Study: majority use social media to 'vent' about customer care

It's no secret that blogs and sociable networks have become the preferred sounding board for consumers fed up with poor client service. Now, a study from Society for New communicating Research has attempted to quantify the impact on trade name.

Sponsored by nicety Care Solutions, a Burlington, MA-based supplier of voice-recognition solutions, the online study found that 72 percentage of respondents used sociable media to research a company's reputation for client care earlier making a purchase, and 74 percentage choose to do concern with companies based on the client care experiences shared by others online.

Meanwhile, 59 percent said they on a regular basis use sociable media to "vent" about their client care frustrations, suggesting that consumers looking to make a purchase decision first wade through a mass of negative commentary.

Savvy consumers "will not support companies with poor client care reputations, and they will talk about all of this openly with others via multiple online vehicles," said Dr. Ganim Nora Barnes, senior chap of the Society for New communicating Research. The research should serve as "a wake-up call" to companies, she said, who need to improve their client service.

Only 33 percentage of respondents said they believe companies take such online complaints earnestly. However, a smattering of trade name were singled out as using sociable media efficaciously to computer address customer dissatisfaction. Amazon and Dell were cited most often. As for which industries made best use of sociable media, engineering and retail ranked highest, while insurance, utilities and health care ranked lowest.

Exacerbating the state of affairs are progressively high criterion for client service among consumers who've grown accustomed to blink of an eye access to info, said Julia Ochinero, director of communicating at nicety. "Search allows consumers to find their info without being tied to the company, and now we have sociable media, where the client voice is not only heard, it's louder. A customer's voice can now be global," she said. "If companies provide that care it can impact the reputation of the company itself."

The study, "Exploring the Link Between Customer Care and Brand Reputation in the Age of Social Media," will be presented at the SNCR's New Communications Forum in Sonoma County, Calif. Later this week. It was conducted online with 300 respondents who voluntarily opted in.