How Experts Would Fix 8 Twitter MisstepsInsights from top social media minds

To compile the Tweets for this report, I followed these steps:!• I created a list of the 130 most socially active brands (those listed on The

Social 100, the 2012 Social Customer Service Index, the 2012 Brands on Twitter report and Forbes 20 Most Social Brands Report).

• Then, I then set up queries with a social listening tool to pull a month’s worth of social media data for each brand.

• To narrow down my list of 130, I focused on those companies with the highest ratio of negative sentiment.

• Then, I created a filter to only pull mentions from Twitter that included the words “customer service” and had negative sentiment. (Note: This sentiment analysis is automated. It is possible that some mentions were incorrectly identified as being negative, and vice versa for mentions that were categorized as neutral or positive).

Abstract

Silence Is NOT Golden: Don’t Leave Your Customers Hanging

According to our experts, this is one of the most common missteps companies make: not responding at all. In fact, one study found that only 29 percent of customers receive a response when voicing a complaint on Twitter.

Customer Tweet:

Company Response: [The company did not respond in this case]

Expert’s “Corrected” Response:

Don’t Leave Your Customers Hanging [Example 2]

Here’s a second example of a company not responding. Kim suggests brands always do the following in their responses: acknowledge issue head-on, address customer by name, apologize and attempt to fix the issue.

Customer Tweet:

Company Response: [The company did not respond in this case]

Expert’s “Corrected” Response:

Don’t Tell Customers to Do Something When They’re Upset

A recent HBR article described why low-effort customer service is one of the most important factors when it comes to fostering customer loyalty. In this interaction, American Airlines did the opposite.

Customer Tweet:

Company Response:

Expert’s “Corrected” Response:

Don’t Just Respond—Tell The Customer You’re Here to Help

The responder should always clearly state their desire to help the customer. While it’s implied the customer can email the address provided to get a response, the agent should have specifically said the words “we want to help.”

Customer Tweet:

Company Response:

Expert’s “Corrected” Response:

Tell The Customer You’re Here to Help [Example 2]

In addition to not making a clear offer to help immediately, Vermeren says Target’s response is robotic and typical of companies using canned responses in social media interactions.

Customer Tweet:

Company Response:

Expert’s “Corrected” Response:

Choose Your Words Carefully

With so few characters in a Tweet, it’s critical that agents choose their words carefully. In this case, if you’re going to ‘convey’ something, you’re just describing it—it doesn’t imply that you’re going to take action.

Customer Tweet:

Company Response:

Expert’s “Corrected” Response:

Don’t Forget to Close the Issue Publicly

In instances where you have to take the interaction to a private channel (because account information is needed), don’t forget to close the issue publicly to let everyone know the issue was resolved.

Customer Tweet:

Company Response:

Expert’s “Corrected” Response:

Ask the Customer for a Chance to Rectify the Experience

In instances when the problem isn’t something you can’t technically “fix” because it’s a negative experience, create an opportunity for the customer to give you another chance to rectify the situation.

Customer Tweet:

Company Response:

Expert’s “Corrected” Response:

To Respond, or Not to Respond?

In other words, while social media isn’t a “required channel” in the way phone and email support is, companies should recognize the risk they take in not making it a priority: they could end up losing customers.

“It’s important to understand that there is no obligation, per se, on the part of the brand to respond—participation is the brand’s decision … !It is also then the right of the customer to draw from this whatever conclusion one wishes. Most customers, left ignored, would conclude the brand is disinterested in satisfying them.”

!—Dave Evans, VP of social strategy for Lithium Technologies

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