Let’s face it. There’s not a single business in the world that would survive without customers. You could create the most innovative product in history and have all the inventory in the world, but without customers to take them off your hands, you have nothing – no sales, no profits, no growth, nothing.
For this reason, maintaining excellent customer service is always of utmost importance, and one way of achieving this is by focusing on how you interact and communicate with your customers.
Communication is just as important in your professional life as it is in your personal life. It allows us to pass information, understand others, solve problems, and learn new things. So regardless of your industry, improving customer communication is critical to safeguarding your business for the future. Here are four tips to enable you to do just that.
- Timely customer support
- Add a personal touch
- Pay attention to first impressions
- Be patient
Nobody likes waiting forever for someone to reply to their queries or concerns, and neither will your customers or clients. In fact, according to the CMO council, fast response time is the most important attribute of a good customer experience.
Ideally, you should try to respond to your customers within one hour or less, and definitely before 24-hours.
If you don’t have the resources to employ someone to be on-call 24/7, automated communication systems come in pretty handy. Just don’t overdo it. You can use a chatbot strategy as the first contact channel for FAQs and then escalate more complex issues to human support.
Having personalized conversations with customers is key to improving customer communication. Something as simple as asking them how they are doing or addressing them by their first name can help you build a good rapport with them.
For an even more personalized touch, you can use video chats which will also allow you to resolve issues faster. Be careful not to sound like you are using scripted language, as customers will quickly identify when you do.
First impressions matter, and as such, you should always try to ace them. Strive to offer your clients the resolution they are seeking as first as possible and with as few hitches as possible.
This will help you improve the customer experience and guarantee that they come back. It’s worth noting first impressions are not all about how you interact directly with your clients. Your website and social media channels offer opportunities for you to convey important information to them and thus are critical to improving customer communication.
That said, ensure that such channels leave your customers with a positive first impression.
No matter how well you do your job, you will always encounter unhappy or angry customers. And when you do, how you respond will determine whether you retain them as clients or not. During such situations, demonstrating patience will allow you to better understand their concerns and devise a solution that leaves them feeling satisfied with the resolution. Some clients are more difficult than others, so always be sure to maintain your cool even when you feel they are really pushing your buttons.
Improving customer communication matters, and in an age of advanced digital communication systems, there’s no excuse for failing to do so. With so many communication channels at your disposal, you can easily implement an omnichannel customer service strategy, which will allow you to interact with your clients and customers through the channels they prefer and subsequently increase engagement and conversion.
Every business can benefit from improving customer communication, whether it’s by creating a business language that speaks directly to them, or through customer support Omni-channels on your website.
Get in touch for a free consultation and find out which strategy is best for your business.
