Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses

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Aren’t we all use to the phrase “The customer is always right.”

Customer service has evolved since twitter has been used for customers services. In the past, we had to send an email or submit a ticket with our problems and wait for hours or even couple of days to get a reply. If we didn’t get the answer we wanted, we had to reply and then wait for another couple of days.

Ever since twitter has been used for customers service, customers can get replies in a couple of minutes depending on the company.

Should your company use twitter for customer service? YES! The reason I say that is because…

1. Faster

Replies are faster than email and you can reply your customers in matter of minutes even seconds. Imagine how happy your customers will be.

2. Shorter

Yes, it is shorter as people only have 140 characters.Compare that to a long email. On twitter they usually go straight to the problem. Your company can easily help them with a tweet or two.

3. Your competitors aren’t

Your competitors might not be on twitter. Isn’t that the best reason to be on twitter? When people have problems and they are unhappy with your competitors, who comes to the rescue? Your company.

There are a number of companies using twitter as their customer service. Here is an example from a Ford customer asking a Four Customer Service ( @fordcustserv ) a question on twitter and @fordcustserv replying to them

Here is an example of a happy customer of @britishairways

@Comcastcares is one of the top brands when it comes to customer service via twitter. Their success has been mentioned is numerous blog post and videos. Below in a video of an interview with @comcast and how it changed their customer service.

Here is a video from @loic the founder of @seesmic and his opinion on customer service on twitter.

So is your business using twitter yet? If no why not? What is stopping you?

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Upcoming Post: Twitter For Serious Businesses

Sixdeaftaxis

@ForCustServ clearly doesn't get the idea of Twitter. Half the tweet is wasted with noise, then they don't even answer the question!

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Aaron Lee

Did you tweet them mate?@fordcustserv@fordcustserv
but I've seen them answering questions very well.
There are tons of happy customers with

barryckr

You are making a good point here Aaron, but don't you think that the weaknesses of the company are more exposed than ever for competition (benchmarketing easier). And knowing that elite on twitter with 100k + followers may tweet something bad about a brand or product and influence others, it's also a negative point. Companies have to be very selective in there responses.

glitterglitzer

You have agood point there and it may be true that a company has to be careful with their answers. Don't you think though that they benefit incredibly from being on Twitter and being able to react real fast? This is the new age and a company has to move forward to survive in todays world. There are risks involved as you describe true, but the benefits are way bigger and worth the risk.

I do agree with you mirijam but this risk is way different than any other risk a company can take. The companies here are literraly exposing all the arguments to use against them about their weaknesses. It's a new age indeed, but hope that Marketing Ethics won't be lost.

I'll agree with mirijam that the company needs to move forward. Yes its true that there are risk involved since the company is exposed. However it also shows that the company cares about their customers. I don't think there are much argument on twitter since people always control themselves and try not to show them off too much.

Ok, nobody agrees with me ey? :)

This is a fantastic post Aaron! I wish that Swiss companies would embrace Twitter but they are slow. Maybe because not enough Swiss people are onTwitter. I hope it will change in the future.
xoxo
ps: I will turn into a total social media, twitter and tech freak around your blog!

CustServ: Customer Relations: The New Competitive Edge says:

June 2, 2010 at 1:49 am

[...] at Ask Aaron Lee, Aaron shares how Twitter is becoming the new customer service for business. Many organizations are actually using Twitter now to reach out to their customers. 0 [...]

Aaron Lee says:

November 21, 2010 at 2:30 pm

Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9a6ptM

msmerle says:

November 21, 2010 at 4:56 pm

RT @AskAaronLee: Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9a6ptM

Reg Saddler says:

November 25, 2010 at 10:31 am

Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9a6ptM RT @AskAaronLee

November 25, 2010 at 12:56 pm

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McCollins Media says:

November 25, 2010 at 4:00 pm

Tech18 says:

November 25, 2010 at 4:11 pm

RT @McCollinsMedia: Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9s6Grp

Superior Network Co says:

November 26, 2010 at 5:42 am

#SMnet AskAaronLee: Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9s6Grp http://sns.ly/wD862 #SM24hrs

November 26, 2010 at 7:59 am

AskAaronLee Aaron Lee
Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9s6Grp
RT @AskAaronLee

John Paul Aguiar says:

November 26, 2010 at 12:25 pm

RT @askaaronlee Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9s6Grp

Tinu Abayomi-Paul says:

November 26, 2010 at 4:55 pm

rt @zaibatsu Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9s6Grp cc: @AskAaronLee

Neal Schaffer says:

November 26, 2010 at 7:15 pm

Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9s6Grp via @zaibatsu @AskAaronLee

paul steele says:

November 27, 2010 at 8:07 am

Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9a6ptM RT @AskAaronLee @zaibatsu

Joe Blaze says:

November 27, 2010 at 8:12 am

RT @paul_steele: Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9a6ptM RT @AskAaronLee @zaibatsu

2morrowKnight says:

November 27, 2010 at 8:30 am

Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses http://bit.ly/9a6ptM /via @AskAaronLee @zaibatsu @paul_steele

Weekly Link Roundup (11-26-10) | Social Media Marketing says:

March 14, 2011 at 10:59 am

[...] Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses (AskAaronLee.com) [...]

Twitter: The New Customer Service For Businesses

1. Faster

2. Shorter

3. Your competitors aren’t

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