Twitter Customer Service

Graphic of the Twitter Fail Whale

Twitter Customer Service

71% OF COMPLAINT TWEETS ARE IGNORED

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LISTEN To The Daily Numbers podcast [MP3].

71% of those who have complained about a company on Twitter have never received a response from that company.
29% did.
Of those, 32% loved the fact they responded.
51.5% liked that they responded.
12.5% were neutral.
Only 4% didn’t like it or hated it. Whatevah.
Only 16% were dissatisfied with the company’s response.

THOUGHT: I think most of us have had the experience of expressing displeasure about a company’s products or services on Twitter and sorta hoping for but not really expecting a response. And having that expectation fulfilled.

I’ve been saying this for quite some time but now I’ve got the data to back up my contention that online customer complaints are not necessarily something to be feared but can often be a wonderful opportunity.

At this point in the history of social media, with nearly three quarters of complaints about companies going unacknowledged, the mere fact that a company responds to your Twitter complaint may be enough to elicit positive feelings, simply as a result of the novelty.

Twitter is a lot of things but one of the primary functions it serves is as a customer service tool. I have had a direct experience of excellent customer service by Comcast through Twitter, that turned a customer that was constantly aggravated with the company to one who tells his superb customer service story any time he has a chance.

I’ve seen that happen time and again, where a company turns a critic into a champion simply by responding promptly, adequately, and openly.

If you’re not listening to what people are saying about you, at worst you’re flirting with disaster and at most, you’re missing out on some golden opportunities. Go to search.twitter.com, search for your company name, and save it as a search to your Twitter profile so you can monitor it daily.

If you use TweetDeck or Hootsuite, create a search column for your company’s name and keep an eye on it. If you’ve got staff dedicated to monitoring customer complaints, make sure they’ve got the access and authority to resolve customer issues.

 

TUNHEIM TRENDS PODCAST: Tunheim Vice President Noelle Hawton joins Iconoculture’s global consumer trends expert Greg Hodge for a discussion of 2011 Holiday Retail Trends.  [LISTEN.]

 

 FOLLOW FRIDAY: Tunheim’s retail marketing wiz Noelle Hawton.

 

Thank you for second chances.

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