Do you remember when airline JetBlue quickly responded to a disgruntled passenger when his TV wasn’t working during his flight? Instead of brushing off a seemingly minimal complaint, the company immediately sprung to action, giving the customer a credit for his troubles. He quickly tweeted that it was the fastest and best customer service experience he’d ever had.
Twitter has become a valuable platform for displaying superior customer service. Here are three quick steps for achieving a slam dunk in the Twitter customer service department. You’ll attract happy campers (and bigger spenders).
Respond, respond, and did we mention, respond?
A small (yet so powerful) task can increase your brand’s future opportunities: acknowledging tweets from customers. According to recent research by Twitter’s Applied Marketing Research department, when customers receive a response from a business, “they are willing to spend 3–20% more on an average priced item from that business in the future.” Some airlines report that a Twitter exchange creates more revenue (about $9 more) than snacks and purchasing viewable content while in the air. The study also notes that responding increases customer satisfaction, likeliness to recommend, and word of mouth activity about the business.
When customers receive a response from a business, “they are willing to spend 3–20% more on an average priced item from that business in the future.”
Twitter’s Applied Marketing Research department
Take action:
If you haven’t placed importance on replying to your followers, these stats should give you the gentle nudge you need. Responding to even the most trivial of tweets can have impact on revenue and customer satisfaction down the line. Take time each day to engage with customer inquiries; it’s more important than you may think.
Get help: Take a look at the Twitter Management program that handles your Twitter responses and engagement. Every day.
Be fast.
Replying to customers quickly is the key to generating maximum revenue impact. Study results found that the longer the wait time, the less money a customer was willing to shell out. In the telephone industry, it was found that “customers are willing to pay $17 more per month for a phone plan if they receive a reply within four minutes, but are only willing to pay only $3.52 more if they have to wait over 20 minutes.”
The longer the wait time, the less money a customer is willing to shell out.
Take action:
Use Twitter’s new support indicator and message button. This tells your followers when they can expect a response, and also gives customers the option of starting a private conversation for more personal matters.
Embrace the negative.
There’s no escaping the occasional unhappy customer; it’s how you handle them that makes all the difference. Twitter’s study shows major positive results for companies responding to negative tweets: “69% of people who tweeted negatively say they feel more favorable when a business replies to their concern.” Even if a conversation starts with a negative slant, there’s ample opportunity to redeem the customer’s satisfaction. “Conversations that started with a negative Tweet resulted in higher brand favorability as well as 3X higher willingness to pay…, compared to those whose original Tweet was positive.” So not only were customers satisfied at the end of the interaction, but they were also willing to pony up more cash.
Take action:
Don’t ignore negative tweets. Prioritize handling them first, knowing that any response helps a customer’s willingness to pay as well as increase their brand satisfaction. That’s a win-win if you ask us.
Do you have an example of using Twitter to increase client spend? We’d love to hear about it!
