Don’t Facebook It and Forget It

Posted on April 10, 2012 by SilverCloud

Why are social media tools like Facebook – one of the most effective channels for connecting with members and the public – too often ignored by credit unions and banks?

Let’s face it. It isn’t uncommon for business social media to wither from neglect. Did you ever visit a corporate Facebook page only to find meager data crumbs (address, phone number, an outdated wall photo or two, if you’re lucky)?

Not long ago, businesses were advised to start Facebook pages because that’s where their customers could be found. But the marketplace has shifted from this paradigm. Now, your customers expect you to have a COMPELLING Facebook page. Quite simply, your Facebook needs to measure up to consumer demands.

So how can your Facebook page become worthy of your members’ or customers’ attention? Consider these primary measures:

Dedicated Monitoring: Assign a staff member to review your Facebook page on a DAILY BASIS. Ideally, this should be done twice per day (in the morning to review overnight posts and in the afternoon for posts made during the day). In this way, you keep this communication channel fresh and current – a big plus with both ongoing and potential members.
Timely Response: Respond swiftly to member posted questions and requests for information . Ideally, within 24 hours. Doing so furthers your credit union’s claim to quick, efficient member service. Not doing so can negatively affect member relations.
Compelling Content: Don’t allow your Facebook page to become a wasteland of trivial information. Members can easily get data like branch addresses from other sources which, of course, takes them away from your page.

Instead, feature useful content about your services and products (less than 150 words per article), plus general topics related to issues like wealth acquisition and money management, through postings, web, YouTube and other links. Your members will appreciate your efforts at providing meaningful information addressing their goals and concerns.

Updated Content: Don’t let your Facebook sit unattended. A neglected page reflects badly on your organization. Make sure your content is refreshed, either with updates or new links and postings, regularly. Two to three times per week on average. Doing so makes your Facebook page – and your credit union – relevant and purposeful.
Encourage Feedback: Actively solicit comments and suggestions when appropriate. Your current and potential members will readily recognize and appreciate that you are listening – and responding – to their postings and feedback.
Unbiased Commentary: This is a tough one. None of us likes negative comments. And you should remove inappropriate posts on your Facebook page (ie., foul language or hateful remarks). However, naysayers represent an opportunity. They give you insight into organizational problems. By quickly addressing issues cited in their posts, you gain invaluable goodwill and avert potential loss of business
Member Appreciation: Your Facebook page can be a key component in the arms race to gain and retain customers. Offer special deals, coupons, even prize giveaways to page visitors. Make it fun, lively – give them a reason not only to visit you on Facebook regularly but also bonus points for remaining a customer.
Leverage Customer Service Applications & Tools: The real purpose of Facebook is to establish a real connection with your members or customers while strengthening their loyalty. That said, it is a good idea to answer their questions in a consistent and timely manner. At SilverCloud, our Breeze platform is available across multiple customer channels and touch-points including Facebook. By enabling Breeze for Facebook you can provide your customers with superior customer service and support directly in Facebook.

Happy posting!
-Team SilverCloud

We’re at the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council!

Posted on March 6, 2012 by SilverCloud

It’s official, we are on our way to New Orleans! SilverCloud is proud to support the 2012 CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Conference, taking place this March 7-10 at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans. We hope you can make it!

For all those in attendance, come visit us at the SilverCloud booth, where Stephen Kobzik and Chris Eideh will be doing live demonstrations of our Breeze product and answering any of your questions. Better yet, ask a question on our iPad and be entered to WIN AN iPad of your own!

Not attending? We will do our best to provide updates throughout the show. Here’s how to stay up to speed.

1. Follow us on Twitter . Also follow the hashtag #MBD12 throughout the show!

2. “Like” us on Facebook

3. Follow the CUNA Conference on Twitter. Also check out the great lists!

Enjoy the show and we hope we see you there. Next stop, New Orleans!

-Team SilverCloud

FREE WEBINAR JAN 24 @2PM EST-SilverCloud™ & Malauzai Software Inc. Team Up to Offer the Next Generation of Mobile Banking

Posted on January 10, 2012 by SilverCloud

Are you ready to unlock the next generation of mobile banking? Want to cut support costs and provide enterprise level service? Join us on January 17, at 2PM EST to hear how Malauzai Software and SilverCloud™ are teaming up to deliver the next generation of mobile banking.During this live demonstration, SilverCloud™ CEO Scott Cornell and Tom Shen, Chief Executive of Malauzai, will be sharing a major advance in mobile banking. Through their partnership banks and credit unions can now:

Provide enterprise-level service through your mobile channel
Increase revenue through you mobile channel for ALL products
Reduce operation costs through your mobile channel

For the first time ever, witness:

Integrated channels! Self-service and promotions in Web, Call Center, Home Banking, Facebook and Mobile.
Integrated analytics! What are your customers doing out there?

