The latest Customer Service Benchmark results from eDigitalResearch reveal that, since the previous wave in March 2014, consumers are mostly using social media as a way of giving positive feedback. 11% of the 2,000 consumers surveyed said they had used social media to contact a brand in the past year. Of these, 6% said they had used the platform to send positive feedback about a company, compared with 2% who had used it to send a complaint.

Of those who had contacted brands this way, 36% said that they would expect a response to their communication within six hours. The research suggested that companies may not be living up to this expectation as it was found that overall satisfaction had decreased since the previous wave.

“The latest Customer Service Benchmark results suggest that the easier a company makes it for a customer to contact them, the more satisfied they are likely to be,” said Derek Eccleston, global commercial officer at eDigitalResearch.

“Brands who are executing their social media touch points well are clearly signalling to users when their social media team are available and how long they may have to wait, as well as allowing them to talk openly and honestly about their issues, queries or complaints”.