Quick, helpful and personal
Which of the US retailers responded within 30 minutes, answered my query satisfactorily and added a personal touch?
Nordstrom – 2 minutes
Offering help, multichannel returns, personalisation, massive amounts of positivity and all within two minutes…
@ChristopherRCLF You sure can! If you have your packing slip, we’d suggest taking that with you too. Happy weekend, Christopher. 🙂
— Nordstrom (@Nordstrom) October 3, 2014
My reply was then followed with this little gem…
@ChristopherRCLF Happy to help. We hope find an item that will work better for you. Enjoy.
— Nordstrom (@Nordstrom) October 3, 2014
My only complaint is that on the Twitter account it doesn’t say anything about providing customer service here, in fact it just offers a phone number so most customers may assume that’s the only method of communication with the customer service team.
Here’s some further reading on Nordstrom’s social media efforts.
Staples – 12 minutes
Again, great customer service, but nowhere does it say this is available on the Twitter profile.
@ChristopherRCLF Of course! 🙂 You’ll just need your packing slip or confirmation E-mail. ^HN
— Staples US (@Staples) October 3, 2014
Foot Locker – 15 minutes
Same story here with Foot Locker.
@ChristopherRCLF Yes, as long as you have your original receipt.
— Foot Locker (@footlocker) October 3, 2014
These are three great examples of helpful customer service delivered within 15 minutes but without advertising as such on each profile.
Sears – 27 minutes
Sears is the only brand to answer with half an hour to offer a separate customer service channel (linked from the main account) with operating hours clearly stated.
@ChristopherRCLF You most certainly can! Just be sure to bring in your order receipt when you come in to return the item. Thanks!
— Sears Cares (@searscares) October 3, 2014
Better late than never
Pushing the limits of acceptability when it comes to replying in a timely fashion are the following brands. Although as we’ll see later, this is far from the worst crime against customer care committed in this feature.
Macy’s – 2 hours 36 minutes
Not the latest reply here, but was cheerful and offered a positive resolution. Macy’s doesn’t offer a separate customer service channel nor does it state its main channel is for customer care.
@ChristopherRCLF Yes you can! You can find the info you need on returning an item bought online here: http://t.co/ZIQwfFFTgg Thanks!
— Macy’s (@Macys) October 3, 2014
Gap – 5 hours 14 minutes
Nicely helpful and positive tweet, but far too late, and again there’s no statement that it offers customer service in the profile. Then again if it can’t reply within one hour than perhaps it doesn’t want to advertise this.
@ChristopherRCLF Hi! Absolutely! Keep in mind that online only returns apply to special sizing such as tall, plus, etc. Thanks!
— Gap (@Gap) October 3, 2014
J.Crew – 4 hours 12 minutes
J.Crew went to the trouble to check where I was tweeting from, which was really helpful and thorough. Unfortunately this reply came more than four hours later.
@ChristopherRCLF Thanks for your tweet – just to confirm, was the order shipped to you in the UK?
— J.Crew Help (@jcrew_help) October 3, 2014
More encouragingly the follow-up reply came in 28 minutes.
@ChristopherRCLF Yes, stores can accept online returns. Only exception is for Factory items – they have to be returned to a Factory store.
— J.Crew Help (@jcrew_help) October 6, 2014
J.Crew also operates a separate customer service Twitter with working hours listed.
Eddie Bauer – 10 hours 24 minutes
Wow Eddie Bauer I had almost given up on you.
@ChristopherRCLF Sure thing. Just bring it in with your receipt.
— Eddie Bauer (@eddiebauer) October 4, 2014
Positive, if painfully slow response. But again, it doesn’t advertise customer care in its profile.
Could do much better
Just because they were fast, it doesn’t mean they actually helped.
Best Buy – 1 minute
This was the quickest response out of all of them. It was an encouraging start. This first tweet asks me sensible questions that are entirely valid.
