Report - Conversocial - Social Customer Service in 2012 and Forecasts for 2013

Evolving Social Customer ServiceA Report on Social Customer Service in 2012 and

Forecasts for 2013

Conversocial Resources


Evolving Social Customer Service:What Gets a Response on Social Media?

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We analyzed over 770,000 social media interactions directed at leading retailers and service providers using Conversocial to manage social media engagement.

Over the past year, a lot has changed in how social channels are being used to connect with customers.


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2012: Social Customer Service Is Here to Stay Brands get more responsiveResponsiveness doubles

Across both of the world’s leading social networks, customers are bringing more and more queries, questions and complaints to social channels, and leading companies are starting to plug in resources so that they can speak back.

The Social Customer Engagement Index 2012 shows the recognition of social customer service across business. Social customer service has become an accepted discipline, and the number of companies considering social media as a one way marketing channel has dramatically decreased.

Twitter is direct

A Twitter mention means that, more often than not, a customer wants you to get back in touch.Although Facebook still dominates in volume, the growth of Twitter as a customer service channel is most significant. It’s a fast and fluid platform that allows customers to easily speak directly to you, no matter where they are.

Facebook is noisy

Facebook comments and posts may not warrant a response as frequently as Twitter mentions, but their sheer numbers present a serious operational challenge. In Q4 2011, our brands actually made nearly exactly the same number of responses on Facebook as on Twitter. Today, Twitter has overtaken, but a substantial and growing number of Facebook queries and complaints still need to be fished out from huge volumes of chatter.


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2012: Social Customer Service Is Here to Stay Consumer demand is leading the wayConversocial worked with New York University to investigate changes in consumer usage of social platforms to speak to brands during America’s busiest shopping period, the week of thanksgiving leading up to Cyber Monday. Consumer demand for social relationships with brands has skyrocketed in 2012.

Facebook Wall Posts Received by America’s Biggest RetailersThanksgiving Week , 2011-2012

"Our research proves what most people who pay attention to social media probably intuited, namely that platforms like Facebook and Twitter are rapidly becoming prominent means of communication between consumers and corporations,"

Liel Leibovitz, Assistant Professor of Communications at NYU.


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2012: Social Customer Service Is Here to Stay Social media transforms consumer behaviorThe public, convenient and fast nature of our daily interactions on social media doesn’t stop at brands. In fact social customer service offers consumers benefits they haven’t been able to get from the companies they buy from since the days of the local village. Today, in the social age, we’re living in a global village where everyone is accountable, and has a voice.

2012 American Express Customer Service Barometer

1 in 5 people sought customer support on a social network over the past year

20% of consumers that use social media for customer service have tweeted in store

The Consequences of Ignoring Your Customers, Conversocial

The average customer expects a response on social media within 2 hours, and will be 88% less likely to buy when they see ignored complaints online

The Consequences of Ignoring Your Customers, Conversocial, Consumer Views of Live Help Online 2012: A Global Perspective, Oracle.


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2013: Social Customer Service Goes MainstreamSocial Customer Service will be a primary way to reach a companyCEOs believe social media will be above web, call centres and traditional media as one of the top two engagement channels over the next 5 years

IBM 2012 Global CEO Study

As a major touch point between companies customers, social channels can no longer be considered a ‘nice to have’.

Social media as a core engagement channel will have to be treated as business critical. A route to reputation, revenue and consumer insight.

Social media will move to the core of companies’ customer service, marketing, CRM, product and sales functions.


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2013: Social Customer Service Goes MainstreamSocial Customer Service Will Demand Real Resource AllocationThe Social Customer Engagement Index recently revealed that while in 2012 71% of businesses have been using social media for customer service, an even greater 78% of these are allocating less than $50k a year in resources.

For aspirations for social media as a primary engagement channel to be met, businesses will need to step up resources to mobilize more staff to connect with customers at social touch points.

Better training and integration with existing Customer Service structures are a must to get that scale for 2013.

THE SOCIAL CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT INDEX - ©2012, Social Media Today, LLC.


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The Conversocial Perspective Social Customer Service for the EnterpriseThis year the market has recognized that Social Customer Service is a real requirement for any business with a social presence. Social has begun its shift into the contact center. Although this presents companies with a completely new set of challenges (who should manage this new team? How will they work alongside marketing? Who will pay for it?), today a dedicated social customer service team is the industry standard in leading companies. We’ve watched as some of our customers’ social teams have grown 10-fold in the last 12 months, and we expect this to multiply 10 times again over the next 2-3 years.

At Conversocial, we’re helping our clients manage the challenges of growing their social customer service program. We understand that every company sits in a different place in the market today, but we’re all moving towards more social relationships with our customers. Social Media is set to take the same journey as email to be the most important customer service channel after the phone. We truly are living in the social age, and corporates are no exception.

Get in touch today to find out how Conversocial Enterprise can help your business, with:

Intelligent Prioritization Technology

Advanced Team Management

Dedicated Social Customer Service Reporting

Custom Social Strategy Support and Training

[email protected]

Joshua March, CEO and Co-Founder, Conversocial

Conversocial is social customer service software for Facebook and Twitter, used by companies including Groupon, Tesco, Net A Porter and more. We help our customers deliver great customer

service through social channels by enabling them find and respond to real issues more effectively - decreasing negative sentiment and risk of social crises, while saving time and

gaining greater customer insight.

Contact: www.conversocial.com

[email protected] @conversocial

Report - Conversocial - Social Customer Service in 2012 and Forecasts for 2013

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