• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 8, 2015

According to the Sprout Social Index, most brands ignore 7 in 8 messages on social media. That’s 7 in 8 social messages to brands go unanswered within 72 hours. Imagine if your customer service team answered only 1 in 8 emails right away, waited more than 3 days to get back with an answer or just flat out failed to pick up the phone 88% of the time. Despite significant gains in the perception and value of social media, many brands remain unmoved in the quest to institute a fully functioning social communication strategy, says the Sprout report.

According to NewVoiceMedia, poor customer service in the US costs companies $41 billion each year, so never before has a brand’s responsibility to be responsive and engaged been so critical, and Sprout Social has captured data behind customer expectations, says the report.

This latest edition explores the surging need for faster responses, highlights movement in 15 key industry categories. Human, financial and technological resources are increasingly dedicated to social media efforts at organizations around the world, which, in turn, should improve output. Still, despite these gains and a growing prominence for social in the C-suite, many well-intentioned brands struggle to stay in front of the conversations.

The volume of messages that people send to brands on social continues to rise. There has been a 21% increase in messages to brands globally, compared to an 18% increase in the US. Increasing message volumes, a trend that has been consistent throughout every iteration of The Sprout Social Index, proves social media continues to assert itself as a primary customer communication channel.

Of all inbound messages, the study shows that 4 in 10 of messages need a response from the brand. Customers aren’t just mentioning a business; they are looking for that business to respond and interact with them on social. Similar to overall message volume, the raw number of messages needing a response has increased steadily for the past two years, more than doubling, up 110% since the last Index. According to Zendesk, says the report, 40% of customers switch loyalty because a competitor offers better customer service.

To highlight this focus on publishing versus engagement, the study compared the average number of posts to the average number of replies. Currently, brands send 4 times as many posts as replies. This differential explains why many customer requests via social go unanswered.

Average Brand Posts vs. Average Brand Replies

• Posts   160
• Replies   37

According to a report by Medallia, says the report, when certain Best Western properties started responding to more than 50% of their social reviews, they observed twice the occupancy rates as less-engaged properties.

As an ongoing benchmark to previous reports, The Social Consumer Engagement Index (most inbound engagement on social channels relative to audience size) outlines the industries that receive the most inbound messages requiring attention, and Index focuses on how responsive and timely each industry is in interacting with those messages.

For most industries, the average number of social posts far outweighs replies. The only industries closing that gap somewhat are utilities and retail—though both industries still post more than they reply. Utilities send 1.4 times as many posts as replies, and retail sends more than twice as many posts as replies.

Compared to other industries, it is an achievement. For example, media/entertainment (an industry that traditionally lags on the engagement front) sends 8.4 times more posts than replies, and real estate sends 11.7 times as many posts as replies.

This reliance on social media as mostly a broadcasting channel will not work for brands in the long run. Based on the frequency by which people are reaching out to brands on social for answers, a lack of response may lessen a brand’s impact over time as customers begin to see its social efforts as inauthentic. According to Bain & Company, brands that engage with customers via social earn an average 33 points higher Net Promoter score (a measure of customer loyalty).

When looking at the industries that are responding, the clear winners are education, utilities and surprisingly, media/entertainment. Media/entertainment is actually neck in neck with utilities for the No. 2 spot in response times; however, that might be due to the fact that they respond to so few messages.

If customers are looking for a response from the consumer goods/services industry, they might be waiting longer than they would like. As the slowest responder in Index, the consumer goods/services industry has a response time that is nearly 40% slower than education (which has the quickest response time).

According to the report, response rates across all industries are not great. Currently, only 1 in 8 customers looking for a response on social actually gets one from a brand.

That said, both the utilities and retail industries reply to about 1 in 5 messages requiring a response, says the report. In fact, the retail industry took the lead last quarter and now replies to more messages than utilities, a surprising shift based on how much importance the utility industry has put on social customer service.

Not surprising is the media/entertainment industry’s continued trend of ignoring people on social. As a category, it currently responds to only about 8% of messages, but as we mentioned, that 8% is getting a response a little quicker than before, which is a move in the right direction, concludes the study.

For more about this report, please visit here.