Twitter on Thursday announced the results of its first ever Twitter Awards, awarding @AppleSupport with the Gold #Customer award as the top customer service provider on the social network. Shipping company DHL Mexico took the Silver Award, while French banking firm Société Générale grabbed the Bronze.
Twitter is the world’s biggest suggestion box, and when it comes to customer service, there’s never a line. The #Customer award celebrates those companies that took advantage of Twitter to listen and respond to their customers in real time, making lifelong friends and brand advocates along the way.
Apple was awarded with the “Gold” #Customer award for the @AppleSupport Twitter account, which Apple uses to quickly respond to customer service requests. According to Twitter, the @AppleSupport account ranks #1 among support accounts for average engagements and average engagements for followers, racking up 150,000 likes and retweets since its launch.
In announcing the award, Twitter said this of the @AppleSupport account:
The average online customer service response time is a long, grueling 17 hours. Hours! @AppleSupport decided to do something about that sad stat and use Twitter to respond to customer inquiries and comments. Because of the live nature of Twitter they are also able to pick up conversations with customers at any time, and incorporate rich media into responses to provide even more help to people when and where they need it most.
Apple uses the account, first launched in March of 2016, to answer customer questions, offers quick solutions to problems, and share tips and tricks on using Apple products, such as the one below.
Full screen effects automatically appear when you use these phrases: ‘Happy Birthday,’ Congratulations,’ ‘Congrats,’ ‘Happy New Year.’ pic.twitter.com/XLBTlJRSjk
— Apple Support (@AppleSupport) November 5, 2016
The account’s handlers interact with customers via the account during the hours of 5AM to 8PM Pacific time, often responding to customer tweets in a matter of minutes. The account currently has around 525,000 followers.
