See
how @LondonMidland and @VirginTrains use Twitter well.
Twitter is a great tool for digital marketing and customer
interaction.
But have you considered using it as a customer service tool?
Twitter is ideal for customer service, offering advantages that traditional
methods cannot provide.
Many brands have adopted Twitter as a customer service tool,
adapting their bios to make them more user friendly and customer service
orientated. London Midland and Virgin Trains are good examples, not only are
their Twitter handles easy to find but they have also included contact times in
their bio, letting customers know when they can expect a reply. Along with this
there are other contact details included for people who want an instant reply
to their queries or wish to talk to somebody.
The advantages of using Twitter to provide customer service include:
- Live
updates- Twitter allows you to give live updates that reach a large number
of people, particularly helpful for businesses such as London Midland who can
send out alerts regarding delayed or cancelled trains. Twitter is useful for
informing customers of any down time or problems on your main website too.
- Answer
FAQs- If you have a large volume of followers asking similar questions,
Twitter is a great way of providing an answer with one tweet instead of having
to reply directly to each one.
- A more
personal approach. Twitter is a more informal way of communicating and is
closer to face-to-face interaction than other forms of customer service.
- Private
Communication. If a customer wishes to keep their communication private
they have the option of sending direct messages to the business Twitter
account.
- Promotions.
If there are any loyalty promotions or offers available, Twitter lets you
communicate them to a large selection of existing and potential customers.
These may otherwise be dismissed as spam when sent by other means such as email
or post.
- Visibility.
The use of hashtags on Twitter means you can easily find tweets that mention
your business or a topic related to your business. Likewise, they allow
existing and potential customers to find your Twitter profile and tweets with
ease.
- It’s free
and convenient. Many customers
choose to contact businesses via social media as they can tweet or message on
the go from smart phones, laptops and tablets. They can also avoid calling
numbers that may charge them.
As with any extension of your business, there are some points
you should consider before choosing to use Twitter as a customer service tool:
- Do you have a team member that is competent in using
Twitter and its features?
- Do you have the manpower to provide a service
where people can get timely responses
Note that the brands doing well on Twitter aim to provide a
response time of around 4 to 16 hours. If you can deliver, then Twitter
could fast become one of your most effective ways of providing customer
service.
If you like this story, do share and
tweet me @annmariehanlon
Labels: customer care, Twitter for business