@ChristopherRCLF When did you purchase the item? Is there any damage to the item? ^Blake
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) October 3, 2014
This was then followed by…
@ChristopherRCLF What is the item? ^Blake
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) October 3, 2014
And eventually…
@ChristopherRCLF Please bring the item and your order information into your local store. ^Blake
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) October 3, 2014
You could read this one of two ways. Perhaps I’m being asked to bring the item in so I can get a refund? Although I would expect the reply to actually mention this for definite. It seems more likely that the customer service representative couldn’t really help me and told me to go into a store to sort out the problem.
I felt a bit cheated here, especially compared with the positive replies above, also I didn’t feel the agent was the warmest customer service agent.
Moosejaw – 2 minutes
Moosejaw are great at offering multichannel customer service with wit and flair. You can’t argue with the speed here, but being passed to a separate channel is a big disappointment.
@ChristopherRCLF Hey Chris, a person from customer service would be happy to answer this question for you. 1(877)666-7352 LTM!
— Moosejaw (@MoosejawMadness) October 3, 2014
Barnes and Noble – 7 minutes
Instead of fobbing me off with a link to a returns policy, Barnes and Noble could’ve asked me directly what the item I wanted to return was and properly answer my question.
@ChristopherRCLF Please check FAQ return policy on which items you may or may not return at the store: http://t.co/U3MYpXPZNL
— B&N Customer Care (@BN_care) October 3, 2014
Crate & Barrel – 35 minutes
A quick reply, that’s half positive, however what’s missing is an actual phone number or a link to a contact page. Again it could’ve asked me directly what the item was.
@ChristopherRCLF Many items purchased online can be returned to the store. Please call the store to make sure they can accept your return.
— Crate and Barrel (@CrateandBarrel) October 3, 2014
Target – 44 minutes
Pretty much the same as above and again the lack of a link to the page it mentions is a baffling omission.
@ChristopherRCLF Most items can be returned to a local Target store. This information is provided in the Shipping and returns section online
— AskTarget (@AskTarget) October 3, 2014
JC Penney – 5 hours 46 minutes
Almost six hours later here’s a link to a returns policy. Definitely not good enough.
@ChristopherRCLF Hi there! Here’s the link to our return policy: http://t.co/FCjEZdyc6T. Hope this helps 🙂
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) October 3, 2014
Still waiting…
But then as much as I may criticise the above brands, it’s hard not to think of them positively when compared to the following seven brands which have yet to reply to my question four days later…
- American Apparel
- American Eagle Outfitters
- Home Depot
- Kohl’s
- Office Depot
- Toys “R” Us
- Walmart
Just to clarify, only Walmart here explicitly states that it’s available for customer service.
Statistics
How many US retailers replied to my question? 71% (15/21)
How many US retailers satisfactorily replied to my question? 38% (8/21)
Which US retailers operate a separate customer service channel or state that they offer help on their main account? 29% (6/21)
Which US retailers publish their opening hours in their profiles? 19% (4/21)
Based on these tweets alone, how many US retailers offer multichannel returns? 52% (11/21 – although the brands that haven’t replied or offered ambiguous replies may still offer returns offline.)
What have we learnt?
When it comes to actually replying to customer tweets, it seems US retailers are further behind UK retailers when it comes to social customer service. 85% of UK brands replied to my questions two weeks ago. Satisfaction is also much lower (US: 38% vs UK: 65%) as is the offering of a customer service channel (US: 29% vs UK: 70%) and stating operating hours (US: 19% vs UK: 45%).
In a surprising twist, it was the three retailers that didn’t even state they offered customer service which offered the quickest and most helpful responses. These companies just need to state this in their profiles and they’ll be able to reap the benefits of even more positive brand awareness.
Other retailers need to be much, much quicker. Anything more than an hour is just too late when it comes to social, under 15 minutes and you’re on to a winner. As for the large number of brands that didn’t reply, they’ll find themselves left far behind when social becomes the first port of call for the majority of customer service queries.
For more social customer care investigations, check out how 16 retail banks handle social customer care.
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