Comcast is the largest provider of cable services in the US and one of the most important telecom companies in the world. They provide Internet and broadband phone services, and in the era of social media and the Internet those are core services and users have high expectations.

Comcast is not present in the Spanish market, but this company is one of the most relevant examples of how Twitter can be used as a tool to improve customer service. As most of the companies that develop their activity in the same field, Comcast had a big problem in correctly responding to all the complaints and enquiries from their customers. Although they benefit from a powerful call centre, Comcast started to gain the reputation of a company with low customer service and an increasing number of angry and unsatisfied customers.

This situation was bound to have consequences on business activity until one man, Frank Eliason, had the idea of transforming Twitter into a customer support channel. Frank, who is now Senior Director of National Customer Service Operation, thought that it would be a good idea to introduce Twitter as a tool of their customer support service.

With a great attitude and prompt answers, Frank manages to solve problems for customers that were not solved through the call centre. While researching for this article, we found on the web several success stories related to the excellent customer service various people have received from Frank. Some of them can be found here or here.

Why was Twitter good for Comcast?

Twitter was a complementary tool for Comcast in their customer service mix. As Frank Eliason stated in an interview, they were overwhelmed with the amount of enquires their call centre was receiving, so Twitter was instantly a solution they considered.

Twitter has significantly improved the customer service provided by Comcast, and the social network brought them that and much more. Twitter gave Comcast the chance to bond with their customers. Instead of discussing with a machine that simply moves you from one operator to another, Comcast offered their customers the opportunity to speak with a real person that will solve in real time their real problems. Comcast has the the merit of knowing how to use Twitter in order to transform a weakness into strength and reduce the effect of poor client service.

What should companies consider before deciding to use Twitter for customer service?

Although Twitter has a simple functionality, experience has proven that it can be used for various purposes. If a company decides to use Twitter as a customer service tool, there are some things that should be considered before acting.

1. Monitoring tools

Every company that decides they could improve customer experience via Twitter must benefit from a monitoring tool in order to follow the mentions of the brand. The market offers plenty of paid or free options; the most important monitoring feature for a brand is represented by the keywords they consider relevant. The name of the brand is the most relevant one, but sometimes when they complain, people have the tendency of inventing “ihatebrand” hashtags or simply use an alternate version of the name of the brand. These are important considerations a brand should make to monitor efficiently the appearance of the brand on Twitter

2. Specialized personal

Considering and offering customers the possibility of using Twitter as a customer service tool should be considered calmly by the company. Time has shown that companies that rush usually fail because the person in charge of managing the account is not specialized in offering solutions or simply doesn’t know where to find them.

Clients appeal to Twitter for customer service because it’s a real-time conversation tool. They expect to receive answers in real time also. If the team that is in charge of managing the account is not familiar with new technologies, the process of the business or isn’t trained in customer service and clients relations, than the result won’t match expectations.

3. An integration of Twitter in the customer support mix

Depending on the size of a company it is important to realize that Twitter can’t be the only customer support tool. Twitter has proven its efficiency in various cases, but in very few cases Twitter can remain the only customer service channel. Twitter should be used as a supporting tool for an already developed system, and as a way to respond to a segment that is more familiar with social media technologies.  Offering Twitter as a customer support channel will appeal more to core social media users that to non-users (if they still exist!).

4. Capacity of admitting mistakes

Twitter has many benefits, but without offering a full image and access to your company, users might feel betrayed. Companies that decide to use Twitter should be willing to let consumers enter their company, as well as admitting when something was done badly. With the integration of Twitter in the customer service mix, companies should be conscious that all the information will be public, and this feature comes with strings attached. This means that once customers have access to information related to your company, any attempt of trying to hide something badly done will be punished. Twitter has many advantages, but without transparency things could take an ugly turn.

5. Crisis planning

Twitter is usually a friendly network, but sometimes the power of people is greater than imagined, and a crisis might erupt. This is why it’s important for companies to prepare a disaster plan before deciding to include Twitter as a customer support channel. Experience has proved that with planning, the consequences of a bad action on Twitter can harm a brand more than imagined. You can find more on disaster planning on this article written by our CEO, Markku Nummila.

6. Measure tools

As any other activity, Twitter as a customer service tool isn’t going to be efficient without proper measurement tools. Social media doesn’t follow the traditional measurement patterns, but it can be measured by using other indicators. If a company decides to use Twitter as a customer support channel, there are a series of key indicators it should monitor to evaluate the efficiency of using Twitter. Such indicators might be: number of complaints solved, total amount of mentions of the brand, tone of voice of tweets, customer response, percent of reduction of complaints, and other key indicators adjusted to the profile of each company.

Why integrate Twitter in your customer service mix?

Integrating Twitter in the customer service mix can bring great benefits to a business. We’re going to highlight some below:

1. Establishing a personal relation between the brand and customers

Twitter has the advantage that it’s an environment where rules aren’t so strict and boundaries are more permissive. There are some common sense rules that apply when using Twitter, but on this channel companies have the chance to establish a more informal code, and communicate with their customers on a more personal basis. By using Twitter, companies have access to more information about a user/customer. This way the person with whom the company is communicating becomes more than a serial number. Twitter offers companies the possibility of exploring more about their audience, and, therefore, to establish a closer bond with them.

2. Low cost

Low cost doesn’t mean any cost at all, but Twitter is definitely a less expensive method to assure customer service. Depending on the size and workload, costs can range from small to high amounts. A small company with a medium work load will have to invest only in training a professional or hiring one, and use free tools available on the web for the rest of activities.

An important business with a high workload will need one or maybe more dedicated persons, and a range of specialized tools in order to monitor efficiently traffic and the activity.

3. Rapid implantation

Once a plan and a strategy are developed, the implementation is an easy and rapid process. Depending on the company, implementation can last a day or more than a month. It all depends on the amount of work the system will support, and the strategic importance it has for a business.

4. Measurable results

One of the main advantages that Twitter offers is that it’s measurable. The activity on a Twitter account can be easily counted, and divided into different areas of a business depending on the indicators used. On Twitter, companies can monitor different indicators like the ones mentioned in measure tools paragraph.

Conclusion

Twitter has proved to be a key of success in the case of Comcast, and this is just one the example of the many available in the short history of social media. As stated along the article, Twitter as a customer service tool should be a decision taken with high degree of seriousness by the company. Using Twitter can be a rewarding experience, but without proper planning and strategy, things can go wrong in a matter of seconds. As all the things in the world, no reward comes without responsibility attached, but in the case of Twitter, reward is usually far more significant than the responsibility involved.

As we stated in this article about Twitter and airlines, this social network can be the key to success in certain situations. However, traditional customer service remains an important indicator for a company. The ideal situation is, in our opinion, the one in which companies consider carefully and strategically the decision of using Twitter as a customer service tool, and integrate it correctly into the whole strategy of the company.