Malauzai Mobile and SilverCloud™ together have created the Next Generation of Mobile: a channel fully integrated with the rest of your institution. Support everything, promote everything. Increase service. Reduce your costs.

This is a free event, but spaces are filling up fast. Sign-up now to ensure a spot!

Exploring new service channels? Success requires planning.

Posted on November 24, 2011 by SilverCloud

Remember the days when customer service consisted of tellers and telephone calls? While logistically simple, resources during the pre-Internet days were often limited, hard to find and inconsistent. Over the past ten years support channels have grown rapidly, and in the past two years, a wave of social and mobile technologies has drastically changed the customer service landscape. It’s changed for the better—but only if you are prepared for it.

In today’s world there are dozens of customer service tools, networks and applications to choose from. You might be on Facebook or Twitter. Maybe you’re going mobile. Or, maybe you are expanding your website to engage current and prospective customers. If so, are you feeling well equipped to handle today’s customer? A couple things to keep in mind:

Every touch-point offered is a potential first-time experience with your company.
New channels require inputs—providing mobile functionality with account features and tools is just a start. People expect to be serviced and listened to just like they would at your #1 customer service channel.
We are living in the NOW era—customers and prospects demand information, quickly!
Brand integrity—with so many options it is easy to dilute your voice, personality and what makes you unique.

So, how do you prepare yourself for new channel success?

Do your homework—there are so many free resources and guides for setting up and establishing a successful presence within new channels.
Plan and Strategize—don’t just setup new channels. Plan and strategize how you can use them effectively to drive results. By setting objectives and goals it will force you to properly support your presence in new channels.
Consult with the pro’s—sometimes it makes sense to get an expert opinion. If you have the budget, don’t be afraid to leverage reputable resources.
Delegate and dedicate support—don’t let new channels be ignored and become ripe for bad customer experience. Assign roles and leverage your team to help you.
Look for ways to cut the cost of servicing your channels – and of bringing consistency to your channels.
Last but not least, use scalable and compatible customer experience technologies when possible. Utilize technology to not just create channels, but to provide better support At SilverCloud, our Breeze™ product answers over 95% of customer questions instantly when placed on our client’s websites. Even better, Breeze™ expands your brand, product information and services customers on Facebook! Now our clients can provide the same superior experience their customers have come to expect while keeping their focus on building new relationships!

We hope you are feeling better prepared to leverage new customer service channels to your advantage. At SilverCloud™, improving customer experience is our passion. Got a question? Want to learn more about us? Feel free to contact us at any point and we would love to chat!

–Team SilverCloud

The State of Social Media in our Credit Unions:

Posted on October 14, 2011 by SilverCloud

Ever wonder what percentage of your members or employees are using social media? At SilverCloud™ we asked ourselves the same question, “What percentage of the credit unions we work with use social media to connect with their members?” The answer? We took a sample from the 220+ credit unions we work with and found the following:

Percent of our credit unions actively using social media:

Medium of choice (Facebook or Twitter):

Collective reach of our credit unions using social media (55 in total):

Ever wonder how your fan and follower count compares against other credit unions? Take a look at these averages:

The data demonstrating social media is extremely compelling with over 68% of our credit unions using either Facebook or Twitter to better connect with their members. While we there is no industry average for social media usage for all credit unions in the United States, we feel this number is very high. Something else of interest—our Credit Unions had THREE TIMES higher growth over industry average in 2010. In addition to better servicing their members through our Breeze™ product, maybe their involvement in social media helped drive growth and positive ROI? We think so.

If you fall within the 66% of our credit unions using Facebook we strongly recommend checking out our Breeze™ for Facebook platform. Breeze for Facebook will allow your members to do the following:

Ask anything about your CU products and services – right in Facebook
Get service – while on Facebook
Get directed to the appropriate material – while on Facebook
Submit questions to your MSRs – while on Facebook

Want more? Feel free to drop us a line or give us a call a toll free call at 1-800-654-0510 and we would love to learn more about you.

-Team SilverCloud™

Are you Converted for Successful Conversions?

Posted on September 17, 2011 by SilverCloud

It’s no secret—Call centers get SLAMMED during conversions. The result? More costs, risk of poor service, over-worked call-center agents and the worst of them all—unhappy customers!

In addition to conversions, even very small changes in your operational model can have large scale impacts on your service. If not properly prepared, you and your staff can quickly become overwhelmed by unforeseen service problems and end up smack in the middle of a full-blown customer service crisis. So, how do you convert your call center for successful conversions?

Make information readily available to customers is critical during a conversion. FI’s can lose both money and customers if this is not handled well. Get inside your customers head and walk yourself through the entire process. We’re you able to get the answers you were looking for?
Ensure you have superior knowledge management to support your customers. Also, make sure it is available 24 X 7.
Eliminate redundant questions—instantly! If you don’t eliminate redundant questions you are setting yourself up for conversion failure! Why would you have your qualified staff of call-center agents answer questions that could be given to your customers as soon as they ask them?

