Zappos, LLBean most responsive retailers on Twitter -- report

If you want a customer service answer on Twitter, you'll have your best luck tweeting Zappos or LLBean. (Assuming that's where you did your shopping.)

Out of the top 25 online retailers, Zappos and LLBean proved the most responsive on Twitter, answering 100 percent of customer tweets within 24 hours, according to STELLAservice, an independent rater of online customer-service performance that posted its findings in a blog entry posted today.

The other top retailers answered an average of 44 percent of customer services questions.

For the study, mystery shoppers tweeted daily customer service questions to the Twitter accounts of the top 25 retailers over a 45-day period that started in April. The study tracked the frequency and speed of each company's replies.

Zappos.com and LLBean.com replied to every single tweet within 24 hours. Other top performers included Overstock at 98 percent, Dell at 98 percent and Best Buy at 89 percent.

For response time, Zappos again rose to the top with an average response time of about 54 minutes. This was followed by Best Buy at 1 hour and 47 minutes, Overstock at 1 hour and 53 minutes, Dell at 2 hours and 28 minutes, and and LLBean at 3 hours and 55 minutes.

The other retailers studied were Amazon., Staples, Office Depot, Wal-Mart Stores, Sears, QVC, Office Max, Newegg, Sony, Costco, Macy's., Victoria's Secret, Hewlett-Packard, J.C. Penney, Target, TigerDirect.com, Gap, Williams-Sonoma, HSN, and Toys 'R' Us. Apple was excluded because it doesn't have a Twitter customer service presence. STELLAservice did not name the worst performing tweeters in their blog post highlighting the study.