Mission Control: The Social Media Contact Center

Customers have been blessed –and cursed– by call centers where customers call into customer support phone lines when they haveCustomers have been blessed –and cursed– by call centers where customers call into customer support phone lines when they have woes to solve. Now, expect similar strategies to now use Social CRM technologies (read the report) to first listen to customers where they already are, and respond in real time. In fact we know of Gatorade being the first to launch their Mission Control center (see video below) and Dell’s head of Social Media, Manish Mehta, announced at our conference last week they are going to launch the Dell Social Media Mission Control center at their HQ.

How the Contact Center Evolves: Traditional to Social Media

Social media is not just a ‘new channel’ where existing processes are applied, there are significant changes required in approach or risk public customer backlash, support teams must be aware o f the following changes:

Traditional Channels vs Social Channels:

Rather than use traditional communication channels like phone, web, online chat, and email, Social Media support centers will reach customers where they already are –in social networks where they talk to each other.

Inbound vs Outbound:

Rather than waiting for customers to contact the contact center on phone support, web, or online chat, they are being proactive by listening to customers and responding to them in their own native social channels. Expect savvy brands to anticipate customers needs by using Social CRM databases to find trends, locate issues before they surface, then contacting customers before their issue surfaces.

Post Issue vs Real Time Response:

Call centers often occur once a customer has had a negative issue, and a frazzled or frustrated customer calls in. The goal of Social Support is for support agents to contact customers before they call the support center, reducing expensive high touchpoints.

Continues at: via Social Media Mission Control, The Contact Center Must Evolve #SocialSupport « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing.