AUSTIN, Texas (July 7, 2020) — Khoros, a global leader in enterprise-level customer engagement software, today unveiled research that shows half of consumers are willing to give brands up to three hours to respond to their complaints on Twitter. Compared to data collected in 2013¹, this means brands now have 200% more time to respond to the negative consumer Tweets from a large subset of their customer base.

While consumers are more lenient about time to respond in 2020, the repercussions are severe for brands that don't deliver against those relaxed standards. According to the survey, when companies don’t respond within an expected timeframe to a complaint via Twitter:

• 31% of consumers express their dissatisfaction through social media;
• 30% of consumers stop giving their business to the brand;
• 30% of consumers discourage friends and/or family from buying their products or using their services.

The good news: when brands do meet customer expectations, they have more to gain than ever. When companies deliver against consumer hopes and those consumers feel heard, they are:

• 52% more likely than they were in 2013 to say they will continue giving business to the brand (34% in 2013 vs. 53% in 2020);
• 18% more likely than they were in 2013 to become more receptive to the brand’s advertisements (38% in 2013 vs. 45% in 2020).

Moreover, those consumers become a brand’s greatest asset:

• 43% encourage friends and/or family to buy their products or use their services;
• 33% of respondents praise or recommend the brand through social media.

“Now, more than ever, brands need to be highly tuned in to their customer’s needs,” said Khoros CMO Katherine Calvert. “As a brand, you have 180 minutes and 280 characters to make or break your business -- and while the time to respond may have expanded, companies who miss the window and get it wrong face dire consequences.”

With Khoros, brands and their customer care agents can easily meet these customer care expectations with a platform that allows them to monitor, handle and resolve issues quickly, easily and personally across all digital channels, including social media.

For more information regarding the results of Khoros’ 2020 Social Media Customer Care survey, including statistics about brand interactions on Instagram and Facebook, visit the Khoros Blog.

Methodology

Survey conducted by Khoros. The data is based on a study of more than 1,300 respondents who said they had ever Tweeted directly to or about a brand/company on Twitter. (Confidence Level of 95% with 2.7 Margin of Error)

About Khoros

Khoros, built from Spredfast + Lithium, is the leading customer engagement platform built to turn siloed knowledge into enterprise value, and customers into contributors. By connecting consumer insights across all departments, Khoros gives companies the ability to run their business with their customers, anticipating their needs and accelerating sales, loyalty, and innovation. With 2,000+ brands, including 52 of the Interbrand 100 companies, and ten offices globally, Khoros powers approximately 500 million digital interactions every day. From social media to online communities and messaging to digital customer care, Khoros helps companies authentically connect with customers throughout their journey.

¹Lithium Technologies conducted research in 2013. Lithium and Spredfast merged and rebranded as Khoros in March 2019.

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Media Contact

Danielle Garton

dgarton@effectivespend.com