Good news! Our SilverCloud Breeze™ product does all of the above and more, making successful conversions a no-brainer. We’ve got data demonstrating the question volume increase during conversions and it ranges between a 100% to 1,000% on average! Here are a couple examples of how we have helped control costs and ensure quality customer experience across the board.

1.) Take a look at how SilverCloud Breeze™ helped Hanscom Federal Credit Union respond to a 1,200% increase in questions during the launch of a new online banking system.

2.) Check out how we helped Fort Campbell Federal Credit Union keep calls per customer during a major online conversion.

Got a conversion or operational change in your future? Considering the launch of a new product or service? We would love to learn more about it and show you how we can help make it a huge success!

Team,
SilverCloud™

FREE Webinar – FAIRWINDS Credit Union & Facebook – better service, better sales, better savings.

Posted on July 14, 2011 by SilverCloud

When: August 2, at 2PM EST.

Is your credit union on Facebook? What value are you providing your members on Facebook right now? With over 82% of credit union members ages 18-60+ using Facebook, the need to service members is more than important—it’s critical.

What is your Facebook page could answer 95% of member questions, provide superior member experience and drive new opportunities? Our Breeze™ for Facebook platform can do all of these things and more. In fact, it is doing it right now for FAIRWINDS Credit Union– the largest locally owned and operated financial institution in Central Florida with over 140,000 members and more than $1.5 billion in assets!

Sign up to see a FREE webinar featuring Jim Thornberry, FAIRWINDS’ senior vice president of branch services, explain how SilverCloud Breeze has helped improve member experience, drive down call volume and provide new opportunities for FAIRWINDS on August 2, at 2:00PM eastern. Spots are filling up quickly so please register ASAP!

We hope to see you there!
-SilverCloud

Do you really want to talk to your customers?

Posted on June 29, 2011 by SilverCloud

Credit unions, banks and financial services companies—do you really want to talk to your members? If you answered yes, be careful what you wish for.

While member conversation is often a great way to build relationships, strengthen loyalty and up-sell relevant services, it also has many downsides too. For starters, inbound conversation is expensive, time consuming and its outcome is of critical importance. In addition, it takes focus of key organizational differences and offerings by bogging down your people with questions that could have been answered more proactively.

So, the real answer to the question? It’s yes. However, the nature of communication in which you desire is centered on the following:

New business—the best reason to field a call, email or in-person visit.
Educated interest with purchase intent—a member heard something about a new program or product and wants to talk to someone before making a final decision.
Complex account issues—you would rather not have your leading call-center agent getting calls about branch locations, rates and other information that should be easily available. Instead, you would rather make your call center personnel look like all-stars by letting them solve more complex member and provide superior value to a member service experience.

So how do you create quality inbound conversation? Here’s a couple of ways:

1.) Engage in social media– Social media is the ultimate proactive trust builder, as it creates, maintains, and enhances relationships through two-way conversation between members and credit unions. A member has the luxury of always knowing what’s going on at their Credit Union through social media. Remember, conversation is going on with or without you. You might as well become a part of the conversation and strengthen positive conversations while responding proactively to negative ones and steering them in the right direction.

2.) Develop/deploy educational assets like the following:

Quality, engaging and informative website
Support tools for major product offerings
In-person tools—handouts, flyers etc.

3.) Enable members to find answers on their schedule—an extremely cost-effective, efficient and user-friendly way to create quality inbound conversations is to proactively provide answers. As SilverCloud™ our Breeze™ product answers over 95% of customer questions instantly when placed on our client’s websites. Even better, Breeze™ expands your brand, product information and services customers on Facebook! Now our clients can provide the same superior experience their customers have come to expect while keeping their focus on building new relationships!

Ready to channel quality conversation in your direction? We would love learn more about your organization and how you service your members or customers. Feel free to give us a call at (800)-654-0510 or drop us a line at any time!

–Team SilverCloud™

Welcome to Cloud 9!

Posted on May 20, 2011 by SilverCloud

Thanks for stopping by and welcome to Cloud 9—our new blog delivering insight and tips on providing superior customer experience via the Internet. We are excited to be blogging for the very first time and look forward to hearing from all our readers and customers!

To get started, here is a little information about Cloud 9!

The blog will feature noteworthy articles and stories about online customer experience trends, best practices and developments.
We will share exciting news and developments about SilverCloud™ products and clients.
We love conversation! Feel free to make comments on any of the posts you read on this blog.
You can access all of our posts via the archive located on the sidebar to the right.

In addition to a new blog, we hope you have had a chance to explore our new website! Let us know what you think and if there is any way to make it more helpful or entertaining. We have been getting some great feedback so far!

Thanks again for stopping by. And stay tuned!