Communication is at the heart of human interaction and should be at the core of your business strategy, it can make or break a company.

Being able to communicate effectively with your customers can lead to increased sales, repeat business via loyalty and referrals to potential new consumers. On the flip side, poor communication can lead to decreased sales, frustrated customers and a negative reputation.

So, how can businesses improve their communications with customers? And, which are the platforms to do so?

We’ve picked out some key points to improve your communication with customers, build brand loyalty, increase sales and the platforms to use…

Be Accessible

No matter what type of business you are – eCommerce, a start-up, service provider – customers should be able to reach you on various platforms.

Digital technology has made it possible to expand your reach to customers because they have so much access available at their fingertips. Customers now expect to communicate with your business without having to make a huge effort or jump through hoops.

They want options, so consider communicating with customers through as many platforms as possible, such as phone calls, email, social media, or an instant chat feature – a chatbot.

Email Marketing

Being able to reach out to your database with one email is powerful but, what is even more powerful is being able to analyse this data – open rates and click-through rates.

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The ability to see not only who has opened the email, but also who has clicked on one of the links is vital for understanding your customers and their needs. Aside from sending promotional materials to customers, you can answer their questions and concerns via email. In this instance, you shouldn’t let days pass before responding.

Social Media

Social media is, unsurprisingly, popular and can be a method for communicating with customers, but how you communicate on social media can make the difference between attracting customers and driving them away.

Merely having a presence on social media isn’t enough, you need to be responsive and measured in how to reply to a customer. It’s highly likely that your communication on these platforms isn’t always private.

To keep track of queries coming through to your social networking accounts, platforms such as Hootsuite allows you to manage your real-time communication. This will allow you to set up tabs for every account integrated into Hootsuite, so that if someone sends you a question via a social media platform, you can answer in a timely manner.

Chatbots

One of the newer forms of communication with customers is a chat function, or chatbot, that allows customers to ask questions and expect immediate answers.

Chatbots can save you time if a customer has an issue that needs resolving. You set them up to have selectable issues with automated responses to help guide a user to where they need to go for help. You can then see their issue if they need to have a more direct response. The same process can be in place for general assistance.

Get Everyone on Board

No matter how good your communication skills or which systems you put in place, if your employees don’t follow suit, it will count for very little.

Your employees should be polite, professional, and friendly when communicating with customers. Most of all, however, they must be responsive – you cannot allow customer queries to linger and go unanswered, otherwise, you will risk driving them away.

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You can provide training to make sure employees understand your company’s communication standards and how you want to improve. Undertaking an assessment will help you understand employee communication skills and if you need to hire extra staff.

Make a Good First Impression

Good customer service can make or break a sale and a large part of this comes from the first impression you give your customers when they contact you. There are two ways you can do this based on the technology we’ve discussed.

Waiting Times

Whether it’s by phone, email, social media or live chat, the longer you make your customers wait, the more frustrated they’ll become. It causes poor customer experience and can lead to reputational damage via word of mouth.

You need to have an automated system in place that sends calls to available support representatives, thereby reducing waiting times. You can install a similar system for live chats on your website that can inform a customer how long it may take to answer their question or get in touch.

Use Real Language

Whether it’s by phone or a chatbot, scripted language is impersonal and a turn-off, your customers will know if you’re using such responses with them. It leads to a poor experience, so make sure you have real conversations and human language with your customers.

Here are a few tips on language, no matter which platform you are using to communicate with customers:

• Do not be defensive, acknowledge the problem.
• Always be empathetic to your customers, understand where they’re coming from.
• Use positive language rather than negative, it can sound impersonal.
• Do not use jargon, customers want to talk normally, so use simple and easy-to-understand language.

Gaining an advantage over a competitor in the communication space is one way to ensure existing customers purchase from you again as well as a way of gaining sales from new customers.

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