Social Customer Service Finds Its Footing, But Expectation Gap Still Looms
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (PRWEB) October 19, 2017 -- Ann Michaels & Associates, a leader in Customer Experience and Social Media Management programs, released the results of the 2017 Social Media Response Time Study.
It’s no secret that consumers have been driving social media as a customer service channel, and brands have been quickly acclimating to their demands. Not only do consumers want to use social for customer service, but they want a response fast, typically less than an hour. Are retailers keeping up?
The 2017 study looked at response rates and times for 30 brands in the retail industry, and results were compared to earlier studies conducted in 2012 and 2015.
“Brands have made significant improvements, but they are still not where consumers want them to be” says Marianne Hynd, Vice President of Operations at Ann Michaels & Associates. “Some of the findings indicate that response times may be leveling off – I’ll be curious to see if brands take back control of social service standards in the coming years.”
Key findings include:
• Social media response time has continued to improve, though not as significantly as has been the case in prior years, signaling a potential plateau in response times.
• There is still a significant gap between consumer expectations and actual response times.
• Brands are improving in social service response, and may be turning away from email/web forms as customer service channel.
• Facebook response rates and response times generally dominated Twitter’s response rates and times, which is a shift from prior studies. There is one exception in which Twitter dominates in response time.
• A significant opportunity for brands was uncovered in indirect contact response.
To obtain a summary of the study, please visit Ann Michaels & Associates’ website. The full study results and executive summary are also available for purchase.
About Ann Michaels & Associates
Ann Michaels & Associates has been providing customer experience measurement tools to clients across North America since 1998. A leader in mystery shopping and customer feedback services, Ann Michaels & Associates has been monitoring and assisting clients with social media monitoring and management needs since 2007.
Kathy Doering, Ann Michaels & Associates, http://www.annmichaelsltd.com, +1 630- 246-4545, [email protected]
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