Twitter today is rolling out a series of new features designed to help users better connect with businesses offering customer support through their official Twitter accounts.
With the new features, businesses will be able to clearly display on their profile if their account offers customer service, as well as which times those accounts are active.
The business can now indicate if it offers service via a new Customer Support settings page on the Twitter Dashboard website. Once enabled, the business’s Twitter profile will read that it “Provides Support.”
This option will also turn on the account’s ability to receive Direct Messages from anyone. In other words, the business will no longer need to request that customers follow them back so they can send a private message
This “Provides support” detail will also show when people search for accounts — including when they @mention the company in a tweet, for example, or begin typing a Direct Message.
In addition, the business can also now choose to display the hours of customer service availability on its profile, which will help set expectations in terms of when a reply may be received.
When customers visit these customer service Twitter accounts, they’ll also see a new, more prominent button to start a Direct Message with the business in question.