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Retailer Bed Bath & Beyond is responsive to customers who post questions on its Facebook page, a new survey found.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Survey: One out of four retailers ignored customer questions posted on Facebook
- Conversely, the top 25% all replied in less than 10 minutes
- Researchers say survey was to help set standards in customer service
- A full 65% of companies didn't reply to a comment on a wall post
That's according to a
survey of 20 top online retailers on Facebook that suggests their level
of responsiveness to customers is uneven, at best.
One out of four companies
failed to respond to a customer-service question posted on their
Facebook wall, and even fewer replied to questions asked as comments on
their posts, reported STELLAService, a company that rates customer service among online businesses.
The results of the survey
of 20 leading retailers, conducted on February 29, come at a time when
almost every company that deals with the public is trying to tap into
the more than 850 million people who use the social-networking site.
"Brands are doing an
enthusiastic job of bringing people to their pages," said Jordy Leiser,
STELLAService's co-founder. "[But] I don't think they're also
necessarily bringing with them a desire to be social. It's just turning
into a marketing message for many companies."
Leading the pack was
B&H Photo. The New York City-based outlet, which claims to be the
largest nonchain camera store in the world, responded to its wall post
in about two minutes, according to the report, which was shared with CNN
Tech.
Bed Bath & Beyond, Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table and Footlocker all responded to posts within 30 minutes.
On the opposite end of
the spectrum, Victoria's Secret, your best bet for the aforementioned
camisole, was one of five companies that didn't respond to a wall post
within two days. One Kings Lane, Radio Shack, J. Crew and Rue La La were
the others.
"Retailers need to
realize that two days in Facebook time is like two years in real time,"
Leiser said. "Customer questions on Facebook should be granted the same
urgency as a phone call."
Leiser noted, however,
that the survey wasn't meant to embarrass companies or suggest that some
of them don't care about their customers. Instead, he said, it was an
effort to start setting expectations for an area of marketing and
customer service that remains relatively unexplored.
"I don't think we as
customers really know what to expect yet if you post a message," he
said. "Do you expect them to get back in 10 minutes or two hours? Or, a
day -- is that alright? We're trying to develop the standard, or at
least identify what the averages are for certain categories."
Among the companies that responded to questions during the survey, the average was under an hour, he said.
The posts were what
Leiser called generic product questions: "Do you guys have this in a
particular color I don't see? What's the return policy for this
particular item ... ? That looks really cool, do you have this in
whatever size?"
While 25% of retailers
didn't respond to wall posts, that number rocketed to 65 percent for
comments on other posts. Eight companies deleted the questions that were
posted on their walls, whether they answered the question or not.
Five companies out of 20
-- B&H Photo, Gap, Bed Bath & Beyond, JackThreads.com and
Williams-Sonoma -- responded to wall posts and comments and had not
deleted those questions within 48 hours.
Only six of the 20
companies listed on their Facebook pages an e-mail address or phone
number by which customers could contact them, the report showed.
"You can't just be there
halfway with marketing," Leiser said. "If you're going to be part of
the community, be part of the community."
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