Social Customer Service

We all know how important it is to provide your customers with the best possible customer service you can. The results are well worth it and will earn you loyal customers who are more than happy to sing your praises.

We wanted to share this brilliant example of customer service from LEGO.

LEGO received an email

From 7 year old Luka who lost one of his Ninjago Ultrasonic LEGO figurines while in a supermarket.

“Hello. My name is Luka Apps and I am seven years old.With all my money I got for Christmas I bought the Ninjago kit of the Ultrasonic Raider. The number is 9449. It is really good. My Daddy just took me to Sainsburys and told me to leave the people at home but I took them and I lost Jay ZX at the shop as it fell out of my coat. I am really upset I have lost him. Daddy said to send you a email to see if you will send me another one. I promise I won’t take him to the shop again if you can.”

Luka received a reply from Richard in LEGO’s customer service department, saying that he had spoken to Ninjago master Sensei Wu, who had told him that it was an accident and that he wouldn’t take his figurines to the supermarket again.

As a result, LEGO were going to send him a new figurine and some extras. Not only did they offer to replace his figurines, they also decided to help his Dad out by telling Luka that he should always listen to his Dad.

You can read LEGO’s lovely heart-warming reply below:

“Thanks for sending us an email!

We are very sorry to hear about you losing your Jay minifigure but it sounds like your dad might have been right about leaving it at home. It sounds like you a very sad about it too.

Normally we would ask that you pay for a new one if you lose one of your minifigures and need to have it replaced.

My bosses told me I could not send you one out for free because you lost it but, I decided that I would put a call into Sensei Wu to see if he could help me.

Luka, I told Sensei Wu that losing your Jay minifigure was purely an accident and that you would never ever ever let it happen ever again.

He told me to tell you, “Luka, your father seems like a very wise man. You must always protect your Ninjago minifigures like the dragons protect the Weapons of Spinjitzu!”

Sensei Wu also told me it was okay if I sent you a new Jay and told me it would be okay if I included something extra for you because anyone that saves their Christmas money to buy the Ultrasonic Raider must be a really big Ninjago fan.

So, I hope you enjoy your Jay minifigure with all his weapons. You will actually have the only Jay minifigure that combines 3 different Jays into one! I am also going to send you a bad guy for him to fight!

Just remember, what Sensei Wu said: keep your minifigures protected like the Weapons of Spinjitzu! And of course, always listen to your dad.

You will see an envelope from LEGO within the next two weeks with your new minifigures. Please take good care of them, Luka. Remember that you promised to always leave them at home.

Happy building!

Sincerely,
Richard,
LEGO Consumer Service”

What you can take from this

Some people have raised doubts over its authenticity; whether it’s real or not this is the kind of standout customer service you need to be providing.

You don’t need to be giving things away to provide your customers with excellent customer service; just provide them with solutions to their problems and answers to their queries.

Show that you care and you want to help them however you can. If someone who is not yet a customer gets in touch with you, you’ve got an excellent opportunity to turn that enquiry into a customer.

If you do this well, you will create loyal customers who give your business, service or products glowing reviews and refer you to their friends and family.

Perhaps if your customers are as social media savvy as Luka’s Dad, your response may even go viral!

You can read more about what social media means for customer service in another of our posts.

If you business needs a hand to delight your customers, why not speak to us about a marketing strategy? Call us on 01543 495752, or go to our approach page for more details.

How to use social media for customer support

As more and more companies take to social networking sites. More and more customers are realising that they’ll receive a faster response by reporting an issue on a social network rather than calling or emailing them.

Complaints are much more common on Twitter than Facebook. Possibly because the fast moving nature of Twitter means you’ll get a swift response and the ease of typing out a quick complaint and just tagging a company in it.

Some companies understand this and have realised that they can utilise Twitter for customer support. Some even have a separate customer support Twitter profile; such as Twitter themselves, Microsoft , Netflix and UPS.

If your customers are complaining or reporting problems to you via social networking sites, you need to be able to handle them. And respond in the correct way to avoid a PR disaster.

So how do you deal with customer complaints on a social network?

Look for them.

This probably sounds daft, why would you go out of your way to look for a complaint? If you care about your customers, you’ll want to help them as much as possible and you won’t want to leave a complaint unresolved.

Monitor your Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and any other social networks you’re on for complaints. You can also search for your brand on social networks to see if there are any negative comments mentioning your brand.

If you work for a hospitality business, you’ll also want to keep an eye on websites like Trip Advisor or Yelp.

Create a policy.

You should create a policy which details. How you will deal with a complaint, what you will do to try and rectify the problem and who will deal with the customers problem.

This is really important and will help you handle any issues in a way that maintains your brand image and tone of voice correctly. If it’s dealt with an inappropriate way, it will be remembered and could do your brand some damage.

Don’t delete it or ignore it.

Unless it’s abusive or offensive, don’t delete the comment, even if you fully intend on dealing with the complaint.

Deleting a complaint makes you look as if you’re shying away from a problem and not willing to listen to or support customers after they’ve made a purchase.
It will only anger the person who complained and make them post further complaints.

If a person has taken the time to calmly explain their problem or why they’re unhappy. You should have the courtesy to reply.

Dealing with it.

Reply to a complaint quickly. The chances are a customer has complained on a social network because they think it will be faster than calling or emailing you. The more you make them wait, the more annoyed they will become.

Keep your response professional and be as helpful as possible. At the same time though, remember to come across as human, so show some emotion. You probably know yourself how frustrating it is when you speak to someone from customer service. Especially if their responses sound automated and like they’re being read off a sheet.

You may choose to deal with the complaint openly or in private. In the case of the latter, respond to the complaint publicly and tell them that you’ve acknowledged their problem. That you’ll be in contact with them or give them a number or email address to contact you on. This shows everyone who sees the complaint that you aren’t ignoring the comment and you are dealing with it.

Remember that a customer who has complained is not automatically a lost customer. You can still win them over if you deal with an issue correctly.

So many questions pop up when it comes to social media, but don’t get stuck, just head over to our social blogs for all the answers you need.

Remember you can find us on facebook, twitter, pinterest and google+ for all our latest social media updates. Or if you feel you may need a little advice with your own social media, whether that’s getting started, or refreshing your knowledge, give us a call on 01543 495752 for a no obligation chat.

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives