Monitoring Twitter can save an otherwise negative customer service experience.
Recently I tried a 30 day trial of DimDim (webinar & conferencing software). During the 30 days, I was able to run through a webinar and was reasonably happy with the results, but a few people had technical problems that I had questions about. As the trial expired, I received several emails from a couple of people from the company reminding me to upgrade and asking if I had any questions. Sounds just fine right? Except I emailed a couple of them my questions and they never answered.
I was on the brink of purchasing their product and I couldn’t get any answers from the people who specifically asked me if I had any questions. Granted, the turn-around time was fairly short and when I emailed the first during the weekend, I didn’t expect an answer until Monday at the earliest. Unfortunately I received a couple more emails offering a discounts without my questions being answered.
In my frustration, I tweeted about appreciating the discount but hoping to get my questions answered first. Within a couple of hours I received a nice email from the community manager asking what he could do to help (thanks, Kevin!). He quickly answered my questions and got feedback about their sales process.
Would I have purchased the software without his intervention? I’m not sure. It depends on how much trouble I had to go through to get my questions answered. Obviously Dimdim has a bit of a customer service and sales problem they need to fix. They’re lucky that their customer was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt (plus some information to fix it). Monitoring their name on Twitter allowed them to jump in and quickly rectify the situation.
Should I have to complain via Twitter to get customer service? Nope. But if someone does complain and you’re there listening, you have an opportunity to save a sale which is usually easier than finding a new customer.
On a side note, be careful if you use automated emails throughout your purchase cycle. These can increase conversions and give customers an opportunity to communicate any concerns. However, make sure that they are fully monitored and handled in a personal manner. If someone replies with a question or concern, you’ll need to handle it in a timely manner or it’ll seem like you’re not listening (and are only interested in the sale).
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