Max Goldberg

Who Needs Call Centers When There's Twitter?

December 4, 2012

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Recent mechanical failures of appliances purchased from a single retailer resulted in a call to the chain's service department. After dealing with service reps for over an hour and getting nowhere, the customer took to social media. Will consumers taking their complaints directly to social media make retailers reassess call center operations?      [more...]

The key to running successful call centers is that the reps need to be knowledgeable and empowered. Retailers and brands that don't do this will find themselves on the wrong end of a social media rant.

There is definitely a place for call centers, which should be able to quickly answer consumer questions and provide additional assistance as necessary. The retailer in this instance should have invested as much effort in its call center as it does monitoring social media.