Research commissioned by Lithium Technologies has shown that consumers expect brands to respond in a timely way to complaints made using Twitter.
Lithium’s research was conducted by Millward Brown digital and was to 500 Twitter users who had ever communicated with a brand or retweeted a brand.
These respondents place a high value on quick responses with 53% expecting a response within an hour and this rises to 72% if they are complaining.
On the positive side receiving timely responses get the following results:
34% are likely to buy more from that company;
43% are likely to encourage friends and family to buy their products;
38% are more receptive to their advertisements;
42% are willing to praise or recommend the brand through social media.
On the negative side, however, not responding to a complaint the brand will probably lose loyalty and even be the recipient of negative social media comments with 38% feeling more negative about a brand and a full 60% would take action.
“It’s time for brands to wake up and realize that social response is the new real-time marketing.
“Brands must meet their customers in their venue of choice – Twitter – and a slow or silent response simply isn’t an option. With 57 percent of consumers unlikely to spend with you again after a negative experience, those could be the most expensive 140 characters a brand ever ignores.”
~Lithium President and Chief Executive Officer Rob Tarkoff