If You’re Ignoring Social Media, You’re Losing Money, Customers, Business
This is a bit old, but it’s too good not to share. And it’s also going straight into my social media presentation for future GetListed.org Local University workshops because it sums up one of the main points in my presentation.
I’m talking about this study from Conversocial about consumer expectations when engaging with companies on social networks.
The main point I want to share:
88.3% of respondents said they’d be either somewhat less likely or far less likely to buy from a company that ignores complaints on Facebook.
That’s from a survey of more than 500 social network users with an average age of 38.
Now, I’m not exactly thrilled with the way that question is worded. It specifically mentions “unanswered questions or complaints,” so it could be the complaints that are costing business, or it could be the fact that the company is ignoring things — we don’t know.
But we can safely say that the combination of doing things in such a way that you get a lot of complaints via social networks, combined with not responding to those complaints, is really bad for business.
I’ve written about this topic indirectly before. You might remember this one: Sometimes, A Simple (Social Media) Reply Is All It Takes. In that post, I discuss a study which showed that 83 percent of people who complained on Twitter about a company liked it when the company replied to their complaint.
Don’t ignore customers on social networks. Don’t ignore their questions and complaints. There’s no good to come from it.
(Stock image via Shutterstock.com. Used under license.)
Matt you’d think many companies, CMO’s and SM managers would get this since it is a simple component of customer service. Sadly many need to be retrained with the obvious in human interaction and customer service.
Matt,
Great points, indeed. Today’s digital world makes it possible for consumers to post their displeasure with a product, service (or brand experience) in real-time to their friends, family and co-workers, or even the masses if their social media applications are “open.” This presents businesses of all sizes with both challenges and opportunities. I agree with you when you say “don’t ignore questions and complaints. There’s no good to come from it.” A simple response or email can work wonders for any company and change consumer attitudes. Imagine the traction a site would get via social media if the same person who posted a complaint turned around and posted a positive story about how the company in question wrote them personally to rectify the situation? It’s as good as gold.
I advised one furniture company in Malaysia. They know that it is not effective anymore to advice on local newspaper. They spend USD1000 per week on local newspaper, but only 2 – 3 people walk in to their shop.
Still, they don’t want to go for social media marketing and keep doing what they feel comfortable. Eventually, their Facebook page has a lot of complaints from their customers.
It is absolutely important for businesses to respond to customer questions and complaints as much as possible, however the social media industry has exploded in review sites that it is almost impossible to keep up with each and every one. Also, I’ve found that reviews tend to not be as helpful when determining the quality of service of a company since most customers are more likely to write a complaint rather than take time to write a positive review because customer satisfaction is expected. Complaints and questions emailed and called into the company should absolutely be addressed immediately, however I’m not too sure I feel as strongly about other social media sites considering there are so many. I see social media as more expressed opinions rather than a source for direct answers from the company.