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October 22, 2009
Twitter: the killer app for customer service
"Hello, this is Sam Kaufman from the AT&T Internet Executive Office, and I am calling about your tweets."
That's what I heard yesterday after posting a few tweets about my less-than-stellar customer service experience with an AT&T DSL technical support rep. The rep was trying to diagnose my DSL problems and after telling me to stay on the line for 10 minutes, he never returned after 30 minutes. I hung up. He never called back.
With a few hours of my AT&T tweet, @ATTJohnathon, a customer care rep on Twitter contacted me, asking if he could help. I DM'ed him my account number as he requested and he passed it on to Sam. Turns out Sam is part of the Customer Advocacy Center, where escalated customer complaints are sent. Sam says he has recently started receiving tweets from the AT&T Twitter team for follow-up.
AT&T is on board with social media for customer service. In addition to the five fourteen customer care reps on Twitter, the company has 23 social media channels on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Posterous and blogs.
Comcast may have been the first high-profile company to use Twitter for customer service, but now others are seeing the benefits as well, such as DirectTV, Wells Fargo, Alaska Airlines and FourSquare.
Twitter is the killer app for customer service. Companies can discover aggravating service problems by using a variety of tools to listen on tweets mentioning their name. A response can be nearly immediate.
It's good word of mouth, too. Mediocre service is such a standard that any form of pro-active Twitter customer service is worth talking about.
Other blogs that reference Twitter: the killer app for customer service:
Many organizations, even those trying to implement resources to improve customer service don’t have the support they need at an executive level to create the customer-centric shift that needs to take place to provide positive customer experiences and thus get blasted on Twitter. Additionally, there are those people/customers who quickly react to a situation, letting their fingers do the talking before they have given other support channels a chance; they just want to tell the world of their experience, thus blasting an organization on Twitter. In either case, Twitter may be seen as a good customer service platform because it is bringing issues to light that will hopefully improve the customer experience in the end. There are also those customers who are just social, they may be indifferent to a company’s support, but while they are in their online social environment they have a question and decide to throw it out to the organization in Twitter land just to see if they can get a quick response. If they do, in fact, get a response from the organization, is that good customer service?
Regardless of whether or not it is a good customer service platform, customers are taking their issues social and they can’t be ignored, so have your support teams send them a link to a knowledgebase article or self-service portal where they can do their own search, submit a ticket or chat with a service rep. It doesn’t have to be an “all or none” channel, just an extra channel. If I tweet and someone replies with a brief answer, or a link to get an answer to my question that transaction can begin the customer service experience.
That said, at this early stage of social support, our customers are telling us that they are mostly experimenting with Social CRM and seeking out ways to leverage the information with the hope that it will be a useful support channel, and as they figure that out they want a way to monitor customer sentiment and leverage this valuable information within their support teams. They want to monitor trends and respond when appropriate; currently taking that support to another channel to resolve.
Let’s not forget that Twitter isn’t only a platform for airing grievances or seeking customer support because it failed in other channels, but also a way to communicate and spread the word about positive experiences; providing support teams and organizations with positive reinforcement to continue the good things they are currently doing.
In general I agree with your article but I wouldn’t call Tweeter a Killer App for Customer Service. If the tweet is a reaction to a bad experience how is that customer service? Good customer service should be paramount to any company even if they don’t have an 800 number. Just by reacting to their bad customer service not only diminishes their reputation but also wastes a lot of your time and yours as well.
How about this: The technician fixes the problem (without leaving you on hold for 10+ minutes) and once you are happy with the result, he/she would then ask you to tweet about your experience. By giving them kudos for their work you automatically qualify for a 5% discount or a coupon for a free coffee at your nearest Coffee Shop. You are advertising for them so why not?
If companies everywhere would be more pro-active vs. reactive they would stand to gain so much more; and Tweeter truly would become a killer app for customer service.
I think it's a stretch to utilize a new medium of communication when you didn't master the old methods. I'm not knocking their new approach to customer service but we'll just have to see how it holds up.
I use Twitter as a strong medium of Social networking. But I am not aware, the negetive side of it. Thank you for interesting posting.
No, Twitter is not the killer app for customer service, it is merely a way to identify who is crying the loudest about customer service problems. If my cable company gives me bad service and I complain over the phone I get a brush off because I am alone on the phone with a representative and only my family and the rep on the phone can hear my frustration.
However if I tweet about the issue then I let my followers know about my frustration, which is bad press and leads to attention and service from the company that I am complaining about. But shouldn't I have gotten that in the first place? Why do I need to complain twice to get help and why do I need to use a specific social network? What if I have 100,000 followers? Do I get better support than if I have 100?
Companies are not giving better customer support through Twitter and Twitter is not the perfect medium for customer support. Twitter just happens to be a good medium for customer support right now because of the bad press that complaints on Twitter generates. In short Twitter is used by many companies as a way of plugging leaks in the dyke. Unless customer service is actually addressed by the company then no amount of Twitter customer service will solve the problem.
Great Article!
We are seeing, on a daily basis, a number of companies using Twitter effectively to improve their customer service. It is unlikely to become the sole channel for sometime but many clients use it as a recourse mechanism, bringing their concerns to the company on a public channel and thereby reducing the time it takes to resolve any issues. Also frequently used as a communication mechanism to promote special offers and product launches which also contribute to good customer service.
I think it's a stretch to utilize a new medium of communication when you didn't master the old methods. I'm not knocking their new approach to customer service but we'll just have to see how it holds up
However if I tweet about the issue then I let my followers know about my frustration, which is bad press and leads to attention and service from the company that I am complaining about. But shouldn't I have gotten that in the first place? Why do I need to complain twice to get help and why do I need to use a specific social network? What if I have 100,000 followers? Do I get better support than if I have 100?
We are seeing, on a daily basis, a number of companies using Twitter effectively to improve their customer service. It is unlikely to become the sole channel for sometime but many clients use it as a recourse mechanism, bringing their concerns to the company on a public channel and thereby reducing the time it takes to resolve any issues.
Charter Cable needs to take a lesson from the AT&T playbook! Wait,,, no they'll never do it. Because they really don't care about their customers. At least that's the feeling I get.
