People today are spending the majority of their time online. Thus, it becomes crucial for businesses to establish their online presence and ensure effective communication with their audience. Effective communication is necessary for the fulfilment of most of the customers’ needs. Thereby, they can boost customer retention.
You, as a business owner, can consider opting for various internet-enabled communication tools. These tools will help you connect with potential customers while operating in the online space. Ultimately, you can enhance your brand awareness and grow the business.
Firstly, you need to develop a plan of action to understand your customers and their core requirements. For instance, collect the frequently asked questions you received from your customers. Maintain consistent communication to resolve all the doubts they have.
Besides that, set up online communication channels based on the customers’ preferred channels of communication.
Think about how people choose to reach your business. Do they prefer the calling option? Texting? Or, are they comfortable having more interactive communication in the form of one on one video calls?
Once you get insight into the above information, you can then pick your communication channels wisely.
For instance, if your business sell physical goods, your customers might prefer to contact you directly. In this case, you need to have a strong communication service that can help you resolve customer queries at the quickest.
Investing in communication tools that have multiple features might get costly. Thus, prepare your budget in advance. See how much you can invest and choose communication tools accordingly. If you are operating with a lower budget, you can opt for free tools that help you get started.
Tools To Enhance Communication Online With Your Customers
Following are a few tools that help you enhance communication online with your customers:
- Update your contact us page
- Add the option of live chat to your website
- Add booking option to your website
Guidelines to improve your online communication:
1. Create social media profiles
Your social media presence is inevitable to connect and communicate with your audience. There are multiple social media platforms. Discover on which platform your target audience is most active. Also, check on which platforms your competitors are actively communicating with their clients. Besides popular social media channels like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest, you can also consider creating your profiles on Yelp or TripAdvisor if your business requires it.
Don’t forget to share your contact information, email address, website link on your social media profiles.
Apart from that, plan your content strategy to decide what kind of content you will be publishing on your social media profiles. Like, you can share text-based announcements, videos or links to your products etc.
2. Create a forum/online community
Consider creating an engaged online community as it improves customer relations, increases engagement, and foster loyalty. It also helps you find brand ambassadors who would help you spread the word about your brand. You can even offer extra value to your brand as an industry expert.
You have multiple options available with you:
Facebook groups: You can easily form a group on Facebook from your business profile; thereby, you can invite your clients and customers to join you. Such a group facilitates one-on-one communication and makes it easier for you to offer extra support to your customers. You can get creative while developing a strategy with your Facebook group.
Slack: If you have a reasonable budget, you can invest in Slack, which is rich in features. It can integrate with various workplace software, including Google Docs and CRMs. It enables you and everyone you invite access to the last 10,000 messages, which fosters communication. You need to create a channel and share its link for the invitation.
WhatsApp: WhatsApp Business offers you a channel to connect with your customers and showcase your products or services to them. It gives access to certain tools that make it quicker for you to respond.
Besides that, you can also consider forming an online community on Reddit and creating a Google My Business Listing.
3. Make important announcements through various channels
Suppose you have something significant that may impact your customers, such as any changes to your policies, updates regarding your products, any big discounts or making your services available online etc. In such cases, you should consider making a public announcement to inform your clients and customers.
You can use your website to make important announcements. Use the news section or homepage for the same.
Sending a quick email can also serve your purpose. You need to develop an email subscribers’ list so that you can quickly send the update.
You cannot ignore social media when making public announcements. It is instead an effective mode of spreading the updated information.
4. Facilitate remote communication with employees
While you are drafting a communication plan for your customers, don’t exclude your team. If your employees are working remotely, then provide them access to all the necessary communication tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams Hangouts and others.
Sum up
Communicating online might overwhelm you at first. However, it can get much easier if you initiate with a simple step. It can be creating a social media account for your business. Then you may consider creating your first public post.
Choosing the right communication tools also help you communicate effectively with your audience. Follow the guidelines explained in this blog and get started!
