Breaking Down Communication Barriers Between You and Your Customers
Communication barriers are one of the biggest issues facing companies today.
There are many common issues that pop up no matter how small or large a business is, and they always lead to one problem: a lack of communication.
For instance, perhaps a piece of software you created received a lot of hate due to a change you’ve made that didn’t sit well with regular users. This could often be fixed with a simple message and within an hour, you could have a replacement version out that rolls back the problematic features.
However, most companies take forever to make these changes. The feedback passes on from the customer to your support team, the support team then processes those comments and passes them to the management team, and those are then given to the tech team to implement.
Once those changes are made, it takes another week or so for them to be authorised and then the update is finally pushed through.
This entire communication chain hurts both the customer’s experience and also your own business. In order to break communication barriers down, you need to change how your business operates and focus on a core aspect of business management: pleasing the customer.
Here’s how you can remove communciation barriers in order to run a more successful business and have happier customers.
Proper website design
Your website is going to act like the front page for your company. Users will type your business’s name into Google and your website needs to be the first result. With proper website design, you’ll be able to give your customers and smooth experience when they need to contact you.
Make sure your details are easily visible and give your customers several different methods to contact you. Include phone numbers, emails, a live support chat, or even social media messaging.
Run events and exhibitions
In order to connect with your customers, you need to start looking into corporate event planning and attending trade shows to show your product.
Exposing your product will get people talking about it, and making public appearances makes it easier for your customers to ask your questions or show you support.
Without these public events, you’ll seem like a comany with communication barriers that doesn’t take feedback or criticism very well, so don’t be afraid of showing your face now and then.
Hiring the right staff
Having the right team members will drastically improve communication barriers between you and your customers. Having friendly support staff is the first step, but training them so they understand your product and how to use it is equally important.
The more knowledgeable your support staff are, the easier it will be to get the customer’s point across to the right departments in order to make the correct changes to your company, product or services.
Utilise social media
Social media is another public face of your business that has to be shown. Make sure you hire a community manager that knows their way around social media and how to interact with customers.
You could take support messages on platforms such as Twitter, you can advertise your products on Facebook, and you can even show off on Instagram.
However, if you’re only posting and not responding to comments, then you’ll seem like an unapproachable business. Show that you’re willing to connect and listen to fans by utilising social media correctly.
Listen to the community
No matter what product or service you create, the end-user usually knows more about it than you. This is because they use it on a regular basis and they understand the flaws, advantages and other issues that come with it.
Listen to what the community says and don’t always look at your statistics. It’s often said that loud minorities are usually the ones you hear first.
However, the reality is that if there’s a loud minority expressing concern or dislike for your product, then their sentiments probably echo with the rest of your customers as well—they just don’t care enough to actually tell you about it.
Listen to these people, break communication barriers, and make the appropriate changes to appeal to the customer base you worked so hard to build.
Don’t ignore criticism
It’s easy to mistake criticism for pointless ranting. If someone rants to you about your product in an email, then take that criticism and read it properly.
Don’t assume it’s just someone who is angry and needs to vent, take their concerns on board and try to determine if they have a legitimate concern or not.
Many business owners neglect to listen to criticism and, as a result, will see their business collapse due to ignorance. Always listen to your customers and take what they say on board—don’t ignore it!
Insanely Clever Marketing 