(Gartner: Egham, United Kingdom) -- As familiarity with social media grows, customers’ expectations about how organizations will use these channels are evolving, according to Gartner Inc. By 2014, organizations that refuse to communicate with customers by social media will face the same level of wrath from customers as those that ignore today’s basic expectation that they will respond to emails and phone calls. For organizations that use social media to promote their products, responding to inquiries via social media channels will be the new minimum level of response expected.

“The dissatisfaction stemming from failure to respond via social channels can lead to up to a 15-percent increase in churn rate for existing customers,” says Carol Rozwell, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “It’s crucial that organizations implement approaches to handling social media now. The effort involved in addressing social media commentary is not good cause to ignore relevant comments or solvable issues.”

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