Next time someone asks you "what's in it for my bottom line" when talking about social service, point them to these 10 top ROI points of #socialservice using earned and owned media channels. What and how to measure ROI leading to positive outcome in social service 2014

1. #socialstrategy series | jeromepineau.com“TOP 10 ROIs OF SOCIAL SERVICE” using earned and owned channels

2. 1. call deflection
drop that phone!
a call is deflected when a customer who was originally intendingto use the phone (or any other traditional support channel) ends up going to a social or community channel
for resolution instead.
If you know how much your average traditional resolution costs are, and what your average social channel resolution costs are, and you can track the volume of re- routed support cases, then you can do the dollar math on call deflection ROI.

3. 2. call reduction
what phone?
call reduction occurs when customers don’t even considerusing a traditional support channel to begin with because they know other channels are more effective and more likely to satisfy them.
If you can track and triangulate customer identities across CRM, internal communities, and external social channels, you can compute the number of call you warded off and the money savedthere.

4. 3. satisfaction
can you get some?
satisfaction is not a direct ROI metric but it correlates with loyaltyand churnreduction.
satisfaction also drives word of mouth and increases share of wallet and customer lifetime value (LTV).

5. 4. cost savings
katching!
if less support staff can handle more support cases simultaneously 24/7 via social channels, you are saving costs and increasing operational efficiency.
provided resolution speed, service quality, and employee morale are not affected, call center cost reductions can have a large impact on the bottom line because in most industries…
call center costs are the highestchannel costs in a company’s support department – followed by social, community, and KCS approaches.

6. 5. lead gen
let’s go fishing!
support communities and social channels are often ripe with customer and prospect buying signals.
not having a social selling strategy and program to cull these signals means you are leaving money on the table.

7. 6. churn
churn be gone
churn is the death knoll of any subscription-based business, which is pretty much every SaaS business out there.
by increasing satisfaction and trust, and building community-based support environments, social support strategies help reduce churn.

8. 7. LTV
FRY em
the inverse of churn, life time value is the average life time spend of a typical customer.
customers who are engaged on social channels and active in support communities tend to spend more and buy more often than traditional customers.
social support initiatives drive frequency, reach, and yieldeconomics as described by Olivier Blanchard in Social Media R.O.I

9. 8. SEO
Google it just a little bit
SEO is not cheap, but search engines love support communities and peer-to-peer generated content.
so you get plenty of valuable –and free - SEO as a crucial side benefit.
since around 60-80% of your customers will reach you via Google, that’s a good thing.

10. 9. change
ch ch ch ch changes
social support channels and communities can drive measurable internal changes to people, processes, and connective corporate tissue.
more effective processes, reduced turnover, silos breakdown, enhanced collaboration, faster product development, and higher employee engagement are just some of the many internal changes that translate directly to revenue growth, better customer experience, increased market shares, and cost reductions.
all of which translate directly to dollarfigures.

11. 10. acquisition
cheap catch
social support channels and communities help reduce acquisition costs and cycle time by sharing the burden with existing customers who may recommend and otherwise advocate for the brand.
this shared purpose feature accelerates and spreads the process farther and wider than a brand alone could do.
it’s possible to measurethe effect(s) of social support on acquisition costs and time using a before-and-after analysis.