To fully understand the rise of social media and how it impacts customer service, one must factor in the fact that in 2010, approximately 25% of businesses used social media for customer service.

By 2020, it is estimated that 90% of businesses will embrace social media customer service.

Why are more businesses using social media customer service? Because that’s what their customers want. In fact, 47% of social media users engage in social media customer service. That is, they use social media to do one of the following activities:

  • Seek a response from a business in order to help with a customer service issue
  • Praise a business for providing a great customer service experience
  • Share information regarding a service experience with others
  • Express frustration regarding an unpleasant customer service experience
  • Ask other people about how to obtain better service

As more customers seek to resolve their customer services issues online (and specifically through social media), businesses and brands must realize the need to address these concerns. Not only because they are vital to their own success, but because social media is good for customer service.

There are benefits for consumers using social media for customer service. For consumers, it’s easier than a phone call, less time consuming than email, and can be facilitated through a user interface you’re familiar with (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) on almost any Internet-connected device!

Businesses using social media for customer service can also benefit. Businesses and brands should adopt a strategy to use social media for customer service because it allows them to:

  1. Build healthy, online relationships with customers at a personal level not offered by traditional means of communication.
  2. Proactively address customer service failures by engaging in active listening on social media.
  3. Resolve customer complaints easier and at a far lower cost than other methods (it costs about $1 to fix a complaint on social media and between $6 and $10 over the phone)

Read: 5 Real Reasons Your Business Needs A Social Customer Care Strategy

In closing, here are a few social media customer service statistics one must consider when determining if social media is good or bad for customer service.

  • 47% of social media users use social media for customer service. This percentage is as high as 59% for individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 and these statistics hold true irrespective of age and gender.
  • 51% of individuals who use social media for customer service actively engage with the brand several times throughout the month, and 9% will do so daily.
  • 1:3 customers would prefer to address their customer service issue via social media as opposed to over the phone.
  • 71% of people who have a positive social media customer service experience will recommend the brand to others.

There are bad things about utilizing existing social platforms for customer service, such as complaint theft. Social noise can derail the conversation and prevent businesses and brands from resolving customer complaints on social media.

To address the need for noise-free social media customer service, we developed Comnio – Your 24/7 customer service concierge.