Social CRM – are we there yet?

Anita Holley, Head of Marketing EMEA

The statistics are damning – British business doesn’t appear to be ready for the social customer. Our infographic below shows that just 16% of British businesses have adopted Social CRM, while 17% are completely unaware of its existence.

Only 21% are planning to implement, while 46% have absolutely no plans to “go social” with their customer relationship management software just yet.

This is in stark contrast to the social customer. 42% of social media users have used their social accounts to contact a brand, and 61% are willing to give feedback. Indeed, social customers are getting increasingly impatient with brands and their lack of response. 25% of those who complained on social networks (Facebook and Twitter in this instance) expected an answer within the hour, and 6% within 10 minutes!

So… the customer’s impatient, waiting for a reply – and only 15% of businesses bothered to respond at all. Imagine if the other 85% had, though… we know that social CRM can improve productivity of the sales team, but it’s the customer service aspect that’s really lacking.

If you want to see social CRM in action, try complaining to a few brands today. Myself, I’ve already had a pop at my broadband supplier and my mobile phone company today, and I’m pleased to see that both are on the ball, at least from a social point of view (if only they could be so quick on providing a timely service!)

The objective for businesses, then, is to catch up with their customers. We need to move from social chatter to social reality, and quickly – otherwise British business faces getting left behind by a market that is infinitely more agile than ever before!