Customer services

The Essentials of Customer Communication

We live today in the era of Inbound Marketing, a concept that came about to being from a need to proactively provide both prospective and revenue generating customers with relevant information about your business. There is no denying the fact that customer communication is the lifeblood of any business. It is a vital aspect of CRM or Customer Relationship Management, a concept that has managed to change the course of Marketing Management in the 21st Century.

Effective customer communication is important, especially in the early stages of CRM. Establishing a standard of communication enables the client to create an opinion about the product or service that you are selling. Communication is considered to be the glue that keeps the customer experience intact and since it is one of the essential learned skills that a business professional can hone. Good customer communication skills include a comprehensive understanding of the psychology of communicating with an individual who you are planning to convince. Delivering the right message at the right time is the key to success. Whether it is written or verbal, the tone of the voice, courteous opening sentences, and empathetic statements are the three main aspects of communication that develop great customer relationships.

Getting Creative with Customer Communication

Customers deal with various businesses to buy a product or a service on a daily basis. With every business entity taking the CRM route it has become to stand out from the crowd. So in order to leave a lasting impression on a customer, you need to get creative. Here are some ways to get creative with Customer Communication:

  • Keep it Personal

Engaging with a customer on a personal basis makes for a memorable experience for the customer, but this is easier said than done. In order to get personal, you first need to gain the trust of your customer. One of the most important things for any individual in the world is their name. Once the customer is ok with letting you address them by their first name, you can begin to work on building a bond with them. We are all conditioned since birth to respond to our name. When you address the customer by their name, you get the complete attention during that moment in your conversation. However, if you overdo it, it may make the customer feel awkward.

  • Product vs Price focus

Now that you have earned the undivided attention of your customer, now it is all about sustaining it to turn the customer into a revenue-generating resource. There are two things in a product or a service that all of us are concerned about, the price and the features of the product. Finding out which one of these two aspects of a product the customer is sensitive to is the key to unlocking their interest. Based on what you show to the customer, the decision is liable to be influenced by it. So while pitching the variety of your products or services, be mindful that you display the products first so that he makes the choice by making a comparison between the features and the quality it has to offer. Alternatively, displaying prices first might only narrow down his ability to make the choice only by the economic value of the array of products.

  • Cognitive Ease

An understanding of how and why people make certain decisions is very close to being able to read the customer’s mind. With a knowledge of this, an individual can be persuaded into making a certain decision after a careful consideration of the biases, errors and the mental shortcuts that they use. Using techniques like the priming effect where one stimulus influences a particular response facilitates in a customer thinking about a particular idea. Priming can be used effectively to induce the customer to make decisions about a product or a service based on creating an external stimulus about it in your marketing campaign. Facilitating cognitive ease triggers the ‘feel good’ aspect in a customer. This can influence them into buying what you want them to.

  • Leverage the Power of (Original) Story Telling

Stories tend to express deeper truths. This usually helps in making your case for the product or the service that you are trying to sell. Stories also paint a picture of you and your organization in the mind of the customer when they listen to it. It helps them make a well-educated guess about your product if they should choose yours over that of one of your competitors. Given how stories trigger emotions make your sales pitch descriptive and ensure that you include plenty of facts about the product or service in question.

  • Involve the Customer

Everyone likes to be the center of attention. This is a basic attribute of the human psychology. Along similar lines, when you make the customer the center of attention by making their product or service all about them, you are certain to get a greater degree of engagement. Involve the attention of the customer through contests, surveys, workshops, webinars, and social gatherings. Specific questions about product experience on a personal level, giving them a chance to express themselves proactively and arranging activities featuring the customer will enable the customer to feel rewarded. This is crucial to strengthening the bond between your organization and the customer. A prime example of excellence in communication and involving the customer is the Instagram account @marketeerfacts. It brings unique inbound marketing information to customers on demand with help of an Instagram auto liker. It has established itself as one of the best resources of creative customer communication in a very short span of time.

Final Thoughts

So, to make customer communication more engaging and fruitful, one must learn to make it more creative using the aforementioned suggestions. You can put across your message more effectively and retain their attention by forming a strong relationship with your clients and be mindful of your approach to influence them to make a decision that meets your organizational goals. Use storytelling to your advantage to make your sale pitch more natural so as to trigger the right emotions in your customers. Also, by allowing your customers to get involved, you can invite them to be a part of your strategy.

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