These days, everybody is online. It’s a hub for consuming content, reading the news, keeping in touch with people across the globe and making purchases to boost the economy and support the e-commerce boom. With so many people spending so much of their time online, businesses are suddenly faced with the need of providing online customer service support to customers who often turn to online feedback forums and social media to get answers to questions, vent their frustrations and learn more about a brand.

If you manage a business, here are some simple tips to provide exceptional online customer service. 

Be Responsive

The first thing you should do is prepare to be responsive. If you have an online presence you should expect customers to use that to communicate with you. You’ll want to keep the lines of communication open by responding to customers within at least one business day, and often that’s not fast enough to keep up with customer demands. In the case when you aren’t available to talk with customers in real time, you can set your social media preferences to auto respond and let customers know that you’ll get back to them as soon as possible. Doing that validates them and lets them know they’re valued. 

Keep Your Cool

There may be times when a customer lashes out in anger, prompting you to want to respond in kind. However, in these types of situations it’s important to keep a cool head and not let anger get the best of you. Instead, be courteous and professional when responding to an angry customer and offer to provide solutions. You may end up turning your biggest critics into your biggest champions. 

Ask for Feedback

One thing customers enjoy is knowing that they have a voice and can feel invested in something. When companies offer them an opportunity to provide their feedback, they’ll be more likely to be brand champions and advocate for your business. You may also be pleasantly surprised by the constructive, creative feedback they offer. Renewer to acknowledge them when they do, and think of it as an opportunity to grow and improve your business. 

Set up Monitoring

There are several online services you can use to monitor your social media accounts all from one place. That means that when a customer mentions you in a post to talks about your business on another platform you may not be using, you’ll get a notification. Then you can take that opportunity to reach out to the customer to respond, which increases your brand reputation. 

Using these simple tips, you’ll be equipped and ready to provide your customers excellent customer service through social media.