9 MIN READ

Do you know the most frustrating phrase you hear as a customer?

“We will get back to you.”

It feels like you are talking to a brick wall. And, the thing is, companies know this. That is why social media response times have become so important. According to Sprout Social, Customers look for brands to react within the first hour on social media, with 79% expecting a response in the first 24 hours. In other words, businesses that want to succeed in social media must have a process in place for handling customer service inquiries in a timely manner. The quick response has never been more important than today.

Here is the latest data from Sprout Social:

What is the takeaway?

Responding to customers isn’t enough; you have to be proactive, respond quickly and be helpful to turn them into promoters to stand out in your industry.

Why is Social Media Response Time Important?

Salesforce found that customers will purchase from a brand even after a bad experience as far as the customer service is quick and reliable. The main reason social media response time is important is that customers expect a quick response. But, it’s not just about meeting customer expectations.

There are a few other reasons social media response time is important:

1. Social Media is a Public Forum.

Customers can post about their experiences with your company on social media for all to see. Whenever possible, you want to address these complaints and resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Sometimes customers have confusion or misunderstandings and are just looking for someone to help them. By resolving the issue quickly, you can turn a negative experience into a positive one.

2. Customers Use Social media to Get Information:

A lot of customers use social media as a primary source of information. They will check out your company’s social media pages to see what you’re up to, what products you’re selling, and your customer service policies. If they see that you are responsive and helpful, they are more likely to do business with you.

For instance, check this latest tweet on Slack:

Check how quickly Slack responded. Within a couple of hours, they had a solution for the customer. This is the kind of response that customers are looking for, and it builds trust.

This type of customer service will make people want to use the app more and more! The point of providing quick and useful information is that it meets customers’ expectations and shows that you are proactively working to improve your customer’s experience.

3. Social Media is a Customer Service Channel:

Many customers prefer to use social media as a customer service channel. They find it more convenient and prefer to get help from a company via social media than over the phone. By responding quickly to inquiries, you show that you listen to your customers and care about their experience.

4. Customers Expect so Much from Brands today

A study found Covid accelerated the customer service process by 51% in 2021-2022.

In this digital era, customers expect more from brands. They want a quick response, personalized service, and human interaction. Meeting customers’ expectations is no longer enough; you have to exceed them.

Forget the emails, phone calls, and in-person visits. In order to get the most out of social media, you need to focus on providing quick and helpful responses to customers’ inquiries.

5) Quick Social Media Response Build Loyal Customers

Social media response time isn’t just important because customers expect it. It’s also important because it can help you build loyalty among your customers. Customers who receive quick and helpful responses from your company are more likely to be loyal to your brand. They will be more likely to recommend your company to their friends and family, and they will be more likely to come back to do business with you.

Check this quick response from Glossier:

If a brand like Glossier replies within the time span of 1 hour, wouldn’t it make you feel special? The point is quick social media response builds loyal customers.

6) Quick Response Gives You Competitive Advantage

When it comes to social media, a quick response is key. If you can respond more quickly than your competitors, you will have a competitive advantage. Your customers will appreciate that you are responsive and helpful, and they will be more likely to do business with you. In fact, poor customer service can cost $75 billion annually. These stats are from the US alone. By providing quick and helpful responses to customers’ inquiries, you can improve your customer service and increase your profits.

How Quick is Good Enough for Different Social Media Channels?

Now that we’ve established the importance of quick social media response, it’s important to discuss how quickly is good enough. Generally, you should aim to respond to customer inquiries within the first hour. However, some social media channels require even a faster response time.

Facebook:

Facebook is the most popular social media channel. As such, customers expect brands to respond quickly to their inquiries. The research found businesses take 28 hours to respond to a message on Facebook. This response rate is pretty poor and puts businesses at a disadvantage. If you know, Facebook awards “Very responsive to messages” award to businesses that respond to all messages within 15 minutes. So, if you’re using Facebook for customer service, make sure you respond quickly!

However, if you fail to maintain a response time of 15 minutes, Facebook may downgrade your page’s “Very responsive to messages” badge.

Now check this screenshot below from a Facebook page that doesn’t respond to messages quickly:

Now, if customers see their favorite brand takes too long to respond on Facebook, they may leave that page and go to a competitor. So make sure you quickly reply to all the messages on your Facebook page.

