20% of Australians have made a complaint about a product or service on a companies Facebook site, according to research released by SocialPulse.

SocialPulse, a social media data analytics agency, has released a comprehensive report detailing how customers use social media to make queries. The report also details what customers expect from companies and how companies are responding to social media queries.

As well as using social media to submit complaints the research shows 10% of Australians have taken to social media to gain assistance when trying to resolve an issue with a company.

SocialPulse reports that while Australians are heavy users of social media, it is still a relatively recent phenomenon that many companies are trying to navigate and understand how to use efficiently and cost effectively.

SocialPulse analysed the social media use and response rate of the top ten retail and telecommunications firms, through both manual and automated methods.

The study found that in one month Australia’s leading businesses received 693,606 queries, to which there was a 84.7% response rate. There average response time took 26 minutes.

Research found that telecommunications companies lead the way in responding to customers social media responses, with a 97.5% response rate. The average telco response time is far lower than the overall average, taking only three minutes.

Managing director at Social Pulse, Lucio Ribeiro, says companies need to ensure they are responding to all methods of customer communication efficiently and effectively.

“With massive penetration of social media channels, particularly Facebook in Australia, ‘channel bouncing’ is becoming the norm for consumers. There is a real need for companies to facilitate  consumer interaction across multiple channels,” Ribeiro says.

Similar research conducted by SocialPulse in the UK shows customers now expect their social media complaints and queries to be responded to at a faster rate than ever before. 42% of customers expect a response within 24 hours with 17% expecting to wait only one hour for a response.

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