Make Twitter your customer service ally

Sreelesh Pillai Freshdesk

For most brands, only a fraction of their customer base is using email and phone support. The vast majority are already talking about their experiences with brands with others through channels like Twitter.

In the increasingly fast-paced business environment, customers are always on the lookout for top-notch service that’s easy and accessible. To keep up with customer needs, businesses should adjust how they have traditionally approached customer support. Beyond just encouraging and responding to feedback, Twitter can be used as a portal to directly access support.

The benefits for businesses are threefold: customers receive timely service, responses to one customer are publicly available for others, and it builds your brand’s online profile.

To optimise your Twitter profile and give your customers the ultimate online support experience, be sure to leverage the following key features:

Pin Tweets to direct customers to your help portal

Often a single tweet with a significant announcement may be relevant to other users visiting your profile, such as a link to your FAQ portal, a product announcement or a downtime alert. Pin important tweets to the top of your profile page, making it immediately visible to customers.

Alerting and directing customers in this way not only cuts down the number of responses you need to stay on top of, but also shows users that you’re proactively thinking about them and how you can assist them.

Announce your availability times in the Twitter biography section

The Twitter bio is the first thing that followers see when they land on a brand’s account, so use this opportunity to let your customers know exactly when they can reach you for support and set expectations straight from the get-go. It’s as simple as adding in your hours, such as ‘We’re online Monday-Fridays from 8am-6pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10am-4pm.’

Turn on direct messages from anyone

Many customers use Twitter to enquire a particular transaction, requiring specific details for businesses to search internal records. Using direct messages enables seamless one-on-one communication, however Twitter’s default settings mean you need to toggle the ‘receive direct messages from anyone’ function to allow customers to reach them, even if they’re not following each other.

Use deep links for direct messaging

Help your customers reach you faster using deep links. They remove the need for users to go to your profile to begin a direct message with you. Instead, they just click the link in your tweet to start chatting directly with you.

To set this up, copy your user ID from your Twitter settings page and paste it into this URL: https://twitter.com/messages/compose?recipient_id={account number here}. Include the URL in your tweets, and a call-to-action button will appear when you post it.

Make the most of the time your business spends on social media and integrate these simple solutions into your Twitter profile to give customers a forum to voice their opinions, questions and concerns, assured that they’ll get a response.

Using a centralised platform, such as Freshdesk, is a great way to streamline how you respond to customers by integrating social media with your other support channels. After all, excellent customer service – underpinned by highly engaging, valuable relationships – is the key to acquiring and retaining loyal customers.

Sreelesh Pillai, General Manager, Freshdesk Australia