A Look Into Companies Use Of Customer Service On Twitter

Customer service is a very important part of every company. We as the customers want to know that if we have an issue and reach out to a company, that they are going to respond in a helpful manner and do their best to resolve our issues and answer our questions. But sometimes we may not want to have to pick up the phone and have to call a customer service number to talk to a representative. In today’s world, so many things are switching to media, including social media. A lot of companies have created a customer support presence on social media, specifically on Twitter. Twitter is a platform that most users use daily, they know how it works and they know that it is public. So it is a place where they want to communicate directly with a company. Now if that company has a positive customer service experience with that customer, then that can improve customer satisfaction and overall experience. But you have to know how to create these positive experiences. To do so, you can follow these 3 stages of customer service on Twitter.

Stage 1: Direct Mention Issue Resolution

In this first stage, it is important that these companies and brands respond to mentions on Twitter. So when a customer is reaching out to a company by posting a tweet that directly mentions that company, with an @, for example, then they need to respond to that tweet. Not only do they need to respond but they need to do it in a timely manner. The faster the response the more positive experience that the customer is going to have. Another thing to remember is to make the response personal. It can be helpful to make the response specific to what the customer wrote in the post, rather than a generic response.

Positive Direct Mention Issue Resolution:

As you can see, Peet’s Coffee showed that they have a strong customer service team by following the first stage of customer service on Twitter. The customer had a question and Peet’s coffee responded directly to their mention. If you look at the dates that the tweets were posted you can see that they are both from the same day. Although it does not give the time that they were posted you can assume that Peet’s Coffee responded rather quickly. They also made their response feel personal and answered their specific question in detail.

Negative Direct Mention Issue Resolution:

This is an example where Dunkin Donuts could have had better customer service. Looking at the dates, it took Dunkin 2 days to respond to this direct mention. The customer had already been on hold on the phone with customer service and was clearly looking for quick help and did not get it in a timely manner. Dunkin could have also given more of a helpful response or tried to make it more personal and specific because they make it seem like she will also then have to wait for them to see her DM. But a complete fail of this stage would be to just not respond to these direct tweets at all.

Stage 2: Broad Issue Resolution

This second stage has to do with resolving issues that have to do with the brand and product or service. In this stage, companies need to monitor keywords on Twitter effectively and also respond in a timely fashion. Another thing that is important in this stage is to solve the issue right in Twitter so that the customer does not have to call in to get it resolved. Companies and brands also listen to and monitor what users are saying about their competition during the second stage level.

Positive Broad Issue Resolution:

This is an example where broad issue resolution, the second stage, was successful. A customer had an issue with Hootsuite’s services and Hootsuite responded quickly with a same day answer. Hootsuite gave the customer an answer and a troubleshooting link that solved their issue so that they did not need call for assistance and it was all solved within Twitter. This created a positive customer experience and satisfaction and can be seen by others.

Negative Broad Issue Resolution:

There are a couple of reasons why this response may have underperformed at the second stage level. The first and most important being that although they did respond, they recommended that the customer call their 1–800 number which defeats the whole purpose of wanting to use twitter for customer service issues rather than calling and talking to a representative. This did not help to resolve the customer’s issue within Twitter. It also then took them 3 days to respond to the mention. Overall, this is a bad example of the second stage of customer service on Twitter.

Stage 3: Proactive Engagement

In the last stage, it is all about companies browsing Twitter to find audiences to reach out too and interact with even when they have not been mentioned. They can be engaged in conversations even when it is not targeted at their company. But they can also give issue resolutions to other customers that can then allow them to try to tie it back to their company or brand in some way.

Positive Proactive Engagement:

This is an example of a brand trying to have proactive engagement. They actively sought out a tweet that does not have their company mentioned but that does connect to their brand. ATT is one of Verizon’s competitors but Verizon may be able to offer services that could help this customer. Proactive Engagement can be where companies solve a resolution that does not involve their company in a tweet, but in this case, there was not a specific issue stated but a chance for Verizon to offer its services.

Negative Proactive Engagement:

This could be considered an example of Verizon falling short of Proactive Engagement. Although it is similar to the above example, this tweet mentions their competitor in a negative way. This could make people see Verizon in a bad light and possibly turn customers away. Especially because Casey Neistat has a large following so more people could have seen this tweet.