Social Customer Service Metrics that really matter

There are many customer service metrics that look good on a dashboard but may not do or mean anything to your organization's management team. So what are the metrics that you should focus on and capture sufficient data in order to report on and impress your management.

Here are the metrics that really matter:

Decreased transaction costs

What’s the cost of servicing a customer over Twitter vs. the telephone? Determine these numbers to calculate the decreased transaction cost:

• Determine the cost of call

• Determine the cost of Tweet

• What percentage of Twitter transactions warrant the customer actually calling? (I wouldn’t presume every Tweet requires a call)

• Derive your estimated cost savings per month

Do the same for Facebook. Then generate the average transaction of servicing over social media. Lastly, get someone credible in the organization to sanity check it.

Increased agent efficiency

This is a formula that can range from simple to complex depending on how air-tight you want to make your story. Some standard call center metrics are fine. such as Time to Respond (TTR) and mean time to resolve (MTTR). Take a look at what these metrics look like for your traditional channels vs. social over a period of time and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Social is designed to be the fastest service channel on the planet.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Now that you’ve proved that you can service customers faster and cheaper, are they happy with the service? Let’s find out. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a standard CSAT metric. Here’s how it works.

• Each week, grab a number of Twitter handles from customers that you serviced (The more the better, not everyone will respond)

• Direct Message (DM) them and ask the NPS question in a fun way. “How did we do? On a scale of 1-10 would you recommend our service to your pals?” (Remember you only have 140 characters.)

• Drop all the responses into a spreadsheet and calculate your Twitter NPS. Do the Snoopy dance.

• Book a meeting with the VP to let him or her know how much higher the call center NPS is now that you’ve averaged in your score.