Everyone knows hate harms people, but few people are aware that hate directly harms the bottom line too. You don’t need to accept that anymore. New solutions exist.
How hate hits your customers and your bottom line
Customer experiences increasingly take place across multiple channels, many of them not “owned” by the organisation. Obvious examples include Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. All are now woven into various stages of the customer’s journey.
The problem is that these channels are becoming increasingly toxic, which is having a significant negative affect on customers and your business. Research by charity Ditch the Label found that online hate speech in the UK and US rose by 20% since the start of the pandemic.
Right now, someone who follows one of your branded social accounts is free to openly abuse you or another individual in your community. This is more common than people think. Research by the Oxford Internet Survey revealed that 1 in 5 people in the UK have experienced online abuse. And 2 in 5 have witnessed that abuse. This has an obvious negative impact on the victim, but a less obvious impact on those that witness it.
2021 research by Insider Intelligence found that 37% of social media users are very or much less likely to engage with online content in an unsafe online environment. So a third of customers are being so turned off by toxic content in your social community that they’re leaving the conversation. If you consider that social commerce sales, that is the value of products and sold directly through social media channels, is worth $165 billion globally, you quickly realise that hate is jeopardising billions in potential revenue.
What you can do about it today
The days of social networks being a free-for-all are coming to an end. More and more individuals and organisations are take back control of their social communities, choosing to educate their followers in positive engagement and create the positive communities that create long-term fans and loyal customers.
Here are five things you can do to protect your bottom line:
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