social Customer Service

View more free reports… socialbakers.com

Brand Love – The Social Way of Performing Customer Research // Via @socialbakers all credit and thanks!!

The research also provides us with an industry overview of how consumers feel towards a particular vertical, for e.g. if consumers have a stronger connection with airlines or brands from the FMCG industry. Check out the latest results below!

@socialbakers | socialbakers.com

Let Your Fans In: The Advantages of Open Facebook Walls // via socialbakers.com // @socialbakers

Since we first launched Socially Devoted, brands have really upped their games, increasing the responses to customer questions through social media platforms. We wondered why some brands still have closed walls.

Throughout 2012, as the value of social media and online customer care became apparent, we noticed that companies set up presence and started to focus on two-way communication. Several brands, such as Nivea Men USA and Whirlpool opened their Page walls that were previously closed. And it pays off! Whirlpool is Socially Devoted with a Response Rate of 82,42% and Nivea Men USA is almost there, responding to 64,29% of questions on Facebook.

Via socialbakers Social Media Statistics

Whirlpool opened its Facebook wall and now responds to 82.42% questions! Worth it!

In 2013 we see the smart brands focusing on the quality of relationships, competitive analysis and the consistency of data.

However some brands are still lagging behind and don’t even allow their customers to contact them via Facebook. These include Puma, Dolce & Gabbana and Blackberry. Altogether these brands do not allow a total of 15 979 004 fans to have a voice. Continuar leyendo «Let Your Fans In: The Advantages of Open Facebook Walls // via socialbakers.com // @socialbakers»

Improving Facebook Response Rates – Walmart Did it, How Can You? // Thnx to socialbakers.com

We’ve talked about how important it is for brands to be Socially Devoted. Well, some brands have taken the challenge and amped up their social media customer care!

When we first launched Socially Devoted, an industry standard that measures social media customer care, we were faced with dismal numbers. Overall, 70% of Facebook questions were ignored! However, after challenging brands to become more Socially Devoted, overall response rates increased from 30% in Q2 to 55% in Q4. We’d like to mention some brands that definitely have something to be proud about when it comes to social customer care.

Walmart Takes the Leap Toward Socially Devoted

Walmart has an incredibly active Facebook Page. Only a half a year ago they were ignoring 8 794 customer questions per quarter. It looks like their team really took up the challenge because in Q4 they left only 143 questions unanswered! Continuar leyendo «Improving Facebook Response Rates – Walmart Did it, How Can You? // Thnx to socialbakers.com»

The Most Socially Devoted Industries on Twitter

Since we launched Socially Devoted as an industry standard of social media customer care, we have been pleased to see brands making an extra effort to improve their Response Rates and Response Times – especially on Facebook.
Via socialbakers.com

But How Does Twitter Measure Up?

We’ve seen some improvement over the last three quarters in the Response Rates, especially in the Electronics and Alcohol industries. But once again, the top 3 in the ranking are dominated by the Finance, Airlines, and Telecom industries. This is great, considering that they are all service companies and should, therefore, be responsive to all kinds of inquiries from their customers.

Socially Devoted is a key measurement that can help brands to improve their success in social customer care. Even brands with high Engagement Rates should not ignore it; after all who can afford not to improve on customer satisfaction?

+ Full article

Social Media Report 2012: Top Trends SMBs Need to Know

Nielsen’s State of the Media: The Social Media Report 2012 reflects on various social media trends of 2012, as well as the potential impact they will have on the coming year. There is no denying that social media is more popular than ever with consumers, and that having a social media presence is critical for SMBs’ online marketing strategies in 2013. Here are a few highlights from the report.

Mobile Usage Is Not Slowing Down

As you might have guessed, the amount of time consumers spent on PCs and Smartphones increased between July 2011 and July 2012. Time spent on these devices grew by 21%, while time on apps rose 120% in that same period. While PCs still remain our primary source of Internet access, the usage of mobile Web and apps are increasing at a significant rate. Small businesses can’t afford to ignore mobile any longer, and should invest in mobile-friendly advertising and sites to reach this growing audience.

Time Spent on Social Networks Grew 37%.

