7 Tips for Improving Customer Communications (with Template!)

Effective customer communication is the key to building successful, long-lasting business relationships. Even if you have a healthy customer base, increasing your bottom line could never hurt, right?

By improving your customer communication effort, you will also improve your overall operational efficiency by reducing time wasted on the back and forth phone calls, increase sales opportunities or further improve the customer experience.

Here are 6 tips for communicating effectively with your customers.

Customer Communication Tip #1: Increase customer interactions by making it easy.

Understand how customers want to communicate with you and allow customers to message you through whichever channel works for them. Whether that means having texting capabilities, website live chat, Facebook, Google, or some other form of communication, ensure that it’s easy and convenient.

Customers should be able to message you both on desktop and mobile. For many, their mobile phone is their native device, which means your business has to provide a mobile-friendly messenger tool. The key here is to connect your business messaging to all the popular channels your customers are already using. By making communicating with your brand easy, you increase the likelihood of potential and existing customers engaging with your business.

Customer Communication Tip #2: Provide relevant and useful content.

The information you deliver should be accurate, educational and offer solutions to your customers. Seventy-three percent of consumers say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do when providing customer service. If a customer has a question, provide an answer, or direct them so someone who can. Every touchpoint influences the customer’s impression of your business so it is your job to make each interaction count.

Customer Communication Tip #3: Allow customers to provide feedback.

A great way to figure out if your customer communication efforts are working is by asking for feedback directly from the source: Your customers. You can send out feedback surveys following an employee-customer interaction. The survey can look something like this:

Hi [CUSTOMER NAME],

Please take this quick 3 question feedback survey to let us know how your experience was. Thanks!

1. How likely are you to recommend [BUSINESS NAME] to a family member, friend, or colleague? (0-5 from worst to best)

1. 0 (worst)
2. 1
3. 2
4. 3
5. 4
6. 5 (best)

2. How satisfied are you with our resolution to your problem or request?

1. Very satisfied
2. Somewhat satisfied
3. Very dissatisfied
4. Somewhat dissatisfied

3. Can you tell us how we can improve your experience?

____________________________________________________________________________

When a customer provides feedback, be sure to take it into account and implement it into your practices.

Customer Communication Tip #4: Automate information delivery when possible.

Minimize unnecessary time spent on delivering information that can be sent automatically. A website chatbot is a great example of how to do this. You can add a chatbot directly to your website and program it to send answers to commonly asked questions. This will save tons of wasted time on the phone for simple requests. Chatbots can answer 80 percent of standard questions. For more complex questions, the bot can transfer the customer to a service representative.

Customer Communication Tip #5: Always reply to customers.

It is critical for you to respond to your customers (especially unhappy customers). Ninety-three percent of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies who offer excellent customer service. Responding to messages is a huge factor in overall service. It’s beneficial to implement a two-way communication channel to encourage open dialogue from both parties.

If a customer is trying to communicate with you, it’s for a reason. They are anticipating a reply, so take the time to read your messages and send consistent, prompt, and thoughtful responses. You should try to respond to messages as quickly as you can — no one likes to wait.

Customer Communication Tip #6: Identify pain points.

Successful communication with a customer begins with understanding their needs and especially their pain points. By identifying their needs, you are more likely to develop an appropriate and effective solution. Chances are, other customers are experiencing similar issues, so by addressing the problem, you will be able to improve your service for all of your customers and create a better customer experience.

By showing customers that you are trying to understand their problems and provide helpful solutions, they will see that you care and will be more willing to work with you rather than against you.

Customer Communication Tip #7: Personalize every message.

When you are communicating with customers, try to personalize each message and include information that pertains to the specific customer. For example, you can check your CRM software for any relevant information. If no data exists, you should ask for their name (and remember it), try to obtain as much data as possible and make note of it for future reference.

Boost Engagement with Better Customer Communications

Customer communication can make or break your business. Ninety percent of Americans use customer service as a factor in deciding whether or not to do business with a company. The way you choose to communicate with your prospective and current customers can either provide monumental benefits and improve your customer service or, if done incorrectly, it can have severe repercussions.

By improving your communication efforts, you have the ability to enhance the overall customer experience with your brand, which will give you loyal repeat customers for years to come.

Want to learn more about how to effectively communicate with your customers? GoSite’s Messenger tool gives you a competitive edge by interacting with costumers across a variety of platforms all from a single Messenger hub.