Great customer experience is absolutely essential for your business's success. 86% of buyers expect a great customer experience and, if this isn't delivered, they will go to the competition. The best way to deliver a great customer experience is by creating a communication structure that outlines which method customers should use when contacting you for help or information, so you have time to provide prompt messages to them.
Selecting the right channels requires consideration of three key parameters:
Categorise Your Customer Expectations
Ranking what customers deem as important for solving their pain points, how they want to get information about it and communicating with them at the most convenient moment for them is crucial in planning your communication strategy.
Take Into Account Your Message
When choosing the right communication channels, you should consider the message your business wants to send, whether formal or informal, time-bound or trivial.
Don't Forget to Factor in Your Budget
Choosing multiple channels for communication will definitely cost a business more than staying selective. Businesses must decide how far they want to stretch their budget.
How to choose and use communication channels
There are a variety of marketing communication channels available today, which means businesses are well-positioned to observe trends in customer interactions.
An omnichannel engagement strategy can help brands to achieve 10% growth year-on-year.
In order to deliver effective communication, platforms that can meet current customer expectations are far more important than selecting all support channels. Listed below are the main communication channels, both traditional and digital.
We can use these channels effectively for superior customer care if we understand the types of communication channels available to brands:
Website
Businesses these days are investing in live chats, video chats, and chatbots to communicate with customers. A growing number of online shops are already using such kinds of live customer service tools to deliver quick assistance personally to the customers visiting their website. This will help the brand convert more leads into paid customers.
Live chat
One of the best ways to make a brand appear on a website is through live chat, so many businesses are looking to use this method to deliver a personal touch to their website visitors. Live chat is a great way to benefit the website visitor experience because it helps guarantee a fast response to their questions and needs.
When you offer live chat to your customers, 38% are more likely to buy from you.
Video chat
Providing highly personalised customer service is undoubtedly possible with video chat, which is one of the most preferred communication channels for customer experience. The ability to see customers face-to-face makes it much easier for businesses to provide a more customised service along with deeper relationships with consumers. A recent study stated that 67% of customers want to communicate via video chat with customer service personnel. This is an excellent way for businesses to increase sales and provide a personalised experience to their customers.
Chatbot
As the business environment in today's world becomes increasingly competitive, it is important that an organisation has a unified support system that can attract clients and even offer them excellent services. Chatbots provide this service through simulation of human interactions, but also by using web access, something that most people have access to these days. They can answer questions and take requests as well as provide status updates and they're able to handle complicated requests while also providing a nearly immediate response.
Messaging
A messaging channel is effective for brands because of its reach, acceptance, and high open rates.
Additionally, 6 out of 10 consumers believe that brands should communicate with customers more frequently through messaging.
Messaging is also used more and more in marketing, sales, and information dissemination, in addition to customer support.
Social media
57% of consumers follow a brand on social media to learn more about products and the company. Customers today prefer social media as a medium for engagement with a business, which means that if your business isn't online, you're missing out. A huge amount of your target audience may be all over social media – including people who are diehard fans and totally in love with what your company offers, which is really exciting! So now there's an expanded potential market that you can reach through getting creative with content and connecting with customers in ways you never could have before.
Messaging apps
The evolution of communication is one of the most progressive movements of the 21st century. And it doesn't look like it's slowing down any time soon. The birth and development of new, modern forms of communication such as social media and messaging apps have revolutionised the way we interact with each other and the world around us.
In fact, 9 out of 10 smartphone users access messaging apps, which shows that messaging apps are where customer communications are headed.
Apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and Telegram have revolutionised communication between users.
Marketers have always been very close to their customers and what they want most is a happy customer. When it comes to reaching out to customers and consumers alike, marketers choose to do so with an email for formal communication in cases where an instant response isn't needed. For example, companies may share information about their brand via email or continue communicating with customers who already have a relationship with the brand. Email can be sent out to target certain parts of the population depending on which groups are most likely to respond to the content being shared. This form of communication is helpful for maintaining correspondence between the business and consumer base, allowing marketing teams to inform consumers of new products or services and vice versa!
