REJOYCED: Blundering Bots

JOYCE TSUI
Editor in Chief

As more people are becoming glued to their social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it seems only logical that businesses are now connecting with their customers using these social platforms. Companies are able to publicize their business and respond to customer feedback in order to gain higher customer satisfaction.
However, the interpersonal aspect is gone when these businesses rely on bots to reply to customers’ comments. Replying to every post with a generic “Thank you for your feedback!” defeats the purpose of an outlet for feedback because why offer that opportunity if companies are not even going to acknowledge their customers?
To truly gain customer satisfaction, a spokesperson should contact customers by responding to both bad and good experiences in order to not only acknowledge customers’ concerns, but also to find ways to improve their business. It’s a win-win situation. It’s deceptive to say they want customer feedback to improve their services when they are just going to reply with indiscriminate automated responses.
Take American Airlines, for example. Their goal was to respond to every tweet they received on Twitter, no matter the nature of the tweet; unfortunately, it backfired when an automated “Thank you for your support” was sent as a reply to someone who was actually attacking the company for merging with another airline. American Airlines tried to do some damage control by retracting their original, computerized tweet, but the damage was already done and their reputation was defaced by their Twitter faux pas.
It is understandably more convenient to set up an automated response than to actually respond to every tweet. However, there should be an advisory regarding “robo-tweeting” to avoid predicaments like the one American Airlines faced. Social media should be utilized to enhance a brand, not bury its reputation in the ground because of a haphazard attempt at connecting with customers.