Why Businesses Should Use Social Media For Customer Service

Several years ago I first joined Twitter after a terrible customer experience at a retail store. After failing to find jeans in my size at there different locations of the same store, I gave up and purchased something else to satisfy my desire to just buy something. At the bottom of the receipt was an invitation to tweet at the store’s CMO, and though I had been blogging for several years by that time, I had not yet joined the ranks of Twitter.

Within an hour, I had written a scathing personal blog post about my experience, signed up for Twitter, and sent a tweet to that CMO with a link to the blog. Much to my surprise, I had a DM from the company within minutes, and by the end of the week the store had followed up with several phone calls – and even shipped a gift card so I could buy that pair of jeans in my size online.

I was completely surprised at that level of customer service, and have since advocated that both brands leverage the power of Twitter as a platform to connect with customers – and for customers to leverage this channel to connect with brands that are ready to listen and take action in ways that most call centers don’t.

Dozens of businesses notably use Twitter well to communicate with customers, but one big brand that has done an exemplary job of using social media as a customer service channel is Zappos. The company, which was founded on a principle of providing “WOW” customer service in general, leverages almost every online platform to communicate with customers to ensure they are receiving the best level of customer service  possible.