Nokia recently created @NokiaCareUS to help North American users on Twitter with support questions. The account also has Nokia experts tweeting tips everyday. I thought getting customer support through 140 characters was interesting, so I sent a few questions to Sean Valderas, the Customer Care Manager at Nokia. Have a look at the responses.

What made Nokia decide to create @NokiaCareUS?
@NokiaCareUS was created because Twitter as a channel for customer support has been growing in popularity and we felt that we could add value to the on-going conversations happening on Twitter and to facilitate greater engagement with our customers in North American on the topics and issues that most interest and impact them daily.

Where is the account based and how many people are on the team?
We have a cross-functional team of nine Care professionals located in Irving, TX and Vancouver, Canada that we can leverage to address questions specific to their area of expertise. We also gain support from the overall Nokia community – when they see a conversation, need for action/resolution, or opportunity on Twitter – they make sure we see it so we can engage quickly and properly.

How many support questions per day do you get?
On normal days, we field more than a dozen questions which range from product and service questions, consumers looking for tips or tricks on their device, to customer service needs.

What are the most frequently asked questions?
Most frequent requests are for firmware release notes/dates.

What is the oddest question you have ever been asked?
Directions to Nokia Theatre New York

How do you answer a question that can’t be answered in less than 140 characters?
When a solution requires more than 140 characters, we can either take their message offline to a more appropriate channel such as email or reference to them to our Nokia Contact Center.

How do you respond to users residing outside the US asking for help?
For customers outside North America, we would direct them to our colleagues @Nokiahelps who provide a global Care presence for products and services.

How are the feedbacks from customers so far?
Feedback has been mostly positive. A lot of customers like the idea of Twitter customer support because they can do something else while they have a short wait for a response. We’ve seen that some customers are helping one another, and we’ve seen a high number of referrals.

Is there anything else that you’d like @thenokiablog readers to know?
Going forward we will bringing in more fun events such as contests/prizes and also be reaching out to our followers to learn more about their interests. We also will be sharing more about who we are in Nokia Care North America… so stay tuned.