This is Jack. He
is my dog and I love him, really I do, but Jack is needy. More specifically, Jack
craves attention, my attention, all the time. He loves to play and constantly
wants to engage and interact. Admittedly, a lot of times I just don’t have the energy
to respond. As a result, Jack gets sad and barks at me. Thankfully, all is
forgiven in a matter of seconds.
Like Jack, consumers love to engage and interact with
brands online. Unlike Jack they don’t forgive and forget when brands fail to
respond. While this may seem like Online Customer Service 101, brands still aren’t
getting it! A recent report by STELLASERVICE found that “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.”
More than just being rude, a
brand’s failure to respond severely alters consumer attitude and behavior.
According to Conversocial 49.5% of consumers said that they would be “far less
likely to buy anything from that company” if their question or complaint on a
social media page went unanswered.
So, as our brands gain followers online, we can’t get lazy.
All will not be forgiven. Go fetch!