Many customers now use Twitter when requesting customer support, which is one of the reasons why it’s a good idea to have a presence there. Twitter, or any other social media platform, is an extremely useful tool for customer services, but there are the right ways to go about delivering an exceptional experience for those who reach out to you for assistance.

1. Decide who has the responsibility of managing your customer services on Twitter. Allow your team to personalise their replies with a name or initial to add a personal touch. You can use one person but remember you may need to provide a service that includes evenings and weekends, so you may need to increase the size of your team. Create a schedule stating who’s in charge at set times.
2. Set out clear policies for your customer services provided on Twitter. These policies should inform all your social media managers what is expected from them and how to address the expectations of the customer.
3. Decide if you want to keep the customer on Twitter or take them off the platform to deal with their issues. Twitter does allow direct messaging with anyone; all you need to do is turn it on in your Security and Privacy settings. You can also use deep links within tweets and embed calls to action and encourage the customer to send you a private message when they send you a tweet. Not all messages will need to go private, simple questions could be left on your profile but more in-depth problems requiring personal information to be shared will need to go private.
4. Clearly state your hours of business so your customers know when they can expect a reply on Twitter. Add this information in your bio or make use of the pinned tweet to share these details (a pinned tweet remains at the top of your profile until you decide to remove or replace it).
5. Replying to all inbound attention is a great way of generating a buzz and increasing your exposure, but it’s good to have rules regarding the interactions. Work out the type of response required for the type of interaction you receive. For example, a recommendation you’re tagged deserves a thank you and a retweet, whereas a like on one of your Tweets doesn’t require attention. Create exceptions to each response based on the user, if they’re your target audience and if friends have been tagged in the message.
6. Create templates but allow your team the ability to add some personality to the responses. Creating templates will save time when dealing with frequently asked questions. Type the responses in a spreadsheet and share with your team so they can quickly copy and paste into Twitter. All responses need to include the handle of the customer.
7. Use Twitter lists to your advantage. Add customers to a list and reach out to them to provide an exceptional experience. Check that they’ve received an order, share their articles or feedback with your audience and show them you are loyal to them. Create a second list of your target audience customers. You can do this with the Whom to Follow Tool that is in Twitter and use search by using your keywords and looking for users based on these words.
8. Remember that not all customers will formally tag your handle. There may be conversations going on without you realising. Search for your business name, products and services and you can respond to any Tweets you discover.

Twitter can be used to provide excellent customer service. It requires time and attention, but with a clear strategy in place you can use the platform to impress your customers and gain new ones.

Need help with Twitter? Contact us and ask us about our social media management services.