Online customer service tool for customer engagement Brand Embassy has found that customer service enquiries made via Facebook receive a better response than those made via online forms and emails.
As part of its Social (S)caring Brands research Brand Embassy surveyed 50 brands from Great Britain and 50 brands from the Czech Republic in 12 different segments. A total of 840 customer-care related queries were sent to the brands, ranging from contact information, opening hours, information on rewards for loyal customers, and complaints procedure information.
In total Brand Embassy received 712 responses (84.8 per cent) and subsequently evaluated the frequency, speed, and quality of the responses to the queries.
Facebook responses were found to be higher than those sent via email or online form with 88.3 per cent of brands replying to public Facebook comments, just over three quarters (77.6 per cent) of brands responded to email or online queries.
Customer service queries sent via Facebook were replied to on average within 10 hours, with email and online queries taking up to 13 hours longer and not receiving a reply for 23 hours. On Facebook Home and Garden brands fared best replying to queries in a speedy 2 hours and 28 minutes, IT companies took the longest with an average Facebook response time of 39 hours and nine minutes.
Electronics brands were found to be the speediest to reply to customer queries via email and online averaging 16 hours and 38 minutes, telecommunications companies were found to have the slowest response time clocking in with a 114 hours and 35 minutes average response time.
The most responsive company in social care was found to be Sainsbury’s with a response time of 14 minutes followed by fellow supermarket brands Waitrose and Tesco with response times of 17 minutes and 24 minutes respectively. Car manufacturer Toyota finished in fourth place with an average response time of half an hour, and Jessops placed fifth with a response time of 37 minutes.
Brand Embassy also measured the quality of the responses brands were sending as the relationship between responsiveness and response quality need not be balanced, with some responses failing to answer customer’s queries at all. The exception, however, was found to be Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) brands which provided relevant responses in all instances.
Barclays, Jessops, Currys, Nationwide, Volkswagen and T-Mobile, among others responses were found to be 100 per cent relevant to the customer query. Taking into account both speed and relevance Jessops was found to be the best brand for customer care online.
