Bad customer service experiences cost businesses about $62 billion a year. These experiences are usually due to poor communication by your staff, long hold times, or they simply can’t get what they need.
Customer expectations are higher than ever, and you need to meet those expectations to stay ahead of your competitors.
How can you ensure that your customers stay happy? Use business communication tools. Business communication is critical to keep your internal teams working together. It’s also important to keep customers coming back for more.
Read on to learn which business communications tools will help your business grow.
1. Live Chat
Your customers and potential customers may have questions before they make a purchase. Your current customers may want to ask a quick question about a recent purchase.
They’re not likely to call because they don’t want to be put on hold. They just want something quick and convenient. That something is live chat.
This is a pop-up window on your website where customers can ask a question. Your customers ask a question and a member of your customer service team answers them in real-time.
Many live chat programs have some kind of automation. This lets you anticipate questions and prepare a response. Customers and prospects get the answers they need without taxing your customer service team.
2. Facebook Messenger
Another way to connect with your customers is through Facebook Messenger. Millions of messages are sent across the platform every day.
Facebook Messenger does have automation through customizable chatbots. Using a chatbot option gives your customers the chance to book appointments, ask questions, and get service quickly at all times.
3. Walkie Talkies
OK, putting walkie talkies on this list may seem out of place because they’ve been around forever. There’s a good reason why they made the list. They make the customer service experience better.
Here’s an example that illustrates the power of walkie-talkies. You have a retail store and you see a customer walking around, obviously looking for something specific.
You approach the customer and ask them if they need help. They’re looking for a specific item and they can’t seem to find it. Instead of dragging them all over the store to find the item, you want to make sure it’s in stock first.
You just ask your colleagues over your walkie talkie and get an answer right away. You show that you value the customer’s time and you were able to answer their question quickly.
The one thing to remember about communicating over walkie talkies is that you have to keep it professional, especially when talking in front of customers. It’s best for your team to learn walkie talkie lingo for professional and consistent communication.
4. SMS Messaging Services
How would you like to get a high response from customer outreach? Text messaging still gets a high response rate, and more businesses recognize how powerful it can be.
SMS messaging services let you automate your communications, so you can schedule birthday texts to your customers, send them discounts, or anything else you can think of.
5. Slack
Slack is great because it can be used internally or for client-facing correspondence. You can use this messaging tool to communicate with your teams internally, which is perfect for remote teams.
Your team members can get questions answered quickly instead of watching.
This can also be used with clients. If you serve many clients and you want to provide an extra level of support and community, have a group on Slack. Customers can ask questions, make suggestions, share successes, and troubleshoot issues.
If you do decide to have a Slack community, you should have at least one person on your team serve as the community manager. This ensures that everyone is civil, and you can still control your marketing message to a certain degree.
Just be wary of the multiple times per year when Slack goes down and things start to derail pretty fast. Make sure you have a backup plan for business communication so your employees or coworkers don't ghost you and think they're off the hook for the day.
6. Zoom
Zoom became the main communications tool for businesses because of COVID-19. Chambers of Commerce ran networking meetings on it, businesses would hold regular meetings, and personal trainers would use it to work with clients.
This allows you to maintain face-to-face communications, but people are growing tired of Zoom. They feel tethered to the platform.
You can use it with clients but do so sparingly. Be aware that clients may prefer another way to communicate because they’re tired of the platform. Zoom fatigue is real!
7. Mailchimp
Mailchimp was the tool that every small business used for email newsletters to clients and prospects. It was used primarily because it was free for the first 2000 contacts, which was perfect for most small businesses.
Over the past couple of years, Mailchimp evolved as the company added more features to the email suite to remain competitive.
The company is now positioned as a full-blown marketing platform with CRM, automation, detailed reporting, and A/B testing.
It’s still a great tool to have, and your customers will appreciate the extra communication via email. You’ll appreciate the analytics, which will help you improve your campaigns.
Making the Most of Business Communication Tools
There are plenty of options to communicate with your clients. You want to make sure that these tools work for you and your customers.
You need to understand your business needs when looking at business communication tools. Think about what you want from these tools. Do you want to be able to offer more ways for customers to communicate with your company? Do you need a tool for internal communications?
It also helps to have a tool that is easy to use because people won’t use the software if it’s too complex. Easy to use software lowers your training costs, too.
You’ll find that there isn’t one simple solution that will do everything for you. You’re likely to invest in a few different business communication tools and software programs.
Make the Essentials of Business Communication Easy
How can you make business communication simple for your employees and customers? Invest in the right business communication tools.
Your customers will be happy with faster service and your employees will be more efficient. You’ll be happy with your bottom line with better business communication.
For more ways to communicate and connect with your customers, visit the Digital Marketing section of this site. We publish a wide variety of helpful articles on the Bootstrap Business Blog to boost business communication between employees and customers alike.
