Fresh produce marketers: I want you to ask yourself this very important question. How long does it take you to respond when a consumer messages you on Facebook or sends you a tweet? If it’s more than 6 hours, you are likely letting your audience down! A 2015 study focused on the retail industry by Eptica found that most companies take a day or MORE to respond to consumer messages on social media. Here’s what they found:

• Average email response time: 7 hours and 15 minutes
• Average Facebook response time: 1 day, 3 hours and 47 minutes
• Average Twitter response time: 1 day, 7 hours and 12 minutes

Folks – this is a mistake! In many ways, social media has become a customer service portal, and consumers expect quick responses the same as if they were to pick up the phone and call. In fact, this has become so important that Facebook now highlights a page’s response time at the top of the page. To the right you can see that ALDI USA is commended by Facebook for the fast response time – typically within an hour!

In addition to understanding how long it takes marketers to respond to consumer inquiries, the study by Eptica also examined consumer expectations.

• 77% of consumers won’t wait for more than 6 hours for a response on email
• 85% of consumers expect a response on Facebook within at least 6 hours
• 64% of consumers expect an answer on Twitter within a matter of 60 minutes!

Consumer expectations aren’t aligning with what marketers currently deliver. If it is your goal to create evangelists for your brand through your social media efforts, then your social media response time matters. Marketers should be prepared to monitor and respond to Facebook messages, tweets and consumer emails as quickly as possible. Even if you need more time to look into an answer to the question a consumer asks, always acknowledge that you received their question. It’s okay to be transparent and let them know you’re going to check on some things to ensure you get them the right answer.

In other words, response is a brand builder.  It not only matters how you respond, but how fast you respond.