A company without Twitter for social customer service is like a bird without wings. Or maybe a bird with wings but no feathers. The point is, Twitter is an ideal social customer service channel, and companies that aren’t using it—and using it well—are missing out, not only on ways to take great care of customers, but to grow business by delighting them.
Twitter is one of the fastest-growing digital channels for customer service. According to Twitter's playbook, tweets at leading B2C brands are growing by over 50% per year. There are very specific reasons why customers love tweeting to brands. Knowing those reasons means being able to take advantage of the unique characteristics that make Twitter a great tool for connecting to customers. Let’s take a closer look at the reasons why Twitter is perfect for social customer service, and why it's great for brands and customers.
Twitter is real-time, all the time
If Twitter really were a bird, it would be a frigate bird, which can fly for months without stopping. Twitter is always on and the conversation is always flying by—among your current, past and future customers. While that potentially presents a challenge (if you’re trying to keep up with the conversation without social customer service software), its one important advantage of Twitter for social customer service.
Without question, Twitter is the fastest and most immediate digital channel for social customer service, allowing you to communicate with your customers in close to real-time and offer super service that effectively solves their problem. Other social networks like Facebook are trying to add a sense of real-time with Facebook Live, but until video customer support really picks up (not the current use-case of Facebook live), Twitter most definitely has the edge of "in the now" when it comes to social customer care.
Key Advantages: Efficiency and spontaneity
Public dialogues blend service with marketing
Every post on Twitter is an open letter to the world. Remember how I was talking about interacting with your current, past and future customers? That’s possible because Twitter is simultaneously public and personal. When you answer a customer’s question, you’re not only communicating with the customer but all of their followers, as well as yours. That’s how social customer service stories, both good and bad, go viral.
Twitter gives brands the chance to combine customer service and marketing by making outstanding customer service a competitive advantage. By serving customers on Twitter you can give each person individual treatment while at the same time broadcasting to the world. That's one-to-many communication instead of the old fashioned one-to-one email or phone call, and it's powerful stuff.
Key Advantages: Wide reach and directness
Multimedia enriches the customer experience
Customers love the advantages of automation, but at the end of the day they want to deal with humans. In fact, a 2016 study by Accenture found that 83% of U.S. consumers prefer human beings over digital channels to resolve customer service issues. It's all about feeling connected and therefore feeling like an individual.
Multimedia can be a big part of connecting with customers, not only through humor and pop culture references, but also by making customer service a visual experience, not just one limited to language. That might be the biggest advantage of social customer service on Twitter versus the classic call center.
Posting images, video content and recordings allows brands to reach out to customers in new ways, and vice versa. A whole new spectrum of subtle tone is possible, whereas it can be so hard to interpret the emotions behind words on a screen. The most popular brands are great at taking advantage of multimedia to enrich their Twitter feed. Customer service exchanges become more personal as a result.
Key Advantages: Interesting and humanizing
140 characters cuts to the chase
There’s something refreshingly direct about a tweet. The 140-character limit inspires a kind of emphatic brevity that means customers can cut right to the chase without exchanging formalities, and brands can in turn match the tone of the customer and provide a tailored service experience that is still results-driven. It’s not a good idea to be abrupt with customers, but when text is limited, both parties usually try to avoid rambling
Concise communication allows customers to find solutions faster, and agents to handle a higher volume of incoming customer service requests, especially if they have social customer service software keeping track of brand mentions and routing customers to the best possible agent. Of course, some problems are too complicated for 140 characters, but when Twitter is just one part of your social customer service ecosystem, you'll be able to determine the best channel for the job.
Key Advantages: Concision and efficiency
Twitter is a powerful tool for social customer service. In fact, it’s more like a jet than a bird. It can take you places quickly, but you’re probably going to need a little help staying in control. That’s what NICE CXone is for. Our platform connects you to your customers on Twitter and across the internet, allowing you to more efficiently provide excellent customer service, and to connect with your customers in real ways.
