Social media is the fastest and most dependable way of contacting customers, a new study from research firm eDigitalResearch shows.
The study polled over 2,000 people and found that 80% of users who have approached a brand via social media received feedback from the company within 12 hours. This was against just 37% who heard back within the same time period when making contact through email. Unsurprisingly, the 62% who contacted companies by letter had to wait over 48 hours to receive a reply.
eDigitalResearch also found that social media is the only channel which ensures a response from a company. Of the people participating in the study who used social media to reach a brand, all of them received a response, comment, post or tweet. The research suggests that the way a customer contacts a company is likely to have a notable impact on the overall customer experience.
One in every ten users never receives a response from a company after trying to get in touch. In addition, 7% of users who have used live chat feature in the past said that they did not receive a response from the brand. This suggests that these companies need to do something more to improve communication via this contact channel.
The research proves that social media is currently the sole channel that guarantees all users will receive a response, according to Derek Eccleston, commercial director at eDigitalResearch. He added that if a customer wants to contact a brand, their experience should be the same, no matter what channel they use.