People feel disconnected from society right now. Businesses like you need a way to interact with their local communities. Great news! There are many new ways to better communicate with your audience. But where do you start? Here are seven (yes, seven!) ways to improve your business-to-customer (B2C) communication and increase your profits.
Direct Messages and Texts
A whopping 91% of consumers prefer texting as a direct line of communication to your business.
By adopting an instant messaging/texting system, you can better communicate with your audience and improve your business threefold:
- Fast and easy communication helps build trust and confidence with your customers and thereby increasing lead-to-customer conversions
- Boost efficiency by using software that funnels direct messages from your customers can help you connect with more customers all in one place. Every minute counts!
- Get more organized by using an all-in-one platform so that you can organize your leads, assign them, track their status, or ensure they’re completed.
Texting is where the customer is…go to them! SMS offers a quicker conversation for both sides. Text messages are quickly seen and read, allowing for short cycles of responses.
Google My Business
Your customers can get in touch with you in real-time from your Business Profile on Google. You can answer questions, tell your story, and attract more customers to your business.
Features include:
- Messages that will appear in your Business Profile on Google. You’ll receive notifications for incoming messages.
- You can customize the automated welcome message that customers will get when they message you.
- You can share photos with your customers through messages.
- If multiple people own or manage your Business Profile, each one can message with customers.
Live Chat
Think of it like this: if customers would leave your website because they didn’t get a question answered, it is the same as a customer walking out of your shop. So, by adding a live chat to your online store, you can see the value of having knowledgeable staff chat with customers to make sales and turn a one time shopper into a loyal customer.
Reasons to invest in Live Chat systems:
- Chat where people shop. Be a present company by showing you’re always available to answer questions by having a live chat window accessible on your website.
- Focus on conversations that lead to sales. Templates and automated responses and order retrieval can boost conversion rates, freeing up your time and making it easy to boost client turnover.
- Give visitors a personalized shopping experience. Just like in-person shopping, you can get to know your customer by what they have in their basket while they chat with you. You can use this context to help you prioritize a fast response, anticipate a customer’s questions, or give them additional guidance.
Consistent Newsletters
Businesses should be staying in touch with their customers on a once-a-week basis for maximum impact. Take a look at this graph by MailChimp:
Why bother? Well, email is one of the most effective lines of communication, especially when you’re sending engaging content.
How? In addition to being a direct transactional channel, it keeps you top of mind with your customers.
Sending a promotional email once on their birthday doesn’t do much to keep your company fresh in your recipient’s mind. But ending weekly (or monthly) check-ins help keep your business current with your clientele (potential or active).
Live, Authentic Customer Service
We’ve all been there. Waiting on hold for x number of minutes for your question to be answered by an automated voice. Where is the human contact?!
According to Microsoft, “Frustration spikes when customers are unable to reach a live person for support. In fact, 30% of global respondents find it to be the most frustrating aspect of a poor customer service experience. And 30% of those polled say the most important aspect of a good customer service experience is speaking with a knowledgeable and friendly agent.”
A well-trained phone staff can be an incredible differentiator between a business you’re marketing and its more uncaring corporate peers. Rescue your customers from that awful feeling of being disregarded by employing enthusiastic people to answer your phones.
Google Posts
This is a place where you can engage your audience. Share your updates and announcements by posting images, events, stories, GIFs and videos.
When customers have more access to your business information and updates, they can make better decisions as they browse. This allows you to:
- Directly communicate with your local customers.
- Improve your customer experience with timely information.
- Promote your sales, specials, events, news, and offers.
- Engage with your customers through videos and photos.
Focus your Google Posts on attention-grabbing topics of interest to your customers, use images (including images with text in them), and be sure they feature strong calls-to-action.
Telesupport
Humans are inherently attracted to convenience, and the COVID-19 pandemic just emphasizes that. There are many customers who would like to catch up with you online rather than fighting traffic to get to you. Even in more normal times, all of us have sick days, busy weeks, and downtime when we’d just prefer to stay comfy at home. Telesupport makes consumer-to-brand connection possible when it wouldn’t be otherwise, making it an opportunity worthy of exploration.
When it all comes down to it, a business that makes a point of adding in simple and direct modes of communication is one step closer to increasing customer satisfaction and lead turnover. There’s no better time to use these ways to better communicate with your audience than right now. What are you waiting for?
Unsure how to begin? No worries! Chat with Siva Creative, your friendly neighborhood digital experts, to communicate with your audience better today!
