Much has been commented about the use of Twitter and customer care. One example often quoted is BT. It does look good, it feels good and the impression is that there are a team of BT staff waiting to address your every need.
Not so.
We recently moved offices – to the building next door. The BT part of the process was a nightmare. Phone lines cut all day, no broadband for 3 days.
From the iPhone I tweeted to BTcare, but there was no one there. Tweets, DMs and general replies to get their attention – nothing.
The issues were resolved, after speaking (and being put through to) around 12 different people.
If you’re planning a customer care strategy around Twitter it’s essential to monitor the twitter service all day long – that includes weekends. Most businesses move on Fridays to minimise staff and their client disruption.
Like the BT engineers we met, it seems BTcare via Twitter finishes at around 3pm on a Friday afternoon.
If you have genuine examples of great customer care via Twitter, do let us know.
PS - Note from our publishers, Oak Tree Press "You should mention that, as a direct result of your experience, you dropped the example of BTCare / Twitter from your new book Quick Win Direct Marketing."
Labels: customer care, measuring twitter numbers and followers, twitter
