Voice Of The Consumer Still In The Woods

A new study by MarketTools revealed that 94% of companies do not yet use social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter to gather customer feedback, despite consumers' growing engagement with these mediums.

The study found that the most common ways companies gather customer feedback are email/online surveys (51%), formal phone surveys (28%), and informal phone calls (28%). Justin Schuster, vice president of enterprise products for MarketTools, Inc., said "... few organizations are equipped to take advantage of social media channels this channel... organizations that... incorporate feedback gathered through social media channels are able to uncover richer insights to help them improve customer satisfaction..." A growing number of consumers are turning to social media channels to share unsatisfactory customer service experiences. In a recent research report, shared by MarketTools, Forrester found that 16% of customers have vented about negative customer service interactions through social channels, such as online customer reviews, Facebook status updates, or blog posts. Forrester also cites "integrating social media monitoring" as one of the major trends that characterize leading-edge voice of the customer (VOC) programs.