Social Media Provides New Opportunities for Customer Service Reps

PRLog (Press Release) - Jul. 29, 2011 - New research shows social media to be a low-priority channel for consumers looking for service and support. "But don't let that mislead you," says Forrester Research's Art Schoeller. "While social media may indeed be a lower priority channel, and the contacts that come into enterprises via social media may be low in volume, its impact can be huge."

The August issue of industry publication "Customer Service Newsletter," reports on the Forrester study and its implications for service departments.

Companies should see social media as an opportunity rather than a threat, Schoeller says, but they will have to have the tools to monitor, route, and respond to those comments. In addition, "they will have to have agents skilled enough to look at and respond to highly unstructured interactions — as opposed to the more structured types of transactions that they have handled in the past."

"This could be a great career path for some of your more senior agents — the ones who are more familiar with policies, procedures, and to some extent, the technology within your enterprise," Schoeller says. "Give them the opportunity to get involved in a new area and test their skills in this unstructured transaction environment."

Additional insights on how to respond to social media appear in the August issue of "Customer Service Newsletter."

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About the Customer Service Group

For more than 20 years, the Customer Service Group has helped customer service, call center and help desk managers increase productivity, improve service quality and boost customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. The Customer Service Group publishes "Customer Service Newsletter" and "The Customer Communicator."

Website: http://www.CustomerServiceGroup.com