Should companies move customer service to social media?

If you have a question for a company, what’s your first choice for reaching out for customer service? New research shows that while some companies have been emphasizing reachability through social media, most consumers don’t seek help from there.

eMarketer reports on the findings from American Express’ study “2014 Global Customer Service Barometer” which was conducted by ebiquity. According to this, 53% of internet users will use social media to praise a company for a great customer service experience. About the same amount of people 50% will reach out socially to talk negatively about a service situation. The next highest response was sharing information about personal customer experience at 46%. Coming in fourth place at 40% was reaching out to a company for help in regards to a service issue.

Research shows that people prefer to go to a company’s website or email when making a simple customer service inquiry. The next method preferred is speaking to real person on the phone. If dealing with a difficult question, people prefer an actual person on the phone the majority of the time. A close second is speaking with a person face-to-face. Reaching out to a company via social media was the least preferred choice for both the simple and difficult issues.

In summary, the report suggests that companies should utilize social media to reach out to consumers to continue brand awareness, and manage public relation situations and not be the primary means of customer service.