Twitter as a Customer Service Tool
Following on from my post about managing your online business reputation, I wanted to talk about using Twitter as a customer service tool, something that I experienced today.
This afternoon my internet connection died. Lights were on, no one was home. It wasn’t an issue with the computer, the modem, or the wireless router.
I called the Telstra technical support line and spent 20 minutes with an automated recording that was trying to talk me through resetting my equipment. Eventually I hung up and called the number that you use if you are calling from overseas, as I worked out that they put you straight through to a real person (an important tip for reputation management – there comes a point where customers don’t want to speak to a machine).
While on hold, I took to Twitter on my phone to express my annoyance at Telstra. Getting sick of the hold music after another 20 minutes, I hung up and had received a reply tweet from @BigPondTeam, telling me that there was a widespread problem and following them would allow me to keep up to date.
This to me is a a perfect illustration of where Twitter can be used to track brand perceptions, trends and respond to customer feedback, something that many businesses are getting on board with. The most important aspect here though for me is that the company is engaging with me to keep me informed, not to sell something.
Whether your online or offline business provides a product or a service, you should be using Twitter as a means of connecting with your audience. As I have said before, bad customer experience can echo around the world very quickly using social media, so being able to track it, respond to it, and counter it where necessary is important.
So how do you go about it?
Search
Visit search.twitter.com as part of your daily routine, at least once, and search on your brand or products. This will give you an idea of what people are saying about your brand and allow you to pick up trends or issues. Alternatively you can use a service like Twilert, which allows you to set up an email alert for when your brand or product is tweeted.
Respond
When people are saying great things about your brand, if you need to tweet anything, a simple “Hey, thanks for the great feedback” is all you need. If people’s sentiment is negative, don’t go on the defensive. Make your response measured - “sorry to hear you’re not having a great experience with X product”. Offer them the opportunity to contact you via DM to sort it out. I wouldn’t recommend DM to start the conversation for 2 reasons – a lot of people consider DM annoying, and by publicy acknowledging your willingness to help it reflects positively on your brand.
Follow
Through these searches and interactions, you have identified your customers, another of the incredible powers of social media. Start following everyone who tweets about you and your brand, positive or negative. This way you will always be up to date on their thoughts and feelings about what you offer, allowing you to be more nimble in how you respond. It may even help in product development.
Update
It’s not just about managing people’s responses, it’s also about managing their expectations. In the Telstra example, by continually updating their tweets, I knew what the problem is and when it was going to be back on. Once I knew they were tweeting, I didn’t have to sit on hold and wait or talk through resetting equipment with a robot. If you sell a physical product, tweet when things are out of stock or when new stock comes to avoid customer disappointments. If you are a service industry and something affects that service, let everyone know.
Publicise
If there is one thing I can find fault with in the Telstra example, it’s the lack of promotion of the fact that their help desk is Twittering. If you are using it, tell the world. Make it prominent on your site. If you have a customer service or technical support line, put it at the front of the message or during the hold music. This way, people may be able to resolve issues quickly and not spend time on hold, or get frustrated with a voice recognition system.
In this era of instant information, it is easy for your customers to go on the attack when they don’t know what is going on. No matter what size or industry you are in, at least some of your customers are on Twitter, so you should be to, being reactive to their needs.
Tags: Best Practice, Customer Service, Online Reputation, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter
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