It takes less than 30 seconds to look up a financial brand, learn where they are located, and explore the services they provide. During this time, customers can also read through a couple of reviews, forming a first impression that can be hard to change. Creating a positive customer experience online, therefore, encompasses more factors than ever before. In order for your financial brand to stand out, you have to cover all your bases.
Reviews, listings, social media accounts, and website information constitute the bulk of your online experience. Of these, the most important is reviews; especially in the financial services industry. These say a lot about your business long before you’re able to speak for yourself. One of the reasons customers leave reviews is to provide feedback on their experience. Another is because they put out information to help other shoppers make informed choices. Reviews are left on social media comments, questions, and review sites.
Reviews act as customer touchpoints that provide vital feedback on how your financial brand performs in customer service. This online communication carries with it new expectations; namely time and efficiency. According to PR NewsWire’s Social Media Survey, 83% of people expect companies to respond to a social media question, complaint, or review within a day. Consequently, your financial brand should have a plan for responding to every review you receive.
Actively responding and managing your customer touchpoints is vital to connecting with your community and promoting your brand. Find creative and effective ways to communicate with your audience. Incorporate video, photography, and voice into your posts and even in your replies where possible.
Remember, responding to reviews isn’t just about being polite; it’s about growing your brand. Our past webinar, Managing Your Reputation with Reviews and Listings explores the different sources consumers go to for guidance. We analyze what information comes up when a customer searches your brand on the web and we provide different tips on how to effectively standardize the details about your brand. This ensures that you are remaining consistent and compliant on all social outlets. Both your listings and how you manage your reviews are two parts that work coherently to create your brand reputation.
Managing reviews can be a bit of a headache, especially if you don’t know where to start. Consider these few things when addressing reviews to build the ultimate customer experience online:
Time Matters
Online customer service looks a little different than face-to-face. Customers expect to reach out to brands on social media to get help and get a quick response.
When multiple days pass and comments and questions aren’t addressed, customers begin to feel ignored. What’s worse is that this form of customer service lives forever – viewers will always be able to see the reviews. To mitigate the fallout from negative reviews, respond as quickly as possible to customers.
Platforms such as Facebook are trying to incentivize brands to respond to reviews quickly. Its new policies now limit responses to reviews to only within the first 24-hour window if you are using a third-party marketing platform vendor. This means that if you wait longer than 24 hours to take action, Facebook doesn’t allow you to respond unless you natively respond through the site. Be proactive so that you don’t miss your chance to provide the best customer service.
Pro Tip
It is also important to always think about how your financial brand can deliver value to a customer. Create an “FAQ” or “Recent Updates” page to communicate to customers and keep them in the loop. This allows your audience to find answers all in one convenient place.
Provide Value
Responding to reviews can be tricky sometimes. No matter how great your brand, you are going to experience negative reviews. Keep in mind that reviews are a great opportunity to turn your unhappy customers into advocates.
The first step to responding to a negative review is to acknowledge their experience and indicate that you are going to try and make amends. If appropriate, move the discussion offline to personal DMs (direct messages), and take it out of the public view. Another effective way to respond to reviews is through personalization. Use the customers’ name and offer a specific solution. The best kind of social media response breeds empathy.
Be Open to Change
Customer reviews don’t always have to have a negative connotation with them. In fact, they could provide a benefit to your financial brand. Maybe your app isn’t performing correctly for customers. Or maybe your website is missing information. Customer feedback can be a great resource for you to find and improve on certain areas. Be open to feedback and make the necessary corrections. Tell customers you value their input and keep them updated with what you are doing to make progress.
Great reviews also give your financial brand the opportunity to create a customer success case study. Take customer quotes, stories, and solutions and feature these on your company website or blog. What one has to say about their first-hand experience with your product is authentic and valuable. A happy testimonial can go a long way and be a great way for your financial brand to gain attention. Build up your reputation and credibility through these.
Pro Tip
Ensure your “Contact Us” button is up to date and accurate on all social media outlets so when customers have inquiries, they are able to get connected with you.
Engage Marketing Management Platforms
To better manage your social media outlets, consider using a marketing management platform. These platforms make it easy for your brand to find and monitor conversations relevant to your business. With these resources, your financial brand can manage, respond, and assign social media notifications to the correct team member. With the ability to connect your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts, you can better manage all of your outlets in one location. Concerning comments and reviews are flagged and escalated and you can demonstrate your organization as a brand that cares. We are here to help your brand from both a custom content and management perspective.
For more information on marketing management platforms, learn how Social Assurance can help redefine your workflow and approval processes. Check out our social media management tools that effectively assist financial brands with creating, approving, and publishing content, as well as interact with customers in a remarkable way. Be sure to download our TrustTexas Case Study to learn more about how helped others create remarkable branding experiences.
At the end of the day, happy customers are the goal. It is time to start implementing marketing and customer-service strategies that excel your business. Begin to explore and experiment with responding to customers and see what works best for your business model.
