Individuals are now able to freely express their opinions on social networking sites (SNS), and the methods of customer support have also changed. Active support is a proactive support method that identifies user dissatisfaction and concerns on SNS and sends messages to provide support.
This article provides an easy-to-understand explanation of active support, from its definition to methods, examples, and cautions.
If you are interested in implementing active support to improve customer satisfaction, please read on.
What is Active Support?
Active support is a method of actively supporting users who have complaints or concerns about products or services on social networking sites (SNS).
In contrast to active support, the support method of waiting for users to contact customer service is called passive support.
The main objective of active support is to improve customer satisfaction.
If users can easily tweet their concerns and resolve them without having to bother calling a company or filling out a contact form, it saves them time and effort.
An additional benefit is that active support can reduce the number of "silent customers" who do not actively inquire.
Active Support Techniques
Active support is generally conducted using the following steps:
- Establishing a system
- Selecting keywords
- Obtaining an official account
- Reacting to posts
Here, we assume active support on Twitter, which is a platform where it is easy to tweet complaints and concerns due to its high level of anonymity.
1. Establish a system
First, create a manual outlining the departments and personnel responsible for conducting active support.
The following are key points to determine:
- Scope of support
- Response time
- Language and tone
- Approach to addressing issues
- Collaboration with other departments
Define criteria for the scope of active support, whether it should be limited to negative complaints and concerns, or whether it should respond to positive feedback as well.
Additionally, active support will lead to customer satisfaction if it can be responded to immediately.
Decide on response times, such as how you will respond outside of business hours.
Some users may be put off by the sudden approach of a company account on a social networking site.
For this reason, pay maximum attention to the language used and the tension of the text, and create a manual so that everyone can provide the same quality of response.
In addition, create a flow for problems that cannot be solved by the active support staff and a system that facilitates cooperation with other departments, such as the technical and marketing departments.
2. Select keywords
Decide what keywords will be searched for on SNS.
The main keywords are company names and product/service names, but you can select more effective keywords if you have conducted social listening.
Social listening is a method of collecting and analyzing opinions about a company's products and services that are transmitted on SNS.
3. Get an account
Once you have selected keywords, create an account on the social media site where you will provide active support.
Be sure to clearly state in your username and profile text that it is your company's official account.
On Twitter, you can prove that you are an official account by subscribing to the Twitter Blue subscription and receiving a blue mark after being reviewed.
4. React to posts
Once you have an active support account, you can support users by reacting to their posts with their complaints and concerns.
On Twitter, talk to them with a "reply," which is a reply to a tweet.
Examples of Active Support.
Here are three examples of companies that are actively providing active support.
Amazon Help
Amazon's active support is characterized by speed.
They reply within minutes to tweets such as, "I haven't received the item I ordered," or "The package of the item I received was torn".
The name of the person in charge is clearly stated, so you can tell that a person, not a bot, is responding.
Here is the Amazon Help account. (1*)
Seven Bank
Seven Bank's active support is friendly, using "! and emojis to create a friendly atmosphere.
In addition to responding to problems such as "There is no Seven Bank ATM at 00 station," the site provides easy-to-understand explanations of how to recharge various types of electronic money, along with short videos.
It also responds to positive feedback with a thank-you message.
The Seven Bank account is here. (2*)
Microsoft Support
Microsoft offers active support with an official account dedicated to customer service and support.
When a user tweets "00 is difficult to use", we only tell them that we are available for support on our official account, and when they reply, we advise them on how to solve the problem in detail.
The Microsoft Support account is here. (3*)
What to consider when providing active support
When done properly, active support can improve customer satisfaction, but when done incorrectly, it can adversely affect the user's mood.
The following points should be considered.
- Be careful with your language and mannerisms
- Avoid template responses
- End as few tweets as possible.
Responding to a user who tweets complaints or concerns in a casual manner can reflect negatively on the company.
Always be aware that your interactions are open to the public at all times, and respond as the face of the company.
In addition, responses that are simply copy and paste templates will come across to users because the tweets and content do not mesh.
The key is to send a personalized message for each case to avoid the perception of a cut-and-dried response.
Unless the user asks for it, keep your support brief and to the point so that it can be completed in one session.
Conclusion
Active support is a proactive support method that picks up complaints and concerns about a product or service on social networking sites and responds back with reactions.
Active support improves customer satisfaction because users do not have to go through the hassle of searching for a customer support contact.
Before implementing active support, the scope of support and the method of response should be defined in advance.
Keep in mind that conversations on social networking sites are public, so be sure to respond with integrity as the face of your company.
(1*)https://twitter.com/AmazonHelp
