72% of People Who Complain on Twitter Expect a Response Within an Hour

by Pamela Vaughan
July 23, 2014 at 12:00 PM

Turns out people have some pretty high standards when  it comes to Twitter response time. Especially when  they've got a bone to pick with your brand.

We recently came across some survey data from Lithium  Technologies that shows just how critical response time  is in social media if you're a brand.

According to charts published on Search Engine Watch, 70% of surveyed Twitter users expect a  response from brands they reach out to on Twitter and of those users, 53% want that  response in under an hour. Impatient little bunch, eh?

It's worth noting that this is self-reported data -- not observational data -- so what people say they  want might be inflated. Still, this is fascinating data. Let's take a look at how it breaks down ...

The Majority of People Want a  Response in Under 2 Hours

In Particular, People Who Complain  Want Quick Responses

People get even antsier when they have beef with the brand: The percentage of people who  expect a response within the hour increases to 72% when they're issuing a complaint.

Consequences of Poor Response Times

So what happens if your brand doesn't respond to those tweets in a timely manner? Nothing  particularly positive, for the most part. In fact, 60% of respondents cited negative consequences  to the brand if they didn't receive timely Twitter responses. More specifically ...

• 29% of respondents would tell their friends and family about the experience. 
• 26% would escalate their concern through other sources of communication.
• 24% would consider buying less from that company in the future.
• 21% wouldn't recommend the company's products/services.
• 15% would complain about (or shame) the company/brand in social media.

So how does poor response time impact people's perceptions of the brand? For the majority -- 49% -- their perception doesn't change at all. That said, 38% hold a grudge, saying they feel  more negativity toward the brand as a result .

And ... would you look at that ... strangely, 14% actually end up feeling more positive about the  brand


How Timely Twitter Responses Are Rewarded

Now I'm not exactly sure what to make of that 14%, but the vast majority of this research clearly  indicates that devoting resources to customer service on Twitter (and likely other social networks  where applicable to your brand) is critical for companies.

Luckily, the payback is good.

Specifically, when a brand responds in a timely manner on Twitter ...

• 47% of people recommend the brand in social media. 
• 43% of people encourage friends and family to buy from that brand. 
• 42% of people praise the company in social media.
• 38% of people are receptive to advertisements.
• 34% of people buy more of the company's products.

In fact, the majority of interactions between people and brands on Twitter is positive to begin with.

• 69% interact with brands to give positive feedback
• 58% interact with brands to recommend them. 
• 61% interact with brands to show their enthusiasm.

No sense in ruining all that positive engagement with poor Twitter management, now is there?  Learn how to tackle real-life social media customer service obstacles in this post, and consider a  tool like Social Inbox to make social media management more, well, manageable. 

Image credits: Search Engine Watch

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72% of People Who Complain on Twitter Expect a Response Within an Hour