Internet consultancy Auros has carried out a sting to find out how retailers respond to customers on social networks - and found them severely wanting.
The consultancy chose 25 of the UK’s top supermarkets and high street brands and left comments on their Facebooks walls, YouTube channels and blogs. It also asked them questions on Twitter.
Response rates to queries were low. Only 25% of those with a Twitter presence responded to a question directed at them, and only 50% responded to a question asked on Facebook. Auros left some negative comments on Facebook walls, and the vast majority of these were ignored.
The companies in the survey that were best at responding were Thomas Cook, Easyjet and Debenhams. Of the companies that did respond to queries, the report found that responses were helpful and arrived within an hour and a half – much quicker than email, which took 10 hours on average.
On average, the companies surveyed had 69,895 Twitter followers, which suggests there is a demand from customers to engage with retailers via social networks.
You can view the full report and a short presentation here.
