Customer communication continues to get more complicated. It used to be that your only option was to call a business you wanted to buy from (or write a letter if you had a few weeks to kill).
Now, there are emails, social media comments, texts, DMs, chatbots, and more. Customers expect fast, accurate responses at just about any time of day or night.
That’s why it’s critical for every business to create a customer communication strategy. In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to build a flexible customer communication strategy, the most common communication channels, and examples, tools, and tips to help guide your work.
Contents
- How to build a customer communication strategy
- 6 important customer communication channels
- Excellent examples of customer communication
- Customer communication tools
- Tips for better customer communication
- Customer communication FAQs
How to build a customer communication strategy
A customer communication strategy sets the tone and structure for how and where your team will engage with people who buy from you. Follow these steps to build one for your business.
đź‘‹ Before you can communicate, you need people to communicate with. Download this guide and learn 25 Incredibly Effective Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website >>
Assess customer needs
The most important person in any communication is the receiver. Why? Because the giver already has the information. If the receiver didn’t get it, the communication failed.
That’s why the foundation of your customer communication strategy has to start with understanding your audience. Which messages do they need to get? How would they prefer to receive them?
For example, if your customers are retirees, they may prefer phone calls over social media DMs. Or if you sell to busy parents, they may like emails that they can reference on their own schedule.
Whether it’s a follow-up text or a promotional email, always put the customer’s needs first.
 Review available channels
In this step, you’ll answer the questions: Which communication channels are available to you? And which will be most effective?
A business selling self-serve software all over the world may not have a great need for a toll-free phone line—a chatbot would probably work better. On the flip side, a local plumber will probably want a way to take and manage phone calls and texts since that’s how many people communicate with that type of business.
Update contact information
You can’t communicate effectively with customers if they can’t reach you. So, an important step in your strategy is to make sure your contact details are correct wherever people may find them.
One common place businesses miss this is in online business directories. We recently reviewed a random sample of local business listings and found that only 15% of them had complete and correct information.
Beyond listings, double-check your website and social media pages to make sure they have the correct phone number and email address.
Collect FAQs
So far, our strategy has focused on the channels you’ll use to communicate with customers. Next up is to consider the most common and important topics.
Why does this matter? Because if 80% of your customer communications are about 20% of the topics, you’ll want to put more thought into how those topics are communicated.
For example, say you run a hair salon, and 50% of the calls to your business are from customers looking to make or verify an appointment. You could invest a little time and money into an automated scheduling system that lets customers book directly from your website and get text reminders about their appointments.
Another example is if there are a handful of questions every customer asks, you could create an FAQ that gets added to your welcome emails. Customers get answers faster, and your employees don’t have to field those repeated questions.
Take a few minutes to think through these everyday communication needs and look for ways to make them more efficient for your team and better for your customers.
Consider rules and regulations
This is a critical step, especially for industries like healthcare, where there are very specific rules about how you can communicate with customers.
Invest some time here and consult with an expert if you don’t have the knowledge in-house. Once you know the rules, make sure everyone is trained on them. And set a cadence of regular follow-ups to account for changes in the rules and to check for compliance.
Create a comms SOP
Put everything you’ve worked on into a single communication standard operating procedure. It doesn’t have to be super complicated, but it should include:
- Preferred communications channels
- A tone or style guide
- Rules and regulations
- A schedule of regular comms audits
There are plenty of other details you can add to your communication strategy based on your business, customers, and industry. But these steps will get you started on creating a foundational strategy you can tweak and update as needed.
6 important customer communication channels
Customer communication can happen digitally, in person, and via written materials. Here are some of the most common digital customer communication channels to be aware of.
1. Phone
Most of Gen Z may hate talking on the phone, but it’s still a very common customer communication channel. Overall, 80% of consumers say it’s an important way to connect with a business.
One of the reasons people want to ring your business is that a phone call is flexible and immediate. You don’t have to wait for a return email, and you can immediately ask another question based on the answer to the first.
Phone calls have two big drawbacks as a customer communication channel:
- They’re time-consuming to manage.
- They’re harder to track compared with digital communications.
We’ll talk about communication tools in a bit. But it’s worth noting here that there are solutions to help you track and manage phone calls, like Dash™ by LocaliQ.
Dash’s call transcription makes note-taking easy.
With a tool like this, you can focus on the conversation, knowing the key points will be noted and the call logged and categorized, ready for your review. (Want more customers calling? Read this guide).
2. Email
Nearly 50% of consumers purchased directly from an email in the past, which is one of the reasons why email marketing is so effective.
You can use emails for all sorts of communications, like confirming an appointment, sending shipping details, or sharing a new promotion.
