More Merchants Monitor Social Media than Offer Live Chat

More merchants are monitoring social media in the contact center than offering live chat, according to the results of the MCM Outlook 2013 survey.

According to the survey results, 46.5% of respondents are monitoring social media in the contact center, while just 21% are using live chat technology.

More than half the respondents (54.4%) that indicated they monitor social media in the contact center said they monitor and respond to customer complaints and praise on Facebook.  Less than 16% (15.8%) said they follow and engage in conversations on LinkedIn, and 11.4% said they do the same on Twitter.

Live chat seems to be disappearing from the contact center. According to MCM Outlook 2012-13, 37.8% of respondents said they used live chat on their sites.

Though the question about social media in the contact center was not asked in 2012, it does appear to be a growing trend. Speaking at IRWD 2013 in February, Jason LaRose, senior vice president of ecommerce at Express, said 20% of the people in its contact center focus solely on responding to customer queries in social media channels.

METHODOLOGY: The online MCM Outlook 2013 survey was fielded by Multichannel Merchant from Mar. 5 through Mar. 18, and included 1,110 respondents. Of those respondents, 430 described their primary responsibility at their company operations and/or fulfillment.