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Businesses across the country are facing challenges in adapting to recent shifts in the market. Whether your operation has temporarily closed or you’re finding it difficult to maintain visibility, effective communication with customers is essential. Staying connected with your audience is crucial for achieving business success.
How to Stay in Touch With Customers
In all likelihood, you may need to reach out to customers in multiple ways to really get important messages across. Engaging with current clients through events and workshops can strengthen relationships and ensure their satisfaction. Here are some tips on how to stay in touch with customers you might consider.
Establish a Follow-up System
Establishing a follow-up system is crucial for small business owners to stay in touch with their customers and ensure repeat business. A follow-up system can be as simple as scheduling regular phone calls or emails to check in with customers. This helps to build trust and loyalty with customers, leading to positive online reviews and word-of-mouth referrals. By being proactive in customer interactions, small business owners can show their customers that they value their business and care about their needs.
Keep Organized Client Records
Keeping organized client records is essential for small business owners to provide great service and ensure customer satisfaction. By using a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, small business owners can store and organize client information, including contact details, purchase history, and communication records. This helps to provide a personal touch and ensure that customers feel valued and appreciated. Additionally, organized client records can help small business owners to identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, leading to increased revenue and business growth.
Send Email Updates
One of the easiest and most direct ways for many companies to stay in touch is through email. Most small businesses already maintain an email list for sending newsletters or updates about sales and new products. This can be an effective way to inform customers about any changes your business is currently implementing or share relevant specials and updates.
Send Text Messages
If you have a small client list and want to keep everyone up to date personally, a quick text is an easy and non-invasive way to share short bursts of information. You can either reach out to people individually or send a text blast if you have customers who have signed up for text updates.
Make Phone Calls
If your business has a few important clients that you really focus on, you may want to reach out to them personally by phone. Make sure they know about any changes to your business and answer questions they may have.
Start a Video Chat
Video chat is another option that’s perfect for businesses with clients they work with regularly. This is ideal for communicating with those who you may otherwise meet with face-to-face or in instances where you may need to share visuals.
Use Chat Apps
If you need to provide virtual customer support to your customers in real-time, chat apps like Facebook and WhatsApp can be very valuable. You can easily share the link to your chat profile so people can reach out to you when they have questions. You can also send out individual messages if you have relevant updates.
Host Livestreams
Another real-time option for communicating with customers, hosting a live stream, allows you to broadcast video messages and interact with viewers. You might host a Q&A session, a simple announcement, or some kind of demonstration to help customers during this time.
Post on Social Media
There’s a good chance your company has at least one social media account that you update regularly. This is the perfect way to not only share updates with customers but also to engage with them through your social media accounts. Find out what they want from you during this time and build community around this shared experience.
Send Direct Mail
For local businesses or those that communicate with customers mainly offline, direct mail is still an option. Design a small flyer or write a letter that shares what your customers need to know.
Send Notes with Online or Delivery Orders
If your business ships or delivers products, use that as an opportunity to communicate. Share a handwritten or personally typed note letting them know how much you appreciate their business and include any other details they may need to know.
Create Video Content
Video can be an incredibly powerful tool for sharing complex thoughts or evoking an emotional response. There are tons of different ways you can use this tactic. You might share an honest take about what’s going on with your company on YouTube or go a more lighthearted route by sharing humorous content on TikTok.
Post in Online Forums
If there are any online forums that are relevant to your industry, posting or responding to others’ posts can help you stay connected. Just make sure to be responsive and don’t just spam people with your own updates.
Comment on Online Posts
Social media, blogging, and forum posting are two-way streets. You don’t need to create your own posts to communicate with customers. If you see other relevant posts online, leave a comment.
Update Neighborhood Groups
For hyper local businesses, you may be able to reach customers in your immediate area through apps or groups like Nextdoor or your local neighborhood association’s website. This may be helpful for businesses like local restaurants that are offering delivery just within a specific radius.
