It used to be if you wanted to sell someone a product, you hired a sales team and went door to door or you set up a store front where people came in to buy. Then came call centers and inventory warehouses that allowed people to sell in bulk. Then the evolution of the internet provided the ability for folks to shop from home without having to get off their couch. Mobile phones have added another element to the shopping experience, but there is still much evolution to happen.
The Social Media channel is the most disrupting of the latest channels. This is not a standard interaction channel where companies can communicate with their customers without someone barking “big brother” – what is it about Social that makes it so different? Why don’t we cry “big brother” when a telesales agent gets my phone number and starts harassing…I mean calling, me repeatedly to buy a product.
Perhaps it is the word “social” – people want this channel to be person to person, friend to friend type communications without companies barging in trying to sell something in the midst of your twitter rant on how bad the weather is in xyz city.
How can you as an organization best take advantage of this new customer interaction channel? Approach proactive communications very cautiously. Take the time to gather data, match the twitter handle or facebook ID to an existing customer and do some number crunching. Matching the customer to their social media ID’s is tough, but if you can’t do that, at least understand how much “press” a single ID is getting before engaging in communications. Think of it as understanding the larger customer lifetime value – are they someone who regularly discusses your company in a positive situation – what is the threshold for determining when you should reach out to them?
Answers to these tough questions are something we at Perficient would love to help you with through Strategy Assessments and taking advantage of the latest technologies from Oracle. See what Oracle CX can do for you!
Dana Workes liked this on Facebook.