Emerging-market consumers turn to social media for customer service

According to the study of 4000 consumers across four developed countries (the US, UK, France and Germany) and the four BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), 32 per cent of consumers in the emerging countries have used social media for customer-service issues, compared with just 10 per cent in the developed countries.

“Web savvy consumers in emerging markets, such as China and India, are more inclined to use social media for customer service as opposed to consumers in developed countries," commented Aphrodite Brinsmead, customer interaction analyst at Ovum. "They are using social media to ask and respond to questions in communities, as well as to complain about or promote products and services.” 

While consumers may be reaching out through Facebook pages and Twitter messages, their queries may be going unanswered, according to the researchers. Relatively few companies in either set of countries have integrated social media into their customer-service operations, Brinsmead said.