Face to Face Communication
When it comes to building trust and creating a sense of transparency with customers, nothing does the trick quite like face-to-face communication. Important deals and key decisions are often made during such in-person meetings, where businesses can often start raking in the dough by using new revenue models like social or mobile payment systems for example. Businesses simply can't afford to overlook face-to-face communications anymore when it comes to providing exceptional customer service at every step of their relationship with a company’s clients. The real power of human interactions has never been stronger than today because time is critical to making informed business decisions with increasing speed -- especially since big data is so readily available these days.
One To One Meetings
The best way to get to know your customers is to speak to them directly. Although companies often prefer to send out surveys, this is not an effective way of truly understanding what your customers think about the service they've received. We feel that meeting with a group of your customers is an essential part of working toward improving customer relations.
Digital or physical, such meetings can help build the confidence of customers and ensure there are no questions left unanswered.
Video Conferencing
When you run a start-up, it's hard to predict how many clients you'll take on board and where in the world they might be. For this reason, good communication is essential for any growing company! Video conferencing apps are a great solution to the problem of globalisation by providing a cheap and effective way for workers across different locations to stay synchronised with one another.
Phone
Phone support is a great way to communicate with customers and clients. These days, more and more companies are relying on phone support to keep better connections with clients and to improve the overall customer experience. It's a great way to keep customers satisfied and to talk to clients and business partners. Phone support is becoming a valuable part of doing business, especially since customer expectations are high. If you want to give your business the edge and make sure your customers are satisfied and continue to come back, you'll want to make sure you're providing effective phone support.
Community
Platforms such as Facebook groups and LinkedIn groups help to reach a wider audience to get your message across. Facebook groups allow you to target people with similar interests, even niche groups. These groups are usually filled with blog posts and polls, which are great for engagement. As for LinkedIn groups, the active users tend to be long-term professionals with experience. You can post questions and make sure to tag people in the post. As for forums, it doesn't really have a "userbase" per se, but it does allow you to communicate with customers and share your knowledge about your industry.
Groups
Social media groups are a great way to connect with people with similar interests. If a brand posts a question in a relevant forum, users will feel appreciated, and they will want to browse the brand's website. However, brands should not post in every forum as users get annoyed by this as they will be bombarded with the same ad.
LinkedIn and Facebook groups have seen a dramatic increase in their use for engagement, marketing, and knowledge-sharing.
Forums
Forums are an excellent way to encourage conversations and connect over shared experiences with customers. Brands can engage the target audience more effectively with relevant topics related to their industry. Reddit is a great example of an online forum where customers interact to discuss a wide range of topics and brands are welcomed to join the conversation in the most appropriate way. Being engaged on Reddit is a great opportunity for brands to build trust and a closer association with their customers. Join the conversation, share experiences and make a connection!
Traditional Channels
Traditionally, the media has been an effective channel for marketing, journalism, and sharing information.
For their widespread yet targeted reach, media outlets such as TV, radio, and newspapers still hold high esteem among many people.
Print advertising is an affordable method to satisfy promotion needs of different types of brands in different industries. It is easy to attain the desired reach with print because of its targeted circulation. However, it is pertinent to ensure that the response rate is good with print media. The significant advantage of print is that it serves to be more authentic in comparison to digital media. The print media can give the brand a personal touch because of its ability to portray an image.
Broadcast (TV & Radio)
A lot of people would argue that the internet is the best tool to market businesses and attract customers, but the truth is, nothing can compete with broadcast media channels. Broadcast media channels are still powerful as ever in the digital age. With television and radio stations being transmitted over the air, you can reach a large audience for almost no cost. While you don't have to pay for the audience to access your content, you have to figure out a way to capture their attention for an extended amount of time. That's why it's important to have high-quality content! You can use graphics and videos to educate your audiences and create a lasting first impression.
Ensure a positive customer experience through the right digital communication channels
The modern consumer is more digitally savvy than ever. They want fast, easy access to a product while also having a positive experience interacting with the company. The easiest way to accomplish this is through the use of the right channels. You have a few different types of channels to choose from when it comes to interacting with potential customers. There are online channels such as blogs, websites, and social media accounts. You also have in-person channels like physical stores and sales associates! By picking the right channels to use and then investing in the right strategies and messaging, you can ensure that your customers are receiving the information they need to make an informed decision.