Nearly a fifth of consumers use social media to voice complaints
Published: 08 January 2016
Ever taken a customer service gripe to Facebook? According to a new study, an increasing number of consumers are turning to social media to complain in the hope of having complicated situations resolved.
The survey of 1,000 UK adults, carried out by customer contact outsourcer Echo Managed Services, revealed that almost one in five people use sites like Twitter to voice a complaint in place of other contact channels like phone, face-to-face, email and web chat.
Echo is now urging companies to reassess their social media policies, recommending that prime responsibility should sit with the customer service team, rather than in marketing.
Chris Cullen, head of sales and marketing at Echo Managed Services, said: “The findings of our research clearly demonstrate a consumer willingness to use social media in a variety of situations – perhaps most notably in complicated ones or when making a complaint. As issues raised through the channel can be unpredictable and played out in front of a potentially enormous public audience, it raises challenges in terms of who within an organisation manages social media.
“Due to the varied nature of enquiries being presented, we believe that it should be managed predominantly by the customer services’ function – who are experts in handling multi-channel customer enquiries day in day out, rather than the marketing department. But what’s crucial is that customer services and marketing work closely together and not in isolation. Real-time customer feedback must inform and direct marketing communications, therefore it’s alarming to see so many cases of a clear disconnect between these teams.
“Customer service must be consistent across all communication channels, and due to the variety of queries coming through social media, it should be developed to be as broad as possible and not just rely on stock answers to popular questions – as is unfortunately sometimes the case with social media management.
“Ultimately, not prioritising social media as much as other communication channels is risky business for organisations and can potentially lead to reputational damage, and lost customers – especially considering the nature of enquiries coming through this channel.”
