Knowing that tweets on Twitter have hurt the reputations of celebrities, athletes and companies, you have to wonder if it’s a viable customer service tool. This statistic may help you decide what to do with Twitter in 2013.
More than a quarter of the 25 largest online retailers ignore customer tweets altogether, the 2012 STELLAService Survey found. Even big names in the online world haven’t put a huge emphasis on Twitter this year – but that will likely change a little next year.
So is Twitter worth your resources? If you’re a B-to-B provider, online customer service experts have found that there’s less of a need to be readily available to take on tweets at lightening fast speed. Most B-to-B situations call for a more personal response – albeit, still a quick one.
If you cater to more of a consumer crowd, you might want to consider giving Twitter a little more attention in 2013. More people are tweeting these days, and they’re quick to tweet if they experience bad service.
One caveat: If you can’t respond to tweets within 24 hours (that’s the expectation based on top service responders, such as Zappos and LL Bean, who have been known to respond within an hour), don’t bother with Twitter. It’s better to stick to what you do well – phone, chat, email – than disappoint customers on this fast communication channel.
