This Social Media Today article, How to Nail Customer Service on Twitter (Plus 8 Brands Who Have) provides a reminder of some basic principles behind great customer service, that is, actually delivering it, not announcing you provide it.
I doubt many AEC businesses, certainly in the ICI world, will practically want to focus their customer service practices within 140 word snippets, though we’ve certainly seen recently in the US how Twitter has taken an exceptionally prominent role in political discourse (or discord).
Nevertheless, the points in the post by Jessica Swandon have relevance. First, observe some stats she cites, quoting Rob Hamilton (formerly from Twitter, so you might want to take their reliability with a small grain of salt):
- 80% of social customer service requests come from Twitter
82% of Twitter users have followed or engaged with a brand - Next, let’s look at the techniques to actually provide the great customer service — and, yes, you’ll see something that I think is obvious. They are:
- Empathize
- Provide Help
- Sign or Initial Your Name
- Use the Customer’s Name
- Keep it Chill (be informal)
Clearly, if you observe these basic principles in any situation, you’ll have the essential behind complaint resolving and effective customer service. Your challenge, if you offer to respond by Twitter or other social media, will be to have the capacity to be effective and not behave like a belligerent robot. But you should do that wherever you are responding.
A final note: See this advice from Twitter (on its marketing guidance site), quoting Emily Yellin (@EYellin), author of “Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us.”
“Twitter is not a magic bullet,” she warns. “If a company has great exchanges with its customers on social media but still infuriates them on the phone, they can make their frustrations easily known ? and they’ll probably do it on Twitter.”
But the opportunities Twitter presents for turning negative experiences into positive ones are virtually endless, (says?Savannah Peterson?(@Savissavvy), founder of Savvy Millennial):
“The great opportunity with social media platforms like Twitter is to surprise and delight,” she says. “People come to a customer service platform expecting something mundane and scripted. Anything you can do for them that’s human and empathetic is a chance for them to appreciate you more.”
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