Maintaining a Personal Touch with Your Customers in a Digital World

The ability to connect digitally with your customers has grown exponentially over the years. Whether it is through AI chat bots on your website or simply responding to Google Reviews, there are many ways in which your businesses can communicate directly with customers. But while tools such as reply bots and automated emails are great and effective, brands run the risk of losing their personal touch with their customers. With less face-to-face interaction and more screen time, are we losing the personal touch?

Given the current circumstances the entire world has faced through the COVID-19 pandemic, our previous way of living has completely changed. Many businesses have had to find new ways to communicate with, and serve, their customers. While we and many other industries now operate digitally, it’s important to keep the personal touch with your customers. Now more than ever, people crave a connection and we’ve laid out some tips to keep the personal relationship alive in a virtual world.

Marketing with Meaning

While we love automation and believe it has made our lives better, we still have to market with meaning. Think about your messaging and your intent before hitting send on that mass email. Also, think about the blog you’re writing and ask yourself if it brings value to your website, or is it just fluff?

Stand out from the competition with intention. Start there and begin to tell a story.

Maintain Your Online Presence

Nothing is more off-putting than an outdated and non-functioning website. And if you aren’t updating your website regularly, you could be losing customers. We’re not talking about a complete website overhaul, although if you’re in need of that, we’ve got you covered.

We’re talking about keeping the line of communication open. Do you have a new product or service to talk about? Great – blog about it. Need to announce an important hiring decision? Post it on your website and share that on your LinkedIn page.

The lights may be on but no one is home. Your customers want to know you’re there. Make your website and online presence feel like it would if somewhere were to visit your business in person.

Customer Service is Still Valued

Along with keeping the line of communication open is to be sure your message is appropriate in tone and approach.

The beauty of operating in a digital world is that you can look for products and services and in an instant know if it’s something you want to purchase. Customers can easily review and comment on everything you do. Conversely, reviews can be negative… and that’s okay! It’s all in how you respond.

Here are some tried and true ways to handle customer reviews:

• Be responsive and be timely. Even if someone completely rips apart your services, you should still respond. And you certainly do not want a bad review sitting out there without a response as well. Perhaps you can turn things around in your favor by responding appropriately.
• Listen and learn. Maybe someone is truly pointing out a flaw in your product. Listen to what they have to say and grow from there.
• No copy & paste responses. This one can be particularly annoying. Do not copy and paste responses because that will just make things worse. You don’t have to write out an entire 5-page essay in your response. A sentence or two will suffice and you can always take things “offline” to discuss the issue further. Likewise, a simple and personalized ‘Thank You, [Person’s name]’ can go a long way. Make the most out of every interaction.

Living in a digital world doesn’t mean that communication, personalization, and good ole’ fashioned customer service has to suffer. In fact, you can maintain your personal touch even better through purposefulness, an active online presence, and graceful responsiveness.

We’re here to support your marketing strategies to maintain that personal touch in your brand. Contact us to get a conversation started.