One bad tweet = 30 customers lost

Jan 22, 2010 by Dirk Singer

A pre-Christmas survey, though one still worth noting is the one carried out by Convergys Corp, which says that a single bad tweet or Facebook comment can cost you 30 customers.

Apparently Convergys found out that bad reviews or comments on social networks reach on average the ears and eyes of 45 people.   Out of these, 2/3 would consider not giving their custom to the brand being slated, without even necessarily re-tweeting or building on the negative comment.   In other words, they are gone and without any kind of warning to you.

According to Frank Sherlock of Convergys, these kind of web posts lead to “silent attrition where customers switch companies without complaining directly.”

Which is not to say that some can’t be highly vocal, the company surveyed 2000 UK consumers and found that 1/3 had posted negative brand experiences online.    This is similar to a Euro RSCG study earlier in the year, which identified a trend of ‘cyberdisinhibition‘, where people are more likely to complain from the anonymity (and low hassle factor) of their PC.

This and other items are in the weekly ‘Rabbit Feed’ – more details here!

Image – Life as art

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