New report from Twitter and Sprinklr shed light on the state of customer service on the platform.
A new report from Sprinklr that explores the state of customer service on Twitter found that two in six respondents prefer Twitter as their preferred channel for contacting customer service. The study that analyzed nearly half a billion Tweets from 1,000 brands across 30 countries identified some of the best practices that enable leading brands to maintain their edge.
Top brands on Twitter care reply to eight times more Tweets and receive ten times more mentions. These brands are also relatively quick in responding to tweets – they are thrice as fast as their competitors. As a result, they enjoy a lead in the number of followers.
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Companies that understand the value their customers seek can improve in delivering it, increasing business value in the process. The report indicates that organizations either do not think of value for customers or misunderstand it.
Forrester defines value as “A customer’s perception of what they get versus give up.†Four dimensions make up the overall value a customer perceives. This includes functional, experiential, symbolic, and economic value.
The Economic Value of Customer Service on Twitter
Brands deliver economic value to customers when they own problems and respond to savings-driving inquiries. 64% of people surveyed felt it was important for a brand to take ownership of the issue. The study also found that customers find it helpful if brands can respond publicly to them. 73% of people surveyed on Twitter found it helpful to see how brands answer questions or solve issues.
When sensitive or personal information is involved, brands move the conversation to a direct message (DM). 52% of people surveyed are more likely to DM rather than Tweet publicly.
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Businesses create a massive opportunity for themselves when they acknowledge customer service-related Tweets. When a person Tweets at a business and receives a response, they are willing to spend about 20% more on an average-priced item from that business in the future.
Sprinkr found that brands that take ownership had a much higher Sprinklr care score. However, only one in five brands take ownership of customer problems, but nearly three in five retail brands excel in this best practice despite high volumes of Tweets. Top retail handles get 50% more incoming Tweets than top handles in other industries.
What is another sign that brands are delivering economic value through social care on Twitter? When customers reach out in pursuit of deals or discounts. Brands that Tweet their best offers are brands that customers turn to when they are seeking value for their dollar.
Clear communication surrounding price changes is another way to ensure satisfaction, so customers are not hit with hidden fees, which leads to churn. A strong marketing relationship on Twitter ensures a smoother transition if people are already loyal to the brand and understand the changes ahead of time.
Responding at the Speed of Need
It pays to help customers solve problems quickly and easily because when people have a bad experience, half will complain publicly on social media. If they do not receive an answer at all, 81% of people surveyed will not recommend that company to their friends.
Responding swiftly is an important part of Twitter care, and brands that respond quickly score much higher on overall care.
According to Sprinklr’s survey, these factors in responsiveness set brands apart:
- How quickly an account replies
- A consistent response time and rate
- Whether it signals its availability by explicitly communicating its Twitter care hours
Month after month, the top-scoring care handles on Twitter get back to customers quickly and consistently. The steady purple line for top care accounts reflects how top care teams consistently deliver same-day responses to their customers. These brands are ready for anything because they know how to scale up when they need to.
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With most brands, it is a different story from one month to the next. By March 2020, average response times were not much more than one day; but in the busy holiday season of 2019, customers would wait more than two days for an answer. It is that lack of predictability, as much as the slower speed of response, that disappoints customers.
Conclusion: Delivering Better Customer Experiences in 2021
The best brands on Twitter create value for customers by following specific best practices that have stood the test of time. The report indicates that brands that excel outperform across key social care metrics and have significantly higher scores than the overall average.
Brands should tune in before consumers Tweet to request help and offer them extraordinary care in thoughtful ways. Those are the kinds of care experiences that create deep symbolic value.