TechCrunch: Twitter Study Says That Responding to Tweets Pays Off for Businesses

It looks like the time businesses are spending on Twitter is actually paying off. According to a recent TechCrunch article , Twitter conducted a study with Applied Marketing Science that found when a customer tweets at a business and receives a response, they are, on average, willing to spend 3 to 20 percent more on a product from the company. In addition, customers are 44 percent more likely to share their experience along with 30 percent more likely to recommend the company to others.

While investing in customer service efforts might not sound like a groundbreaking idea for business owners, the research shows that benefits from community management on Twitter comes at a much lower cost than on other channels.

Twitter’s Wayne Huang writes in a company blog post, “According to McKinsey & Company, support interactions on social cost 1/6th of those in a call center. Combined with the revenue potential, favorability, satisfaction, and recommendation impact of these interactions, businesses can benefit significantly from investing in helping their customers on Twitter.”

The best results are usually found when a business can respond quickly, and although many companies fear negative tweets, 69 percent of the people who tweeted negatively said that they felt more positive once the business responded.

For executives questioning whether Twitter conversations with customers are an effective use of the company’s time, Twitter’s recent study has the answer.