During a social media roundtable held at the RBC innovation center in Toronto last week, I had the pleasure of participating in a social media panel. As part of the session, a group of students spoke regarding their expectations of customer service, and how they wish to deal with companies. Some of the most interesting comments coming from the students were regarding their preferences to determine the mode of communication that they wish to use with a company. Instead of having to tweet or post a question or issue they are having with a company's products and then having to call a 1-800 number to get a resolution, there was a clear preference in being able to interact directly with companies on social media channels.
Very quickly, the burden of contact is moving from the consumer / customer to the company providing the product or service. Social media users would rather be able to engage in a dialogue with organizations via the channels they are already broadcasting on. If I've already brought up my question on Twitter, Facebook, etc., why should I have to go out of my way to contact an organization through a second mode of communication?
This is where Avaya's Social Media Manager and Avaya Aura Contact Centre aiming to assist. Combining a listening and engagement platform with a work distribution system allows you to seek out customer questions and concerns proactively and interact with customers on the channels that they prefer - this is the essence of Anticipating customer communications.
Based on the conversations that took place last week, we are very quickly moving into a world where the burden of communication is shifting from the customer to the provider. Are you ready for the next evolution of social media interaction?