Dive Brief:
- Twitter is providing brands with new customer service capabilities on its platform to help make the process of reaching out to a business on Twitter more formalized and intuitive, according to TechCrunch.
- Businesses can now access a new Customer Support settings page that enables brands to say whether they provide support on their Twitter pages and display what times support will be available.
- All Twitter users will be able to direct message the account instead of tweeting the complaint or question publicly on their feed. The new capability also comes with a larger direct message button for brands' Twitter pages.
Dive Insight:
Twitter is moving into customer service by offering brands new messaging capabilities that take those conversations out of the public view. If you've ever seen an irate customer publicly tweet their complaints at companies at Twitter, you know how damaging that can be to a brand.
Twitter started testing a direct message button late last month that businesses could embed on their websites. The addition of customer service tags and a "business hours" display shows how the company aims to recreate an in-store feel to its consumer-brand interactions.
Improved control over Twitter interactions follows a huge huge hit to the company's image earlier this year for failing to filter abusive tweets. The new customer service options are a step in the right direction, but whether or not the feature will take hold with users looking to air complaints about products and services remains to be seen.
The features come at a time when Twitter is trying to reinvent its business. After recent earnings have shown stagnating user growth and weakened ad revenues, Twitter hopes its new customer service features can help both consumers and brands alike.
