We often see it asked on a number of our favorite forums, and get asked equally by our own customers – is it worth my time providing customer service on Twitter? We reply with a resounding yes, with a few caveats that businesses should be aware of.
First and foremost, why Twitter? Although it wasn’t designed as the world’s customer service channel, there’s no denying that there has been an explosion in service conversations on Twitter since it launched. Since 2013, they have grown a whopping 150%, and in 2015 constituted 80% of customer service requests across all social channels. We imagine that number is higher today, and growth will continue, so it’s never a bad time to develop a support presence.
Just because customers in general are flocking to Twitter in great numbers, however, you might not see the same growth among your customer base. Customers choose Twitter for support when they’re familiar with the channel, and when their problems tend to be less time-sensitive. If your customers tend to be 18-29 year olds, for example, you’re much more likely to see growth in engagement over Twitter. If you serve the 40+ demographic, however, you’re less likely to see that same growth. While customers tend to reach out about serious problems, if an immediate solution is often needed, according to one survey 68% of surveyed customers still prefer the immediacy of a phone call.
Regardless of how big your customer base is on Twitter, to succeed, a great support experience is paramount. This is infinitely more-so than on private channels where poor experiences can be swept under the rug. The quality of your Tweets will be judged by potential future customers, and can go viral. So, engage customers promptly, personably, and directly. If you’re ready to provide that experience, you’re good to go. JetBlue shows us a prime example of how to do that in this image, courtesy of Social Media Examiner:
As a support organization, keeping customers happy means supporting them on whatever channels they’re comfortable reaching out over. That’s often much more than one, so keeping track of all of them can be a challenge. That’s where Vtiger CRM can help you. Vtiger has a centralized support platform that lets your support team see and answer customer service requests from every channel. Phone, email, chat, customer portal, Twitter (and soon, Facebook!) are all part of Vtiger’s multi-channel experience. When a customer reaches out, Vtiger attaches a case to it, and assigns it to your team to resolve. On Twitter, if your customers even mention your company name, product name, or other relevant keywords, Vtiger shows you those Tweets so that you can respond, keeping your brand’s reputation positive and strong. Of course, with all cases in Vtiger, customer interaction and purchase histories are automatically added to the case so that agents learn about customers instantly, and can get to solving problems faster.
Ready to provide a great multi-channel support experience? You can start a free trial of Vtiger for support by clicking here. Or you can find out more about Vtiger by emailing us at [email protected]