Many people like it because it’s easy to track automatically. Plus, you can send several types of media in an email, from links to images to videos.
On the downside, emails aren’t as immediate as phone calls. You can end up with a long chain of messages spanning several days, which a phone call could handle in minutes.
3. Chatbots and live chat
Chatbots and live chat are two of the newer customer communication channels available to businesses. They essentially work like an instant messaging feature on your website.
The difference between live chat and chatbots is who, or what, is responding to customers. With live chat, it’s a human operator typing messages. Conversely, a chatbot is some version of software—often an AI agent—that replies to queries.
These web chats are popular with customers because they deliver fast answers while the customer is on a website.
The downside of live chat is that someone has to be available to answer questions. Chatbots solve that issue because they can answer questions around the clock, taking the burden off of employees and creating a better customer experience.
đź’ˇ Chatbots let you have an always-on communication channel, and you can do the same for your marketing. Download Always-On Marketing: The Not-So-Secret Strategy for Unstoppable Growth >>
4. Text/SMS
SMS marketing, AKA texting, is growing in popularity as a way to communicate with customers—and for good reason. Text messages offer open rates in the 98% range and click-through rates north of 10%, far surpassing email averages.
Like emails, texts work well for many promotional and transactional customer communications. Also, like emails, you can send various content types through text. That said, sending short bits of copy, a link, and maybe an image is most common.
SMS messages can include multiple media types and are easy to track.
The biggest challenge with texts as a customer comms channel is that the receiver has to opt in before you can text them. Many businesses use special offers like discounts or free shipping to entice people to allow text messages.
5. Social media
Social media is a fun and versatile way to connect and communicate with your customers. Thanks to the variety of popular social media platforms, you can engage with people at scale, interact with one person publicly, or communicate privately via direct messages.
You probably won’t use a social media post to send a customer their shipping confirmation. But you could alert them of promotions or answer their questions.
The public nature of social media can be challenging. One upset customer can easily damage your reputation with hundreds of people. That’s why you have to monitor and, at times, moderate your social media channels and move any contentious conversations offline.
6. Online communities
If you can think of a topic, there’s an online community talking about it. There are over 138,000 active boards (subreddits) just on Reddit alone. On top of that, forums like Reddit are showing up more in search results, which is why they are an important customer communication channel.
The communal nature of online communities means you have to approach them differently than other customer comms channels. People there tend to push back on marketing. So, use forums to connect as a fan of the topic and, when called on, as a trusted advisor. Never jump in and try to sell.
Excellent examples of good customer communication
These businesses nailed their customer communications. Use their examples for inspiration.
Chewy’s empathy during a difficult time
Let’s start with a classic example of truly empathetic customer communication. It’s been shared often, but it’s worth remembering and templating for similar situations in the future.
A customer contacted the online pet supply store Chewy to request a refund on an unopened bag of dog food. Sadly, the customer’s dog had passed, so they no longer needed it. Instead of simply organizing a return, the store refunded the customer, asked them to donate the food to a shelter, and sent flowers with a personalized note.
Following policies is important. But it’s also very helpful to know when your team should go beyond the rules to communicate with a customer in need.
On Time Experts personalized review reply
Reviews are among the most influential types of customer communications. They’re an authentic endorsement of your business that hundreds of potential future customers can see over time.
A local plumbing company took the extra step and crafted a personalized reply to a review. It included a sincere “thank you” from the owner and details that made it obvious the note wasn’t just a canned response.
Reviews and replies also help your overall online visibility. AI search platforms use them to learn about your business. Make sure to include details like your location and specific services.
Morris Jenkins’ technician introductions
There’s a lot of trust involved when you let a stranger work inside your home. The right communication can ease the tension a bit and make the whole experience less stressful.
An HVAC company does it by including friendly little technician bios in its appointment notifications.
Look for ways to humanize each message you send to your customers. Try including team snapshots, your brand’s mission, or a relevant anecdote that shows you know what your customers need.
Customer communication tools
Managing the multiple customer communication channels is tough, especially for a local, growing business. These tools multiply your capacity many times over, helping you respond faster, communicate with context, and track messages for continual improvement.
Communication tools to consider include:
- Social media monitoring platform: Lets you read and answer DMs manually and automatically. Also helps you schedule posts and set up an auto-comment replier (like “Reply ‘guide’ and we’ll send the retirement toolkit”).
- Lead management platform: Pulls calls, texts, and emails into one dashboard for easy review and tracking. AI-powered versions, like Dash™ by LocaliQ, summarize communications and triage incoming messages so you know what’s most urgent.
- Unified email inbox: Creates a collaborative inbox letting you share emails and tag teammates without the endless and confusing “Forward to” chain of messages.
