How your customers get in touch with you is one of the most important things to consider when starting a new business. It can be very difficult to manage, devise, and maintain the way your branding is perceived by your customers. It can be especially difficult with so many communication pathways and channels to choose from. And it gets even more difficult if you have limited resources.
The choice and use of appropriate channel of communication aren’t that difficult, the real challenge is the tone and language of the voice are used when things are in the execution phase. It gets even more difficult when taking into account the interaction and understanding of the customers.
First impressions count
It is very important to deliver a consistent and clear message throughout all channels of communication, from the way you send out emails or how you greet your customers. Taking this into account while planning your business strategy is a good way to start.
You should do extra effort to make the communication process easy and convenient for your customers. While positioning your branding, you can often get carried away. This happens because you are trying so hard to stay creative that your message starts getting muddled.
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It’s not what you said, it’s the way you said it
You should consider using scripts if you encourage your customers to actively contact your business via phone calls. If your customer care is very formal on the phone calls then this might be perceived as too impersonal and cold. On the other hand, being too friendly can be perceived as a sign of insincerity. This suggests that you must not be too focused on either side.
So what to do when you are not available. The way your company sets up its representation needs to be extended outside the business hours as well. Hence you need to make sure that you clearly communicate your response time. You can also give them another way to contacting you outside the business hours. It can be arranged by using out of office responses, social media auto responses, and voicemails.
When the tone of voice needs to be more flexible
Think about the reason why someone contacts you and who are you speaking to. This should be additionally taken care of beyond your usual customer communication channels. If you are not flexible with the way you communicate then there might be a risk of excluding the vast range of demographics. Stick to the middle ground if you are ever in doubt. This will help you in the prevention of any alienation of potential customers which lie in the specified target demographic.
You should make sure that you attain a sound balance between approachable and being professional. This is not as easy as it sounds. It is highly unlikely that you will be able to please everyone all the time. But if you follow a well-defined strategy then there is a very small risk of incurring any damage from delivering a wrong message or not being consistent through your communication.