From July 2011 to July 2012, the time consumers spent on social media sites grew from 88.4B minutes to a whopping 121.1B minutes. Nielsen attributes this substantial growth in part to the rise of mobile apps, which enable us to stay connected to our favorite sites while on the go. In fact, we spent seven times more minutes on apps than on the mobile Web. Time spent on these sites means social media access is not only on the rise, but also that we are more engaged when we do visit them. For small businesses, this means being active on social media is more important than ever in order to reach consumers spending a large portion of their time there.

Consumers Value Social Customer Service Continuar leyendo «Social Media Report 2012: Top Trends SMBs Need to Know»

6 Ways to Get Customers to YES! | Inc. |

Influence your customers to buy from you using these six easy methods.I’ve got some good news, some bad news, and then some even better news.

The good news is that most customers truly want to say yes! The bad news is that, although people love to buy, they hate being sold to.

Finally, here’s the even better news: There are six ways to influence a customer to buy without explicitly selling to them, according to Dr. Robert B. Cialdini, author of the bestseller Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: Continuar leyendo «6 Ways to Get Customers to YES! | Inc. |»

The Power of Praise: ‘Thank You’ Goes a Long Way | Inc.com

Kathleen Kim | Inc.com staff
Thanks INC!

New research reveals something pretty obvious. Thanking and rewarding employees can give your business a boost.
Don’t hold off until annual performance reviews to praise stellar employees. A simple “thank you” here and there can boost efficiency and even help your business make more money.

According to new research (and, perhaps, the laws of common sense) companies that excel at employee recognition are 12 times more likely to generate strong business results than those that do not.

In companies focused on rewarding their workers, employee engagement, productivity and customer service were about 14% better than in those that skimp on recognition, the study found.

The study was conducted by advisory services firm Bersin & Associates President and CEO Josh Bersin wrote recently that “high-recognition culture” companies share three common traits:

First, they build focused recognition programs which collect “thank you’s” and “feedback” from peers, not just managers. Second, they directly tie recognition to business goals and company values, so recognition reinforces strategy. Third, they give employees open and transparent access to the program – so everyone can see who is being recognized and anyone can recognize another.

But to really praise like a pro, start here:

Be specific and know your people
Consider the delivery
Get everyone involved

Continuar leyendo «The Power of Praise: ‘Thank You’ Goes a Long Way | Inc.com»

Social Customer Care – Where Do We Go From Here?

Thinking Social / Value

Next week, I have the opportunity to chair a Social Customer Service Summit. Speakers will include one of the founding fathers of social care, Frank Eliason, as well as the always inspirational team from Zappos. In preparation for what is bound to be a lively discussion, our Ogilvy team has landed on a question that will certainly spark reflection by many of the participants—- “You’ve built a successful social care team, but what happens now?”

First, some background on how we arrived here.

In March of 1876, Alexander Graham Bell exclaimed in excitement, “Watson, come here! I want to see you!” And so, the world’s first practical telephone was invented. With the first ring, this brought a promise of a new means of communication, and an ability to collapse distance. Now, flash forward to the present and think about the phrase “call center,” and make a quick word association. Does it trigger thoughts of “back office” or “cost-center?” I thought so…

As someone who has actually worn a call-center headset, I often wonder if the same fate will ultimately befall social. Will it become just another channel? Will customers dread interacting with a brand on Facebook as much as they do dealing with an automated phone system? I would suggest that the answer to that question is quite simple — “It’s up to us.”

Our approach to customer service is at a crossroads. Do we invest in true contact centers because we want to provide a better customer experience, or do we simply ramp up a new care team to quell social media fires? If you’ve already created a small squad of Ninja-Guru-Yoda-Crackerjack-Rockstar-Masters who have been trained on how to listen and respond in social media, then give yourself a pat on the back. In the words of one of theiridols, you’ve taken the first step into a much larger world. However, it’s now time to think about social care as part of a greater whole.

