Customer Communications. Customer Communication may be a daunting process, especially if you’re always addressing the same issues. However, this is an essential part of customer service and should not be neglected. Here are 5 ways you can communicate more effectively and save time in the long run.
Be forthcoming about your company values
Companies that have deep beliefs about social responsibility, social issues, ecology, ethical production, and more usually put their values forward in the beginning, and then with time they talk about them less and less.
That is probably the most confusing thing for new customers because they tend to think that brands who don’t shout about their social responsibility, don’t have anything to shout about. It’s understandable for brands to go in different directions with different campaigns, but make sure you don’t bury your goals, values, and beliefs in the depths of your website and leave it there.
Customers will be interested in the ways you source your ingredients, give back to the community and your stance on issues near and dear to them, so make sure to address those things periodically.
This will instantly attract the type of customers who value brands that stand for something. Even if it’s not directly aimed at customers, this type of communication will speak volumes about the way you do business and is a great way to separate yourself from the competition.
Make it easy to receive feedback
When creating any product or service, brands have a specific vision of their intended purpose and as we’ve seen time and time again, consumers can change the purpose of those products and services through time.
Even if that is not the case for your brand, it’s possible that clients have different goals in mind when buying from you. In order to achieve their goals, they may need some assistance or have ideas on how to better your products and services.
That’s why you need to make it easy for them to reach out to you and share their feedback. This can easily be done through social media where you can Connect Facebook Custom Audiences to Typeform or other apps, live chat on your website, email, and a phone number listed on your website.
Whichever channel your consumers use to communicate with you, make sure they can reach a real person to solve complex issues. Automated replies will save a lot of time and resources, but there are always cases in which real people are needed. Remember that effective customer communication should never lose the human touch!
Find out more about the CommBox smart customer communication solution
Make sure to have the best way for people to contact you marked on your website, social media and any other platform people may come to in order to find information about your brand.
Focus on the quality of your responses, instead of the speed
As we’ve already touched upon, automatic replies are not the worst thing to incorporate in your customer service communication but don’t rely solely on them.
People who are contacting you because they’re experiencing problems with your product or service want a helpful response, not a quick one that brushes over everything. Your response time should always come second to the quality of your response.
Otherways, you’ll leave your customers frustrated and jumping to your competitors.
When talking to your customers, use their names, and positive language that lets them know they’re in good hands. Be proactive and give your customers all the information surrounding their inquiries so that they don’t have to contact you again.
For example, if you have different tiers you offer to your customers that include different features at different prices and customers mostly ask about one feature, make sure to be transparent about the price of the particular package you’re offering.
Create helpful content
Be proactive with your customer support and create helpful blogs, videos, and social media posts explaining how to use your products and services.
Let’s face it, we’ve all watched tutorials on the most basic things that made us think about how people even lived before the Internet. Put yourself in those shoes every time you think you’ve created the most self-explanatory platform or product and give people what they want – tutorials!
Every new release should be followed by a blog or video explaining how to use it. Aside from creating this type of content for your new clients, make it for existing ones who are upgrading to the new release and are wondering how the new features can be used with the old ones.
A great FAQ page also goes a long way. Take the pressure off your customer support agents by creating a great base of answers you can widen with new ones when the opportunity arises.
That way, your customers and potential clients can do the research on their own and they’ll appreciate the informative and engaging content you’ve put forward.
Engage in social listening
As Whitney wonders how will she know if he really likes her, you may be wondering what your clients think of you. If you rely solely on their direct feedback, you may get tunnel vision. That’s why you need to engage in social listening and widen your sources.
Social listening entails following tags, hashtags and mentions of your brand on different social media and online platforms where people may be expressing their opinions. This will help you find the platforms your customers are most active on and give you an easy way to engage them.
Answer any questions you find and give your side of the story for any person with a negative review. People will remember the negative reviews more than they will the positive ones, so make sure to positively spin any negative reviews you find.
Microsoft says that 52% of people around the world believe that companies need to take action on feedback provided by their customers. So if you see customers expressing their opinion on an issue they’re dealing with, make sure to review it and make any changes that need to be done.
Conclusion
All in all, it’s important to focus on the quality of your customer communication and don’t forget to bring in the human touch. You should constantly be improving your customer service and engaging in social listening to better understand issues your clients face.
Guest Author bio:
Petra Odak is a Chief Marketing Officer at Better Proposals, a simple yet incredibly powerful proposal software tool that helps you send high-converting, web-based business proposals in minutes. She’s a solution-oriented marketing enthusiast with more than 5 years of experience in various fields of marketing and project management.
