“That’s an interesting idea, try submitting as a suggestion here: http://xyz.com [link removed]”
That’s the tweet I received early this morning from a brand I’d sent a suggestion to over the weekend. I sent them a tweet. They responded with a tweet. But their response, ladies and gentlemen, failed to provide the desired level of customer service.
The Back Story
Over the weekend, I was working on a project for a friend involving premium WordPress themes. I’d used one particular premium theme store with great success before, so they were my first stop for this project. This particular project required a premium theme with a white background, so that the logo and overall look and feel would be consistent with the purpose.
That’s where I hit a snag. The online store allows you search by type CMS, reviews, cost, and total sales. But I couldn’t weed through hundreds of themes to find the best designs with white backgrounds. I’m a long-time blogger and I’m used to the previously flawed but still helpful free theme search functionality at WordPress.org. You use to be able to search through all these free themes and limit your search results based on number of columns or colors deployed in the theme.
It just makes sense to me that an online store should provide this advanced search functionality. So I found their Twitter username and sent them a quick tweet. I had no idea whether they’d get my suggestion, care about it, or much less respond. But I used MY preferred method of communication to reach out to a brand I care enough about to contact. The ball was in there court.
Which leads us to the moral of this story…
If you’re going to use Twitter, USE Twitter
The example above is not the WORST possible customer service response by any stretch. But we’re dealing with ideals here. We want to maximize our use of social media, local search, referrals, etc. And in order to get the most out your efforts, you have to see the flaw in their approach.
What did they do wrong?
I made my comment on Twitter. The brand responded on Twitter. But the brand tried to send me elsewhere to submit my suggestion. That, my friends, is a failure to use the medium properly.
If you dialogue with customers on Twitter, it’s your responsibility to meet their needs ON TWITTER. If I wanted to hunt for a contact or submission form, I would have done it. I’m offering you, the brand, valuable insight into what I want. And if you use it, you’ll make more money because I’ll be able to find what I want before I lose patience and go elsewhere.
What does a GOOD response look like?
In an ideal world (i.e. one in which the brand earns my business), the brand responds with,
“thanks, daniel. that’s a great idea. i’m pushing it up the ladder now. i’ll @ you if/when we can make it happen.”
Do you see the difference? The brand doesn’t ask me to be the one to perform another action just to share my idea. They integrate social media with customer service so that whoever has the authority to tweet on the brand’s behalf also has the access and authority to pass along customer suggestions. He/she also maintains a log of communications so the customer will be contacted when something is done with the suggestion.
That is how you impress and win customers.
There ARE worse responses than what I received. But they still lost my suggestion because I already made the step I was willing to make to share my ideas. If they’re not prepared to handle it, it’s their loss.
And now, let’s recap
- Monitor social media and engage your target demo
- Respond to and thank people for taking the time to talk
- Integrate social and CRM on the backend
- Return to update customer if suggestions deployed
- Win over customers
Got it? You should see some serious brand sentiment improvement if you make this adjustment. I’d like to hear about it if and when you do.
