Communicating with customers online isn’t always easy. Sometimes, they have complaints or concerns that you have to address as quickly as possible in order to satisfy your customers. Other times, they might have questions about how your business operates or about the reasoning behind certain policies that can be hard to answer.

Doing business online doesn’t keep you from having to communicate with customers. In fact, it increases your opportunities and responsibility to communicate with them in a professional and effective manner. Some of the ways in which they “communicate” with you online are highly public, such as in reviews and on your Facebook page, and if the communication isn’t positive, it can cause problems for your business.

Strategies for Communicating With Customers Online

To communicate with your customers and make them happy you must first get to know your customers. The best place to start is by researching who your current customers are.

  • Send out a survey to your existing customer base about their satisfaction with your product / service
  • Search online and document what your customers like about your products and services
  • Use insights and data provided by the various tools available to you through social media and Google analytics

If you get to know your customers better and understand their needs you will be able to provide them the information they would like to know about your business. Being able to group your customers based on demographics, product interest and other relevant factors will help you to know what types of information to share with them online and in your email marketing campaign.

Feature an FAQ Page on Your Website

  • Provide answers to common questions people have about your business on your website.
  • Divide the questions and answers into linked topic groups for easier navigation and higher SEO ranking. This can save you time because you won’t have to individually answer the same questions over and over again.
  • An FAQ page shows that you are in tune with your customers and their common concerns.
  • An FAQ page shows that you care enough to predict your customer questions and concerns and provide them with answers.
  • An FAQ page answering questions your potential customers would frequently Google also will drive more search traffic.

Monitor and Respond to Reviews

While you have full control over the content on your own website, you can’t always control what others are saying about your business online. One of the most likely places where people will be talking about you is on review sites, such as Yelp and City Pages.

If you know you are listed on these sites and others like them, you need to monitor them on a regular basis; most sites will allow you to set up email or text alerts so that you’ll know the second a review has been posted. It can be time consuming to publicly comment on and respond to business reviews, but it is absolutely a necessary task.

You can respond to positive reviews with a simple “thank you” or “glad you had a great experience.” However, when it comes to negative reviews, maintain professionalism, apologize for the bad experience and request they contact you via email to rectify the situation. People will read these comments and will see that your company genuinely cares about its customers, and that is always good for business! Furthermore, merely interacting with customers on major review sites makes your business appear more legitimate, both to customers and to the search engines.

Now, go do your research and take advantage of the opportunities you have for the best communication possible with your customers.

Do you have any tips to add for communicating with clients online? Comment below. Let’s discuss.