Tag: survey

Social Media is Serious Business!
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A recent study by J.D. Power and Associates cites that poor social media practices can negatively affect a businesses’ bottom line and brand image.

The study’s results were released this week:

J.D. Power and Associates Reports:
Poor Social Media Practices can Negatively Impact a Businesses’ Bottom Line and Brand Image

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 14 February 2013 — Businesses can no longer adopt a trial-and-error approach to social media as all-new research finds a link between social media and business metrics such as consumers’ likelihood to purchase or interact with companies through leading social channels, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2013 Social Media Benchmark Study, SM released today.

The inaugural study is based on responses from more than 23,200 U.S. online consumers who have interacted with a company via the companies’ social media channel. Fielded from November to December 2012, the study measures the overall consumer experience in engaging with companies through their social platforms for both marketing and servicing needs across more than 100 U.S. brands in six industries: airline, auto, banking, credit card, telecom and utility. The study establishes performance benchmarks and industry best practices that provide insights to companies to help them maximize their social media efforts.

Key Findings

  • 67% of consumers have used a company’s social media site for servicing, compared with 33% for social marketing.
  • Younger consumers (18-29 years old) are more likely to use brands’ social media sites for servicing interactions (43%) than for marketing (23%).
  • The automotive industry balances marketing and servicing engagements better than any other industry included in the study.
  • Consumer expectations for social interactions vary across industries, although quality content and responsive service representatives are keys to higher satisfaction levels.

“This is a unique, comprehensive consumer study that defines consumer expectations in the ever-changing social space and measures companies’ performances against those benchmarks,” said Jacqueline Anderson, director of social media and text analytics at J.D. Power and Associates. “This study provides companies with the framework they need to begin effectively integrating social media into their business strategies. It also illustrates the relationship between a positive social media experience and consumer purchase intent.”

Social Media Servicing vs. Social Media Marketing

The study focuses on two types of social media engagements, marketing and servicing, and provides best practices for each. Marketing engagements include connecting with consumers to build brand awareness and affinity, in addition to promoting coupons and deals. Servicing engagements include answering specific consumer questions or resolving problems.

The study finds that social marketing engagements vary by age group. Nearly one-third (39%) of consumers 30-49 years old and 38 percent of those 50 years and older interact with a company in a social marketing engagement context, while only 23 percent of consumers who are 18-29 years old interact with companies. In contrast, 43 percent of consumers who are 18-29 years old use social media for servicing interactions, while 39 percent of consumers who are 30-49 years old use social for servicing needs. Only 18 percent of consumers who are 50 years and older interact with a company via social for a service-related need.

“While there are vast differences among age groups in the frequency of servicing and marketing engagements, there is a consistency in the impact on brand perception and purchase intent through both types of engagement,” said Anderson. “Companies that are focused only on promoting their brand and deals, or only servicing existing customers, are excluding major groups of their online community, negatively impacting their satisfaction and influencing their future purchasing decision. A one-pronged approach to social is no longer an option.”

Companies need to understand how their consumers use social media and then develop a strategy that addresses their usage patterns.

“If your customers want service and you’re pushing discount coupons out to them while ignoring their attempts to connect with you, you’re going to end up with dissatisfied customers,” added Anderson.

The study finds a correlation between overall satisfaction with a company’s social marketing efforts and consumers’ likelihood to purchase and their overall perception of the company. Among highly-satisfied consumers (satisfaction scores of 951 and higher on a 1,000-point scale), 87 percent indicate that the online social interaction with the company “positively impacted” their likelihood to purchase from that company. Conversely, among consumers who are less satisfied (scores less than 500), one in 10 consumers indicate that the interaction “negatively impacted” their likelihood to purchase from the company.

The study also finds that some industries are more successful than others at implementing best practices into their social media engagement strategies than others. When looking across industries,  the auto industry performs particularly well in both marketing and servicing social media interactions, the only industry to do so. Other industries performing well are wireless in social servicing interactions and utility in social marketing interactions.

Industry Performance

Listed below are the companies that perform particularly well in each of the industries included in the study. Companies are listed in alphabetical order.

Read More

 

Customer Satisfaction and Negative Social Media Don’t Mix
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One bad customer experience + One Tweet = Disaster

Immediately after contact, many companies offer customer satisfaction surveys to their customers both online and by phone. For example, some surveys may ask, how well the representative handled the call or if the problem was resolved. Or, you may visit a website and within a few seconds a “pop up” window asks you to participate in an online survey. It asks you to rate the website, if navigation was easy, if the information was easy to locate and how quickly the information was found. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are offering patient surveys that inquire about patient wait times, how patients were greeted, how the doctors performed and the overall satisfaction of health care.

Before social media, most people called or wrote a company to share their frustration and dissatisfaction with a product or service. The chances that someone at the company called or wrote back were slim to none. Now, we have Facebook and Twitter – two powerful resources for immediately venting frustrations out to the universe. One tweet on Twitter could end up as a “Retweet” or be “Retweeted” five times or 100 times. It could then be “Liked” and “Shared” on Facebook. Before you know it, the information has gone viral and everyone is sharing how awful the company’s product or customer experience was.

The 2012 American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer was conducted in the U.S. and ten other countries, exploring consumer attitudes and preferences toward customer service.  The results found that the greatest amount of influence came from customers who have used social media for customer service.  They also indicated that those customers will tell approximately 53 people about a bad customer experience.  Forty-six percent were found to vent their frustration about a poor service experience.

In the 2012 survey, eight in ten (79%) Americans cited the following Big Four Service Gripes as their reason for switching brands:

1)      Rudeness:  An insensitive or unresponsive customer service representative – 33%

2)      Passing the Buck:  Being shuffled around with no resolution of the issue – 26%

3)      The Waiting Game:  Waiting too long to have an issue resolved – 10%

4)      Being Boomeranged:  Forced to continually follow up on an issue – 10%

In addition to having a well-trained customer service staff, someone should monitor customer satisfaction from a social media perspective. This person can watch satisfaction keywords on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as they are associated with the company name, product and brand.  If your company does not have a way to survey customers, this is a definite plus to consider for strategic planning, as surveys are a key ingredient to maintaining a positive brand.

To read more on the results of The 2012 American Express® Global Customer Service – visit this article on American Express – “Social Media Raises the Stakes for Customer Service”