ClickFox, a pioneer of customer experience analytics (CEA) solutions, conducted a survey to assess the potential cost savings from addressing customer service issues via social media, the impact of word of mouth influence in the social sphere, and the degree to which customers understand the tools currently available to them.

They found that 40.2% of customers who weren’t able to get their issues resolved in a timely manner via social media, resorting to calling the company’s toll-free number. They estimate each phone call to customer service can cost companies $15 or more.

Moreover, according to survey, 96.5% of customers indicated they were ‘somewhat influenced’ to ‘very influenced’ by other customers’ comments about companies. And only 3.5% responded that they were ‘not at all influenced’ by customer comments.

“Companies must figure out a way to incorporate social channels into a total customer service solution that they can manage throughout the complete lifecycle of the customer” says Amir Dekel, director of product marketing and communications at ClickFox. “They need to be able to capture what happens during every interaction–to create a link between an anonymous Twitter user and their CRM system” Dekel added.

But not all customers are using social media customer service.  Only 76.1% responded they would be more likely to use social media for customer service and support if they better understood the tools available to fit their specific needs.

Although, the use of social media as a customer service channel is still an emerging trend in most industries.  The results from ClickFox’s survey underscore the opportunity for potential cost-savings for many companies. Also, it proves the importance of word of mouth, and the potential for widespread adoption once consumers fully understand how and why to use social media.  Indeed, companies must focus on educating their customer base on how and when to use each social media platform in a way that’s easy to understand.  And ClickFox is all about understanding the consumer.  We outline ClickFox’s latest developments and partners in a recent article, found here.