Publish Blog Posts
If your website has a blog section, a simple blog post here and there can go a long way toward keeping your customers updated. This gives you a space to share long form messages, in case your company has any information to share that doesn’t fit into a tweet or Facebook post.
Start a Podcast
For those who are interested in sharing audio content with customers, a podcast could be the perfect solution. If you don’t already have one, this period where you have extra downtime may be the ideal time to get started. Or you could join another podcast as a guest and then share that episode with your online followers.
Add Live Chat to Your Website
If your business needs to answer questions or provide support to customers right on your website, a live chat feature may be the perfect solution to ensure responses in a timely manner. You can communicate back and forth without forcing your customers to ever leave your site.
Update Your Google Listing
Google is often one of the first places people go when looking for information about businesses. By updating your Google My Business Listing, you’re communicating the information that may be most relevant to your customers.
Respond to Online Reviews
Businesses should respond to online reviews on platforms like Yelp and Google regularly anyway. But since many entrepreneurs now have more time on their hands, it’s the perfect time to catch up. Thank people for sharing their thoughts and encourage even more people to do so.
Add a New Section to Your Website
When people visit your website, they’re looking for up-to-date information about your company. If things like your hours, shipping times, or availability has changed, add a short section at the top of your site so people will clearly see those changes.
Host Virtual Events
Businesses that normally host in-person events should consider hosting an online event instead. You might make a Facebook group, start a mass Zoom call, or maybe even host a Twitter chat to get everyone talking and interacting.
Work with Online Influencers
If you want to cast a wide net and communicate with lots of potential customers in a particular industry or interest area, consider influencer marketing as a communication method. You can have people with a significant following broadcast a message to their network instead of just relying on your own contacts.
Host Webinars
Webinars are helpful for teaching new concepts or exploring complicated subjects. If you’d normally meet with groups of clients or host workshops, this is a perfect way to reach a large group of customers at once.
Offer Your Expertise to Other Outlets
If you have some insights that may be valuable to people during this time but don’t want to just rely on your own website or blog, share it with others. You can reach out to local press outlets or offer to guest blog for others in your industry.
Take Out Ads
If you have something really important to share, purchase ad space to make sure it gets seen. This can vary widely, from online ads on specific sites to ads in local print publications.
Image: Depositphotos.com
Show Your Appreciation
Showing appreciation to customers is a great way to build loyalty and retention. Small business owners can show their appreciation by sending personalized thank-you notes or emails, offering exclusive discounts or promotions, or simply by being responsive to customer inquiries. By showing appreciation, small business owners can demonstrate that they value their customers’ business and care about their needs. This can lead to positive online reviews, word-of-mouth referrals, and increased customer loyalty.
Celebrate Customer Milestones
Celebrating customer milestones is a great way to build relationships and show appreciation. Small business owners can celebrate customer milestones by sending personalized messages or gifts, offering exclusive discounts or promotions, or simply by being responsive to customer inquiries. By celebrating customer milestones, small business owners can demonstrate that they value their customers’ business and care about their needs. This can lead to positive online reviews, word-of-mouth referrals, and increased customer loyalty.
Focus on Customer Retention
Focusing on customer retention is crucial for small business owners to achieve long-term success. By providing great service, being proactive in customer interactions, and showing appreciation, small business owners can build trust and loyalty with their customers. This can lead to positive online reviews, word-of-mouth referrals, and increased customer loyalty. Additionally, focusing on customer retention can help small business owners to reduce customer churn and increase revenue.
Be Proactive in Customer Interactions
Being proactive in customer interactions is essential for small business owners to provide great service and ensure customer satisfaction. By being responsive to customer inquiries, offering helpful information, and showing appreciation, small business owners can build trust and loyalty with their customers. This can lead to positive online reviews, word-of-mouth referrals, and increased customer loyalty. Additionally, being proactive in customer interactions can help small business owners to identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, leading to increased revenue and business growth.
Image: Depositphotos.com
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