Instagram:

Instagram is a visual social media channel. Posts usually disappear within 24 hours. As such, customers expect businesses to respond quickly to their inquiries. The research found that 55% of the users that reach a brand via direct message expect to get a response within three hours, and the same applies to those who make a public comment.

Twitter: 

Twitter is a real-time social media channel. Customers expect businesses to respond quickly to their inquiries. Social Stamina’s study did a research study and found response time on Twitter used to be 31 hours. Businesses are now responding to tweets within 6 hours, which is much better.

So as you can see, the response time for different social media channels varies. But, in general, you should aim to respond to customer inquiries within the first hour.

Tips for Quick Social Media Response

Now that you know the importance of quick social media response and the response time that is expected for different social media channels, here are some tips for achieving quick social media response:

1) Use Chatbots:

Chatbots are another way to boost sales and respond quickly to customers’ inquiries. You can use chatbots to automate your customer service. This will help you respond quickly to customers’ inquiries and boost sales. Chatbots are the best way to provide 24/7 customer service. They can also help you to reduce the workload on customer service representatives.

You can use chatbots to:

• Automate your customer service
• Respond quickly to customers’ inquiries
• Reduce the workload on customer service representatives 

2) Use Bots from Clepher:

Clepher helps you automate your customer service and automatically respond to customers’ inquiries. You can manage all your customer service inquiries from one place. You can also track the performance of your bots and see how they are helping you boost sales. Its robust features and easy-to-use interface make it the perfect tool for businesses. From Instagram automation to Facebook Messenger bots, Clepher has all you need to automate your customer service, reply to messages within seconds, respond to comments on posts, and boost sales.

Following are the ways Clepher helps you to boost sales and respond quickly to customer’s inquiries:

• With Clepher, you can automatically reply to all the messages. This helps you to boost sales and respond quickly to customers’ inquiries.
• You can create a message template and reply to all the messages with that template. This will help you reply quickly and create a good impression on customers.
• You can also set up automatic replies for comments on your posts. This will help you boost sales and respond quickly to customers’ inquiries.

Clepher has 200+ templates and flows for various industries. You can use these templates to create your own messages or reply to all the messages with a predefined message.

This will help you reply quickly and create a good impression on customers. You can also set up automatic replies for comments on your posts. This will help you boost sales and respond quickly to customers’ inquiries.

With Clepher, you can also:

• Reply to all the messages with a predefined message
• Automatically reply to messages with a message template
• Set up automatic replies for comments on your posts

3) Keep a Library of Common Response According to Industry:

You should also have a library of common responses according to your industry. This will help you to reply quickly to customers’ inquiries. You can use the response templates created by Clepher or create your own. This will help you boost sales and respond quickly to customers’ inquiries.

For instance, if you are a restaurant, you can keep a library of common responses for the following types of questions:

• How’s the food?
• What are your hours?
• Do you deliver?

Having predefined responses for these questions will help you reply quickly and create a good impression on customers.

4) Set Your Goal:

You should also set a goal for your customer service. This will help you measure your customer service’s success and respond quickly to customers’ inquiries. When you know your goal, you can design your customer service to achieve that goal.

Some of the goals you can set for your customer service are:

• Reduce the response time to a certain number of hours
• Increase the number of responses per day
• Reduce the number of tickets/inquiries per day
• Boost sales by a certain percentage

5) Live Chat:

According to the latest insights, 79% of the customers prefer live chat to communicate with businesses. This is because live chat allows customers to communicate with businesses in real-time. They don’t have to wait for a reply to the email. This is why you should also offer live chat support to your customers. When they can communicate with you in real-time, they will be able to get their queries resolved quickly.

6) Right Support Channel for Every Query:

Not every query is the same. Customers have different types of queries. Some want to know about your products and services, some want to know about your company’s history, and some want to return the product. You should provide the right support channel for every query. This will help you to resolve the customer’s queries quickly. For instance, which platform do you use the most for customer support? Is it email, DMs on Twitter, or Facebook Messenger?

Here is the screenshot from Corsair:

They have mentioned in their bio the channels which one to use for what kind of query customers have. You can also use this method for your business and help your customers resolve their queries quickly.

Ready to Improve Your Social Media Response Times?

If you’re ready to improve your social media response times, then Clepher can help. With our 200+ templates and flows for various industries, you can create custom messages or reply to all the messages with a predefined message. You can also set up automatic replies for comments on your posts.

Try Clepher RISK-FREE today!

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