Customer Service via Twitter?

Granted, Twitter has become an extremely popular tool for keeping up with friends, tracking co-workers, and staying up to date with breaking news, but did you know that Twitter has also evolved into a platform for sharing negative product reviews and customer service nightmares?

TwitterAfter noticing a rise in consumer chatter about their products and services several companies, including Dish Network and Dell Computers, have setup Twitter accounts and frequently track mentions of their names so that they can follow up with unhappy consumers and quickly bring about resolutions.

These fast resolutions not only bring about happy consumers but also promote brand loyalty in my opinion, and they do so in the public’s eye. With the economy in the shape that it’s in right now, corporations need to do everything they can to retain their end users and consumers. If they do nothing more than station a person in front of a computer and “put out fires” so to speak, I feel they are doing their part. There is nothing worse than calling a support hotline and being placed on hold for 20 minutes only to be greeted by a person who’s English is a second language at best. In my opinion, if an issue can be resolved in 140 characters or less, well that’s just a no brainer. If it can’t be resolved in just a few tweets, at least a phone call can be setup to discuss the matter directly, without the hassle of calling into a support hotline and repeating back a 10 digit case number.

As a matter of fact, there are several companies in our industry (web development and hosting) that manage their own Twitter profiles and use them to follow up with clients. One such company is Rackspace. My partner Greg also monitors twitters for mentions of the name "pleth" as well in posts. This is just one more way that Twitter can be used to improve your companies online operations. There are many other ways, and my partners and i would love the opportunity to discuss these with you. If you are interested in learning more about Twitter, please contact us to schedule a consultation.

About the Author

Cotton Rohrscheib

Cotton is a veteran developer having worked on over 300 projects worldwide, ranging from small business to the Fortune 500. Today Cotton enjoys exploring the possibilities of software development and website integration with all business models in mind.

Cotton has served on numerous boards of directors and most recently as the President of a State Tourism Organization. He resides in Conway, Arkansas with his wife Donna and attends The Church Alive, where he is a Youth Leader in his spare time. Cotton also remains active in many aspects of the development community and interacts frequently in blogs and forums with other members of the development community.

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Cotton Rohrscheib