- Customer service software: Turns customer questions and complaints into trackable tickets. It gives team members account context so they can provide more relevant answers.
- Sales CRM: Stores contact and conversation details in a searchable and shareable database. Most come with conversion tracking, helping you stay on top of where leads are in the buying journey.
- Chatbot: Answers questions around the clock on your website, in texts, and more. AI-powered chatbots can handle complex conversations and guide visitors to placing an order or booking an appointment.
Chatbots like Dash give your customers fast answers while helping you stay on top of customer communications.
Tips for better customer communication
With the basics accounted for, let’s look at some ways to delight your customers, reduce stress on your employees, and use communication as a growth tool for your business.
Respond quickly
People hate waiting. 80% of consumers will skip a business altogether if they have to wait in line, and 73% say that if a brand doesn’t respond on social media, they’ll buy from a competitor next time.
This is a huge challenge for many small and local businesses. You’re often in the field doing the work, not monitoring every call and text.
That’s where new, AI-powered customer comms management tools come in handy.
AI agents can respond to customers immediately.
Set clear expectations
Customers don’t always need an instant answer. But they do need to know you received their message.
An auto-reply that says “We got your message and will reply by [day or time]” is much better than silence. The same is true for appointment reminders and shipping updates. A simple note to say you’re working on it goes a long way.
Here are a few easy places to start:
- After-hours auto-replies: Send them through every digital channel.
- Confirmation texts: Say what will happen next and when.
- Proactive updates: Notify customers when something changes, like a tech running late or a part on backorder.
Track interactions
As your business grows, you’ll have more communications from more customers to handle. You need to track each one to make sure none get missed and to learn so your communications get better over time.
Pen and paper probably won’t cut it here. You’ll want a tool that can capture the key details from each call, text, and email and then automatically categorize them for you.
You’ll also want to see which communications lead to sales so you can double down on the methods and channels that work. That’s another way communication tracking software can help.
The right tool will give you a bird’s-eye view of your customer communications and connect them to your business goals.
Follow up after the sale
Many businesses go quiet once the invoice is paid. Those are missed chances to turn a happy buyer into a repeat customer and public advocate.
A quick check-in a few days after the work is done (or the product delivered) shows you care about the results, not just the money. It also catches small problems before they turn into bad reviews.
Your follow-up can be simple, like:
- A text asking how everything’s working
- A thank-you note
- A review or referral request once you know the customer is happy
- A reminder when it’s time for the next service.
Practice empathy
Last but certainly not least, you’ll need to practice the skill of empathy. Note that this isn’t the same as being kind (although that helps, too). Empathy is when you can imagine yourself in someone else’s position, so your responses are better at solving their problems.
Just like painting or playing basketball, some people have a greater propensity for empathy. But with practice, most people can get better at it. Here are a few empathy activities to try:
- Ask at least one follow-up question: Our minds sometimes wander when people speak to us. Keep focused by looking for a point they’ve made that requires a follow-up.
- Actively imagine their situation: Try picturing where your customers are, who’s around them, and what they’re going through.
- Be mindful of your biases: You have an expertise bias, meaning you probably know things about plumbing or physical therapy that your customer or patient doesn’t. Try to think about what it’s like not to have your knowledge and communicate with that in mind.
Customer communication FAQs
A lot has changed in the world of customer communication. Here are answers to commonly asked questions to help you keep up.
What is customer communication?
Customer communication is every interaction a business has with its customers, from phone calls and emails to texts, chats, and social media messages. Good communication gives customers a positive experience while moving them toward taking action, like placing an order or booking an appointment.
Why is customer communication important?
Customer communication shapes how people feel about your business, which drives whether they buy, return, and recommend you. Fast, clear, helpful communication builds trust. The opposite, slow or confusing communication, sends customers to a competitor.
What are the main customer communication channels?
The most common customer communication channels are:
- Phone
- Test/SMS
- Website chat
- Social media
- Online communities and forums
The best mix for your business depends on how your customers prefer to reach you
Use customer communication to differentiate your business
On the surface, communicating with people should come naturally. But if you think about the interactions you’ve had with businesses you bought from, you’ll probably remember plenty of times they weren’t empathetic, didn’t answer your questions, or were just unavailable.
Those challenges you experienced are opportunities for your business. If you have a solid communication strategy in place and can consistently provide a positive communication experience for your customers, you’ll stand out against your competitors.
If you’d like to know more about how our solutions can help you improve and track your customer communications, contact us. We’ll be glad to communicate how.
Recommended for you
Unlock your business potential
We offer innovative technology and unparalleled expertise to move your business forward.