Social Media Customer Service: Excel or Flop

In the past companies customer service was restricted to being either in person or over the phone. Nowadays brands need to extend their customer service from the interactions of old to the online space. Social media definitely helped brands not only get in touch with their consumers, but helps them stay relvevant. Now instead of waiting at a counter or waiting for hold music to end, all a consumer has to do now is post a comment, send a Tweet/DM, or tag the company to be heard. There are a multitude of companies that excel at using social media for customer service while some flop at it. 

Excel

Chewy:

As someone who has a fur baby the way Chewy handles their social media is very heartwarming. Chewy grew due to how good they are at curating amazing customer experiences. The pet supplier frequently hosts giveaways, competitions, and even sending birthday packages that have pet owners posting and spreading the word. Chewy’s social media and customer service teams also have fast response times when not only praises are being sent their way, they quickly respond to any issues that their consumers have. 

When replying to tweets talking about the holiday that people got this year Chewy takes the time to not only thank the owners but the pets, by name. Chewy doesn’t only show that they care during times of joy but that they’re there for their consumers when they experience loss. The company is amazing when consumers are going through the passing of pets and also loved ones by sending flowers as well as their condolences. 

Flopped:

British Airways

When it comes to response times they were deemed to be terrible in 2013. A passenger that had flew with them had lost their luggage and it had taken them hours to respond saying that they’re social media support was only active between 9 AM and 5 PM while they’re actual customer support is available 24/7. By the time they had responded the tweet had been seen by over 70,000 people 

It was a little ridiculous that they had thought that there would have been someone monitoring the social media 24/7 since they had another form of communication available to use. Personally, I feel that this could have been avoided by if the passenger just, ya know, called the actual customer service line who would’ve helped them immediately instead of sending a tweet.

Conclusion:

When it comes to customer service on social media faster response times are more praised as it shows that the company cares. A slow response time, however, comes off as dismissive and uncaring. With social media any good or bad customer service it will be shared and spread around.