The latest report by data firm BrandsEye confirms that only half of Africa’s Telco, insurance and banking customers receive responses form their service providers on social media. BrandsEye used their proprietary blend of AI and human crowds to analyse 688 154 social media posts in the three industries to better understand consumer expectations online and how these have evolved during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Between May and July 2020, less than half of consumers who tweeted at telcos, insurers and banks looking for assistance received a response, according to the data firm’s African cross-industry sentiment index.
“Covid-19 has driven digital adoption across the world and especially in Africa. We wanted to understand what consumers were feeling and how industries were handling the increased demand for social customer service,” explained BrandsEye CEO, Nic Ray.
Of the organisations that did respond to social media requests, they took anywhere from one hour (in the Southern African insurance industry) to four days (in the East African banking industry). Across regions the banking industry was the most responsive on social media, however, the industry also saw some of the slowest response times, with customers waiting for up to 99 hours (4 days) for a response from their bank.
“As African governments and businesses encourage the use of digital platforms, and mobile internet penetration increases, more consumers are going to seek customer service on social media. How organisations identify, interpret, and respond to this growing source of consumer feedback will be critical to building sustained brand loyalty, reducing risk, and growing market share,” Ray added.
All telco providers analysed in this study had a negative overall Net Sentiment. More than half of telcos conversations featured either a request for assistance from a customer or a customer providing feedback to the brand.
