More than 1 million people per week view
Tweets related to customer service experiences with a variety
of service providers and that more than 80 percent of those Tweets reflect
a critical or negative customer experience, according to TOA Technologies.
Customers who have a negative customer
service experience, and who broadcast that message via Twitter to their
followers, have a broader impact on brand equity than ever before.
As Twitter continues to grow dramatically,
the reach and influence of these Tweets will continue to expand at an
exponential pace due to the network affect. This means that cable companies,
and other service providers who have regular interactions with customers, need
to refine their customer service strategies to reflect the growing power of
consumers’ voices, by not only incorporating social media channels, but also
providing new solutions to alleviate frustrated customers’ complaints.
It may not be a big surprise that people
Tweet when they are unhappy about customer service but what is astonishing is
the expansive network effect of these Tweets. Based on our study’s findings
that most customers Tweets about service providers reflect a negative
experience, a key goal of every service-based company should be to keep their
name off of Twitter.
“As cable companies begin to focus more
on customer service differentiation, they need to not only refine their social
media strategy, but also focus on innovative preventative solutions for the
problems that cause these Tweets. Software solutions that aim to
predictively engage customers before problems arise, and provide real-time
solutions in advance, are obtaining the best results,” said Yuval Brisker,
CEO, TOA Technologies.
The statistical sampling of more than 2,000
Tweets was collected during the period of February 25 to May 2, 2011 and
focused on terms that included “the Cable Guy” and “installation
appointments,” among other terms.
TOA’s study found that during the selected time period, 82
percent of the surveyed Tweets contained negative (or somewhat negative)
sentiments about customers’ cable appointment experience – with these Tweets
reaching more than 780,000 additional followers at the first level (TOA did not
calculate the effect of re-Tweets). Twitter users post an average of 50
million Tweets per day, so one unsatisfied customer has the potential to
negatively impact the bottom line of any service provider by Tweeting about one
bad experience.
The survey also found that, while the average
appointment window for the cable carriers analyzed was four hours, some
customers related waiting times on service windows of over 20 hours.
Service providers are regularly targeted on
social media channels and many have created Twitter accounts in order to
address customer service issues.
By Telecomlead.com Team
