Tips for communicating with customers: How to be dynamic, not dull
Here we explore the golden rules SMEs should follow when communicating with their customers and how adding a personal touch can help hook and retain a loyal customer base.
Knowing your audience
It’s nearly a year since the GDPR legislation came into place, which overhauled how businesses process and handle data and ultimately changed how they talk to their customer base, for the better!
It gave people a golden opportunity to opt out of email comms or stick around and hear what companies had to say. In the post GDPR era, consumers now expect brands to put this data to good use – creating more personalised experiences and tailored messaging to suit their needs and how they’ve engaged with a service before.
Integrated approach
When it comes to customer service, email and telephone are still the preferred choices for people looking to find out answers from a company but there’s a growing divide across the various age groups.
Research conducted by Vodafone highlighted that within the 18-24 age bracket, social media is gaining ground as the preferred way to get in touch with companies – with 23% saying they’d like to use Facebook more for this purpose and 19% opting for Twitter.
Offering an integrated approach to customer comms is essential. No two people are the same. So, whether that’s email, telephone, online chat, social media or face to face events, it’s important to offer customers different touchpoints, so they can get in contact in a way that suits them.
Timely responses
When it comes to customer comms, what’s also important is not spreading your team and resources too thinly. 85% of Facebook users now expect companies to respond to their complaint within 6 hours, and that drops to 1 hour when moving to Twitter. A staggering 50% of customers claim they would stop using a company that fails to respond to a negative social media post.
Ultimately, it’s better to offer less platforms and manage them well, so customers are confident their queries will be answered and the company shows it cares about consumer feedback.
Forget corporate, think caring
British florist Bloom and Wild were praised recently for their sensitive approach to Mother’s Day. The company took the opportunity to offer their customers the chance to ‘opt out’ of emailers themed around that particular day, which can be a ‘very sensitive time’. Bloom and Wild have received a massive response from their customer base, with one commenting ‘it’s lovely to see a company using sensitivity, not just relentlessly bombarding everyone on their mailing list.’
It’s this considerate approach that helps strengthen relationships and builds brand loyalty – showing the human side to a company.
Tailor your marketing messages
Making sure your marketing is unique to certain customer groups means your message will land with far more clout. From segmenting your audience based on their interests, to time optimisation and adding bespoke merge tags – the power is in the detail.
Creating a tailored schedule of follow up emails is important – recommending certain products that relate to previous purchases. In a world where people get bombarded my emails on an hourly basis, it’s personalised content that now counts.
Find out how Conker can help build your customer communications strategy.
Get in touch! 0161 445 9837
