A recent Bloomberg Businessweek article by Mary Jane Credeur highlights how smart companies are using social media to engage with customers and improve customer loyalty. The article titled, “Delta Monitors Twitter to Remedy Customer Complaints” describes how Delta customer service employees monitor Twitter for word of customer problems. They use Twitter’s direct message function to exchange information with customers, and they have the ability to rebook flights, help find lost luggage, and resolve other issues. Customers have another channel to resolve issues when the lines at airport service counters are long, or phone or online customer service agents are unresponsive.
Other airlines that monitor Twitter like Southwest, JetBlue, and United primarily use it as a public relations tool, and they do not generally respond to customer issues other than to refer customers to company customer service outlets. They say they monitor Twitter for potential customer service problems, but their primary response is to alert company customer service centers of impending issues.
In a situation described in the article, a Delta passenger missed his Atlanta connection on his way home to Utah from South Carolina. Rather than wait in line at the ticket counter to be rebooked, he sent a Tweet to @DeltaAssist and was rebooked for a flight the following morning in just a few minutes.
Delta spokeswoman, Susan Elliott, told Businessweek, “the whole idea is to work to address issues so they don’t escalate.” “It is ideal for us to have these agents at customers’ disposal to offer guidance in resolving issues even during their travel experience.”
Delta’s responsiveness pays off in improved customer response and improved customer loyalty, and the same ideas can work for small companies too! Tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck make it easy to monitor Twitter for mentions of your brand. If your company is small, you don’t have to monitor it continually. However, check your Twitter account regularly and use it as a customer service tool to reach out to both complimenting and complaining customers.
If you need help setting this up, please contact us at Rust Reviews.
