<\/span><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/strong>Customer communication usually means reaching out to customers with some sort of digital medium. But it’s also important to incorporate face-to-face interactions wherever possible.<\/p>\nPeople find it much easier to bond with other people than bonding with abstract brands or companies; a single conversation with an attentively listening human could permanently increase a customer’s loyalty to your brand.<\/p>\n
If your business operates entirely remotely, and there aren’t opportunities for physical interaction, you may be able to substitute this with more video conferencing.<\/p>\n
<\/span>8. Be personal, rather than transactional<\/span><\/h3>\nIt’s tempting to see every interaction with the customer as being transactional. Your goal is to provide value so the customer is more likely to work with your brand in the future.<\/p>\n
But this mentality tends to lend itself to ineffective conversations and weaker bonds. It’s much better to focus on being genuine and personal in each conversation.<\/p>\n
<\/span>9. Document your strategy<\/span><\/h3>\nTake the time to document your customer communication strategy, from top to bottom. Explain the brand values that should ground every conversation. Detail the qualities inherent in your brand’s voice. Describe the most important communication channels in the best ways to utilize them.<\/p>\n
The more specific you are and the more formal this document is, the better. It’s going to serve as an excellent resource for training and a valuable reference material for customer service reps, marketers, and other professionals on your team responsible for crafting customer communication.<\/p>\n
<\/span>10. Automate what you can<\/span><\/h3>\nAutomation is powerful because it has the potential to save you manual time and effort, thereby reducing costs.<\/p>\n
It also increases reliability, since algorithms are less likely to make mistakes than people are.<\/p>\n
Automate whatever you can in your communication strategy, such as alerts for follow-up messages, notifications of social mentions, and email drip campaigns.<\/p>\n
<\/span>11. Master the art of timing<\/span><\/h3>\nAn appropriately timed message is always going to be more effective than its inappropriately timed counterpart. Good timing allows you to improve the delivery rate and visibility of your message; it may also help you increase response rates and improve the quality of the conversation.<\/p>\n
For example, you’re much more likely to reach people and have an engaging conversation on Tuesday afternoon than on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
<\/span>12. Follow up<\/span><\/h3>\nConsider following up with all the messages you sent to your customers individually. You obviously can’t do this for mass-marketed messages, but for one-on-one conversations, it’s extremely powerful.<\/p>\n
If you resolve a customer complaint, follow up with a question asking the customer if they\u2019re fully satisfied. If you\u2019re awaiting a response from them, follow up with a repeated request for the information you need.<\/p>\n
It shows that you genuinely care about this person\u2019s needs and that you\u2019re paying enough attention to notice that a follow-up is warranted.<\/p>\n
<\/span>13. Train and educate your employees<\/span><\/h3>\nIt\u2019s important to train all your employees in the art of effective customer communication — even if you don\u2019t think they\u2019ll be interacting with customers on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
This is because all of your employees need to be customer-centric \u2014 and because it\u2019s essential to have all your employees following the same rules and procedures to ensure a consistent brand experience.<\/p>\n
<\/span>14. Establish key metrics and start measuring<\/span><\/h3>\nStart defining some key metrics that will indicate whether your customer communication strategy is a success. For example, are you searching for a specific customer satisfaction score?<\/p>\n
Use surveys and analytics platforms to track customer sentiment as it develops over time.<\/p>\n
<\/span>15. Improve as you go<\/span><\/h3>\nThe best customer communication strategies are ones that develop and adapt over time. This is especially important as you gain more experience and more familiarity with your target audience.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Common pitfalls of customer communication<\/span><\/h2>\nAs you gear up for better communication in H2, be wary of these common pitfalls of customer communication strategies:<\/p>\n
<\/span>Inconsistency<\/span><\/h3>\nIf you want your communication strategy to be effective, it needs to be consistent. When customers get mixed signals from different communication channels, or when one of your representatives contradicts another one, customers end up not only confused but disappointed in your lack of organization. This is one reason why it’s so important to have a formally documented communication strategy, complete with guidelines for your brand voice and how to communicate with customers.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Misalignment<\/span><\/h3>\nSome communication strategies suffer from being misaligned in some way. This is a broad category of potential issues, so just communicating in a way that contradicts your customers\u2019 interests, communicating in a way that violates your brand’s core values, or being tone-deaf when communicating about a sensitive matter.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Poor timing<\/span><\/h3>\nTiming is vital for effective communication, both so that your recipients have a better chance of reading and comprehending your messages answer that your messaging reaches maximum effectiveness. As a simple example, if you send out a notification that you’re hosting an event in three hours, that doesn’t give your potential participants enough time to prepare for it.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Confusion and lack of clarity<\/span><\/h3>\nYour messaging needs to be concise and clear if it’s going to be effective. Otherwise, your customers will end up confused. This is most commonly a result of hasty writing or unpolished processes; if you end up with materials that don’t make much sense on paper, your customers may not be able to piece together the mystery of their meaning on their own.<\/p>\n