Digital is the future! The digital shift from an email only world to the inclusion of Instagram as a messaging channel for customer service is bringing in new ways for businesses to interact with customers.
According to a study by Statista, “More than half of the global Instagram population worldwide is aged 34 years or younger. And among the global Instagram users, the highest concentration of usage is in the US amounting to 116 million users followed by 73 million users in India alone, presenting a huge opportunity for the brands.”
Social media has given the customers a platform to actively engage with their favorite brands and the ball is in customers’ court now. Customers now know which brands they want to do business with and they have gained the power to make or break the deal with their online feedbacks and reviews.
Why E-Commerce is the Saviour?
Even in the pre-COVID era, e-commerce players were emerging with the fascinating ideas of food, apparel, and other products. COVID-19 just made the need for e-commerce obvious for the physically distant world.
Without a doubt, we will see a surge in the e-commerce industry even in the post COVID era and the digital adoption will continue to be in demand. Being present on channels like Instagram gives greater visibility to attract a large number of customers across the globe.
According to Sprout Social, Instagram users spending an average of 53 minutes a day browsing, becoming a strong indicator for brands to engage with their customers on the platforms where they spend most of their time.
Providing prompt customer service on Instagram has just got real with e-commerce brands promoting their new product launch for apparel, jewelry, etc. Not only is it a platform to promote exciting offers on products but customers always turn to social media to find the reference for different products and services.
How to streamline customers’ journey with Instagram for Business?
No Mentions Missed
Mentions matter, with both positive and negative feedback! If a brand’s name is mentioned on any social media platform, it should be acknowledged.
Integrating your omnichannel ticketing software with the Instagram channel will help you keep track of and address all the mentions, feedback, and complaints. Companies can customize alert notifications for these mentions and ensure timely redressal of the complaint. Every time a customer puts a word out for the brand, customer service & support reps will be notified in their agent interface and they can address these mentions.
For instance, when a customer posts a comment about delayed delivery of their apparel on the brand’s Instagram post, a ticket will generate automatically and will be routed to the best-suited agent. The agents can now either create a new customer from the details or attach the ticket query to an existing customer after entering the details in the database.
Ticket Transfer means Context Transfer
It’s important for businesses to have an end-to-end solution that helps them work in sync with all departments across the organization. Let’s look at it with an example of an e-commerce brand. A customer reaching out to your brand using their preferred channel to inquire about the quality of the product delivered and requires great supervision from the managers.
Customer service agents can transfer the ticket in real-time to their managers or fellow agents with complete interaction history to preserve the conversation context flawlessly including previous interactions from multiple channels.
This will help in increasing the First Contact Resolution (FCR) and will increase the customer satisfaction rate significantly.
Analyze Channel Specific Engagement
The constant question for brands is that “which” channel to optimize for better customer engagement. And there isn’t a proven strategy to list the channel effectiveness for the organizations. There has to be a granular analysis for each channel to drive the result-oriented strategy.
Once you have integrated all the channels that are preferred by your audience, the analysis is the only puzzle that needs to be solved. Analyzing channel-specific performance with metrics like SLA, CSAT, turn-around-time for each query, missed interactions, query pattern, etc. helps the organizations to invest in the channels that perform well.
For brands like Boutiqaat, managing each interaction and feedback on a popular channel like Instagram for customer service becomes easy with a well-thought strategy.
Converting Customers into Promoters
Make each interaction count, because according to a report, 71% of consumers who experience positive social customer care are likely to recommend the brand to others.
When the customers have an amazing experience with a brand, they become the promoters in disguise and where do they go for this promotion? Instagram! The customers expect you to be real quick with the service.
When a customer raises a request about the price for a pair of shoes that they checked on Instagram, the contact center agent can check the caption of the IG photo which has been captured in the ticket to instantly reach out to the customer and send a brochure on WhatsApp along with other variations that the customers might like. This way, the brand delivers an exceptional customer experience, going the extra mile, and the customers are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family.
There you have created a positive experience being a little extra proactive.
Customer Retention
According to a study by HBR, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing customer. Social media engagement, when well-planned, helps businesses save costs, increase revenue, and create brand loyalty. Once your customers start turning into brand promoters, you have excelled at the customer service and customer retention game.
Translating your customers’ loyalty into real business value comes with small gestures like acknowledging your customer’s feedback and providing an experience that they are looking for.
(Also Read: How Instagram is the Customer Engagement Channel you need?)