Here, the operative phrase is “Socialize the Enterprise”, coined by Social@Ogilvy’s, John Bell. It’s a powerful idea with major implications on aspects of business that might currently be untouched by social, specifically call-center operations and traditional care teams. While we’re certainly not advocating letting all your traditional frontline agents loose on Twitter without proper training, we are in favor of helping clients embrace social principles internally, wisely. For example, we think measuring the sentiment of your internal audience, namely call-center agents, about what’s working and what’s not in their daily interactions with customers is crucial to becoming more social, quickly and effectively.

Continuar leyendo «Social Customer Care – Where Do We Go From Here?»

A Product Brand vs A Service Brand? | theideabrand.com

Building a Brand Management Service Vision’

1. What’s the difference between a Product brand and a Service brand?

Product brands are about products. Mars, a classic Product brand, doesn’t answer back, doesn’t get tired, isn’t anxious, is always ready to perform and always tastes the same. Every experience with a Product brand is/should be identical. Service brands aren’t like that. Service brands are about people. People who represent the organization lose their tempers, get tired and anxious, and sometimes have just had enough that day. Every experience with a Service brand is therefore different.

Whatever you feel the Starbucks brand stands for, one thing all Starbucks customers can agree upon is that the chain has elevated the ubiquitous coffee house to much more than a commodity by making it a special, customer oriented experience, it’s become a Service Brand.

Similarly, Virgin has done the same with everything from air and space travel to music festivals.

The Virgin ‘Service’ brand revolves around delivering value pricing, high quality, fun, innovation, while being authentic, people-oriented, hip, and associated with Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson and his personal reputation. Not to mention – great customer service.

Many of the people who are in charge of managing Service brands (CMO’s, MD’s, Call Centre Directors, Customer Service Directors) have been trained in the traditional school of creating great consumer product brands. Their attempt to manage Service brands as though they are Product brands has created vast problems.

For the customer, the person who represents the brand is the brand.

If the person representing the brand doesn’t perform properly, the relationship between the brand and the customer may collapse.
The implication of this is that service-based organizations have to focus on their internal employees to a far greater extent than product-based organizations.

Complete article

Stories by socialtimes.com

How Quickly Do You Respond to Customer Service Requests on Social Media?

Devon Glenn

Social media sites are becoming virtual customer service centers, according to the NM Incite Social Care Survey. Currently, 47 percent of people who use social media sites are actively seeking customer service and 30 percent prefer to reach out to brands on social channels than pick up the phone and call. But customer service reps can breathe easy knowing this: 83 percent of Twitter users and 71 percent of Facebook users only expect brands to respond to them within one day of their post. That’s one day, not one hour or five minutes.

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One Day On Earth To Film Life In Every Country Again On 12/12/12

Megan O’Neill

One Day on Earth, the amazing collaborative film project that documented life on earth in every country on 10/10/10 and 11/11/11 is at it again this year. On 12/12/12 they will be launching their largest filming event to date, telling the world’s story in a day once again, and you can be a part of it.

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Social Media Newsfeed: Facebook Gain | Zynga Bounce | News.me Apps

Facebook Shares Nab Biggest Gain Since IPO on Earnings, Analyst Upgrades (The Wall Street Journal)
Facebook on Wednesday posted its biggest daily stock gain since its initial public offering in May, a day after reporting strong revenue and progress on making money from mobile ads. The social network’s shares rose 19 percent to $23.23 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, its highest closing price in five weeks. Inside Facebook Facebook spent $87 million so far this year on business acquisitions not including its Instagram purchase, the company revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. The social network spent $521 million on Instagram — $300 million of which was in cash, the rest in vested shares of Class B common stock. The New York Times/Bits BlogFacebook still trails Google in online advertising, both on desktop and mobile. Analysts say that like Google, Facebook will most likely have to roll out an ad network that allows marketers to reach Facebook users wherever they are — whether they are browsing the Web or downloading a mobile application. Mashable We’re closer to seeing a widespread updated version of Facebook Messages. On Wednesday, Facebook user Interactive Swim posted a picture of the welcome note for the updated Messages which recently hit its page, indicating that the feature may be starting to roll out to additional users. Reuters U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday a Facebook post in which an Islamic militant group claimed credit for a recent attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, did not constitute hard evidence of who was responsible. Read more