I knew it was bad, but just didn’t know how bad, I’m talking about the average time it takes for a company to respond, via different social media channels; 

A recent study put out by Eptica evaluated 500 US retailers' ability to respond, by asking ten routine questions. The average amount of time it takes for many of these companies to reply is staggeringly disappointing.

Here are a few of the stats and facts:

• For email the average response time was 7 hours and 51 minutes!
• For Facebook the average response time was one day, 3 hours and 7 minutes!
• For Twitter the average response time was one day, 7 hours and 12 minutes!

This is nuts! If I have a problem, and I contact the company, I don’t want to have to wait almost eight hours to get a response. Maybe all I have is a simple question, I’m not even upset or angry. But, due to the frustration of having to wait hours, or even a day or more, for a response; my simple question becomes a customer service debacle.

Is it just me? As it turns out, most customers are a little more tolerant than I am, but they still experience frustration. The Eptica study also polled 1,000 consumers on how long they were willing to wait when they connected with the companies through these channels.

While most people are more accepting of the longer wait times; their patience doesn’t last as long as the average company makes them wait. In the case of Facebook and Twitter, they aren’t even close.

• 77% of consumers won’t wait more than six hours for an email response.
• 85% of consumers using Facebook expect an answer within six hours.
• 64% of consumers using Twitter expect a response within an hour.

All this looks like gloom and doom in the world of customer service, but there is good news. Yes, there are some rock stars out there who put others to shame.

Some of these great companies respond within a minute or less. But more importantly, this report is a wake-up call for all of us.

Quick response matters! Look at this report and determine which industry you’re in.

And, if you feel that B2B doesn’t apply, you’re wrong. Regardless of the industry and the numbers, the concept of quick response is universal. When your customer has a question, they want an answer. When your customer has a problem, they want it resolved. And most don’t want to wait a day or two for you to get back to them.

My suggestion is to take some action. First, download the report, it’s free. Then, take a look at your response times. And consider this, while the response times focus on outside customers, how long do you take to respond to the people you work with, also known as your internal customers? Those arevery important customers as well!

Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE is a customer service expert, hall-of-fame speaker and New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. He works with organizations to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. He is also the creator of The Customer Focus, a customer service training program that helps organizations develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset. For more information contact (314) 692-2200 or www.Hyken.com