Enhancing Customer Satisfaction Through Personal Profiles of Social Media Customer Service Agents
A recent academic study from Montana State University’s Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship takes a deep look at something many of us encounter daily but rarely think about: how customer service agents present themselves on social media. The research explores whether adding a more human touch to customer service profiles actually changes how customers behave, feel, and respond online—and the findings are both practical and surprisingly nuanced.
The study was led by Huai-Tzu Cheng, a professor of business management at Montana State University, with co-authors Yang Pan from Tulane University and Rudy Hirschheim from Louisiana State University. Their paper, titled Unveiling the Human Touch: Enhancing Customer Satisfaction Through Personal Profiles of Social Media Customer Service Agents, was published online in December 2025 in the highly respected academic journal Production and Operations Management.
At its core, the research asks a straightforward but important question: Do personalized customer service profiles lead to better customer experiences than standardized, company-branded profiles? The answer, based on extensive data analysis, is yes—but with some important caveats.
Why Social Media Customer Service Matters
Social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have become essential customer service channels. Customers expect fast responses, clear communication, and increasingly, a sense that they are interacting with a real person rather than a faceless corporation. Many companies have experimented with different approaches, but until now, there has been limited large-scale empirical evidence showing what actually works.
This study fills that gap by focusing on how profile design itself—not just response content—affects customer behavior.
The Natural Experiment That Made the Study Possible
The researchers centered their analysis on T-Mobile, one of the largest telecom companies in the United States. In February 2017, Twitter introduced a new feature that allowed companies to create personalized customer service agent profiles. These profiles could include:
- Profile photos
- Agent names
- Short biographies
- Personal interests
Before this change, customers interacting with T-Mobile’s support accounts typically saw only the company logo and either initials or a name identifier for the agent. After the feature rollout, T-Mobile adopted the new personalization options, giving its customer service agents visible identities.
This shift created a perfect opportunity for analysis. Cheng and her team examined customer interactions three months before and three months after the profile change. To strengthen the study, they compared T-Mobile’s results with those of other major telecom companies—AT&T Cares, Verizon Support, and Sprint Care—which had not yet implemented personalized profiles during the same period.
What the Data Revealed
The findings show that personalized profiles significantly changed how customers interacted with customer service agents on social media.
More Positive Sentiment
Customers were more likely to post messages with positive emotional tone when interacting with agents who had personalized profiles. This included more friendly language, expressions of appreciation, and constructive engagement.
Fewer Complaints
The likelihood of customers posting complaint-driven messages dropped after personalization was introduced. While complaints did not disappear entirely, the overall tone of interactions improved, suggesting that customers felt more understood and respected.
Improved Customer Satisfaction Signals
Customer satisfaction—measured through sentiment analysis, engagement patterns, and response behaviors—improved after agents adopted personal profiles. Importantly, these gains were not just superficial. They reflected measurable shifts in how customers evaluated their service experiences.
The Hidden Trade-Off: Higher Expectations
One of the most interesting findings of the study was also the most unexpected. While personalization improved customer sentiment, it also raised customer expectations, particularly around response speed.
When customers interacted with agents who appeared more human, delays in response time were judged more harshly than when interacting with standardized, logo-based accounts. In other words, once an agent looks like a real person, customers expect them to behave like one—promptly and attentively.
This nuance is critical for businesses. Personalization can boost satisfaction, but only if operational performance keeps pace.
Humanization Alone Is Not Enough
Another key insight from the research challenges a common assumption. Simply making an agent appear human does not automatically create satisfaction.
The researchers found that customer satisfaction was driven primarily by two perceptions:
- Perceived warmth
- Perceived competence
Humanization encouraged customers to express gratitude, but it did not directly drive satisfaction unless customers also believed the agent was both friendly and capable. This distinction matters. A smiling photo or casual bio may help start a positive interaction, but it cannot compensate for slow responses or ineffective problem-solving.
Why This Matters for Businesses
From a management perspective, the findings are highly actionable.
One major advantage of profile personalization is that it is cost-neutral. Companies can implement these changes using existing staff without specialized training or additional hiring. For organizations managing large-scale social media operations, this makes personalization an attractive and scalable strategy.
The research also offers value to social media platforms themselves, such as X, by highlighting how built-in personalization features can improve engagement and trust across the ecosystem.
What This Means for AI and Chatbots
The implications go beyond human agents. Cheng points out that the findings are highly relevant to artificial intelligence–powered customer service tools, including chatbots.
Adding humanizing elements—such as names, avatars, or brief biographies—to AI agents may strengthen user connection and trust. However, the same rule applies: perceived warmth and competence still matter most. A chatbot that looks friendly but provides poor answers will not deliver meaningful satisfaction gains.
Limitations and Future Research Directions
The researchers are careful to note the study’s limitations. The analysis focused exclusively on:
- One social media platform (X)
- One industry (telecommunications)
Future research could examine whether similar effects appear on platforms with different cultures and interfaces, such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, or in industries like banking, healthcare, or retail.
Another open question is whether virtual agents or avatars can deliver the same benefits as real human photos, or whether customers can distinguish—and respond differently—to artificial representations.
A Broader Takeaway on Digital Customer Service
This research reinforces a growing understanding in digital service design: people want to feel seen, heard, and helped by someone who seems real and capable. Profile personalization can support that goal, but it is not a shortcut. It must be paired with operational excellence and thoughtful communication.
For businesses navigating the evolving world of social media customer service, the message is clear. Personal profiles can enhance satisfaction, reduce complaints, and improve engagement—but only when backed by timely responses and genuine competence.
Research Paper:
https://doi.org/10.1177/10591478251388172
