Tweets - SMS for a new generation.

Adrian Morgan, Business Applications Consultant - NSC Group

So let's take Twitter. Your marketing department has started on Twitter showing all the wonderful new TV commercials and customer experiences - and then the customers start talking back. At this stage is often gets handed to the contact centre. Contact centre managers (of course) recoil in shock and horror, wanting to run away from it as quickly as possible. A new channel! Last thing they need to manage.

But hold on a minute. There are really good reasons why Twitter should be used for customer service. Here are just a few:

1. Twitter is quick. You only have 140 characters to type.

2. Twitter is targeted. The customer has reached out to you or mentioned you.

3. Twitter is cheap. You don't have to pay for a phone call.

4. Twitter is engaging. Staff get to do something different

5. Twitter can be proactive

6. Twitter can change your brand image. Yes, it can be for the worse, but there are ways to manage that.

Let's tackle each of these, one by one.

1. Twitter is quick

An average person can type 40 words per minute. The average tweet is 15 words. Think about how quickly a response can be typed- it's probably the same amount of time as your current phone greeting. Plus, if you have an online knowledge base, or FAQ, the responses can be later expanded to keep the FAQ up to date. A better FAQ will assist in reducing both calls, and reviewing twitter questions is a lot easier than reviewing customer phone calls. It is far easier to spot trends and patterns which can assist in getting long term problems sorted out.

2. Twitter is targeted

Customers are on Twitter already. Interestingly, the major demographic is 30-40 year old males. The users are tech savvy - they know what they are doing online. Like Facebook and other social networking sites, the demographic will change over time. The biggest growth in Facebook is the 60+ demographic, and this is likely to be mirrored across other major services like Twitter

3. Twitter is cheap - right now, Twitter is free. It might not stay that way forever, but at the moment it is free. If you want to experiment with Twitter in your company, you can download numerous programs to start looking into the twitterverse.

4. Twitter is engaging. Right now, many of your employees are using Twitter. They will be watching, following, commenting and re-tweeting. These staff can now get paid to do what they normally do - only this time, on behalf of your company (more on this in part three).

5. Twitter can be proactive. Consumers are moving towards taking their conversations to the Twitter space. Numerous studies are showing consumers trust organisations less and less and social media more and more. By searching through Twitter, you can spot when your product is being mentioned and assist. As an example, a product I use frequently, Runkeeper (an iPhone app) watches Twitter for mentions of its product. I happened to mention in a tweet that on one occasion Runkeeper registered I had run 10km, when in fact I had run 12.5km. This was picked up by the Runkeeper team and I was proactively contacted and provided assistance.That was a great customer service experience

6. Twitter can change your brand image. Here are some common ways (apart from customer service) companies are using Twitter. They may apply to you in varying degrees.

Specials - advertise specials - what do you sell? Build some hype about a new product (who is excited about the iPad 2!)
Run mini surveys - on a scale of 1-7, how do you like our new logo?
Seek feedback on a potential topic - e.g., we are planning a workshop on one of the following topics - DRP, CSAT or Product X - which would you like.
Use it to publicise company activities or thought leadership from your senior management.

Twitter is in use extensively and many companies are getting involved, it's a great, quick way to engage your customers and offer a new customer service experience.