Improving Communication with Customers

Kim Chan

11 years ago

The trick to maximizing customer loyalty, that is, gaining repeat customers, lies within how well your company services them.

The trick to great customer service? Making your customers feel like you really care about them. It’s a no-brainer, and therefore, it makes perfect sense that all companies should be aware of their customer communication techniques.

5 Tips to Improving Communication with Customers

Do not categorize your customers
In order to properly communicate with your customers, you need to know who your customers are. Start by sketching out an idea customer profile. By identifying their personalities, age range, behaviors and needs, you will have a better idea of what they expect from you, and how they expect to be treated. It’s important to remember that every single customer is different. No one will be a perfect fit for the profile you created, which means you need to be prepared to disregard your customer profile and tailor things to each individual. Customers don’t like be categorized; rather, they like to know that you care about them, specifically.

Ask questions, but avoid negative ones
When communicating with customers, you want to make sure that a) you understand them clearly, and b) they know you understand them clearly. Ask them positive or open-ended questions, rather than negative ones. Here are some examples:

Positive question: “Did you sign up for the application?”
Open-ended question: “What happened when you signed up for the application?”
Negative question: “You didn’t sign up for the application?”

Negative questions can make your company seem cynical and defensive, and most of the time, they create confusion.

Try not to use industry terms, technical jargon or acronyms
Remember that most of your customers are only hearing about your product for the first time. Therefore, instead of using terms that are specific to your industry or product, you may need to
take the longer route and explain all terms and acronyms in detail.

Anticipate angry or emotional customers
Oftentimes, when customers reach out to a company, it’s because they are unhappy with something. If you come face to face with a heated customer, it’s important to let them know that you feel their pain. When a customer hears “I understand,” or “I hate when that happens to me,” it’s usually a big relief for them.

Constant communication is essential
When customers submit feedback or call in with a complaint, they expect the company to listen to them. Go the extra mile and assure customers that you are paying attention to the things they brought up by constantly keeping them updated on their submissions’ statuses. Automated customer feedback software is great for this, as it helps avoid back-and-forth communication and saves you a lot of time. Imagine needing to email or call everyone in your entire customer base – that may take ages. When customers see that you are listening to them and actively working on their feedback, problems or ideas, they will keep coming back to you.

We would love to hear about how you go about to improving communication with your customers – share your tips and stories with us!