Skift Take

If customers reach out to a company on Twitter, it's because it is the most convenient channel. Redirects only frustrate and alienate already unhappy customers.

A recent analysis of 40,000 tweets sent by 26 brands reveals that some companies are great at responding to customers’ needs while others direct their requests to email or phone numbers. Airlines are among the best brands on Twitter at answering customers without deflecting them to more traditional channels.

A social customer service platform, Conversocial, looked at all tweets sent by American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue, and United over a one-week period this August and found that only two percent of customers were asked to repeat their requests via email or phone.

The tweets that were most likely to be redirected concerned reservations and rebooking (36 percent), frequent flyer programs (22 percent), tech support for websites and apps (17 percent), lost luggage (12 percent), and general dissatisfaction (10 percent).

The telecom industry was equally responsive on Twitter, but banks, retailers, and restaurants redirected 6 to 21 percent of customers’ tweets.

A few other findings from the report:

  • 98% of customers who are given an email or number did not ask for it
  • 76% of conservations ended after a brand suggested a customer switch channels
  • 19%of customers said they’d already tried the suggested channel or social network

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Download the full report from Conversocial here.

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Tags: customer service, twitter

Photo credit: American Airlines Communications worker Andrea Hugely takes a photo of the new American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER at Terminal D at DFW Airport in Euless, Texas, January 31, 2013. Brad Loper / Dallas Morning News/MCT

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