Brands Ignoring Consumers On Social Are In Trouble: Report

Social media management company Sprout Social has released a report showing that 90 per cent of people surveyed have used social media platforms in some way to communicate directly with a brand, the problem is that brands are ignoring the majority of these consumer communications.

People on social want a response to their post, and they want it much faster than most brands are either willing or able to give. The report found that brands send 23 messages for every one consumer response.

Sprout surveyed over a thousand Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users on their expectations for reaching out to brands on social. It then compared their responses with data from the social profiles of thousands upon thousands of brands across 15 industries including automotive, banking, customer services, government, marketing, retail and real estate.

The study found that social media was the first choice for people’s customer care concerns:

Sprout Index Charts Q2 2016-01

The Sprout Index shows that the number of social messages needing a response from a brand has increased by 18 per cent over the past year. Unfortunately, brands reply to only 11 per cent of people. When brands respond—if they respond—they let people hang for an average of 10 hours.

Sprout Index Charts Q2 2016-02

The impact of this lack of response is damaging not only for the brand’s reputation but also its bottom line. According to Sprout:

73 per cent of people have had a negative experience with a brand on social.
36 per cent of people have used social to shame a company for poor customer service.
30 per cent of people will go to competitor if a brand doesn’t respond.

Sprout Index Charts Q2 2016-06

If brands could correct their course, however, most people would be honking their horns in support. Here’s what we found when we asked people how they feel when a brand responds or reaches out to them on social:

70 per cent of people are more likely to use a brand’s product or service.
65 per cent of people have more brand loyalty.
25 per cent of people are less likely to go to a competitor.
25 per cent of people are less likely to post negative things about the brand, product or service.
75 per cent of people are likely to share a good experience on their own profile.

Sprout Index Charts Q2 2016-07

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einsights Email george Calombaris