We’ve all heard the phrase ‘the customer is always right’. I want to discuss a thought process along a similar vein but with a different focus. As a consultancy focused on websites, marketing and design, communication plays a crucial role in what we do and how we do it. That’s where this notion of ‘the customer is always right’ comes in. As businesses, what we do doesn’t always strike a chord with our audiences and make them listen to what we have to say. Think of email newsletters, Chrome notifications and the like – they’re not always read or even acknowledged. Depending on your industry, interaction rates may be less than 1%.
Does Anyone Read Emails Anymore?
How many emails do you get every day? I’m not here to say that emails are dead; in fact, that is my main means of communication. I’m also one of those people who subscribe to a lot of newsletters and read almost all of them. But it is something to consider. There was a time when people rarely sent or received an email, and in those times, your emails were much more likely to be read as well. However, today, sending emails is cheap, so everyone is inundated by emails. I’m not saying that emails are of no use, but look at your email analytics and make sure that your customers are opening your emails – MailChimp has a fantastic resource that you can use to compare yourself with others, just remember that better numbers when you are small doesn’t mean that you can scale to a larger list and maintain the same open rates.
SMS Has Higher Open Rates But Seems More Invasive
There’s a growing movement towards SMS as a means of marketing. Texts are already being used to update customers on the status of their order, or where their shipment is, but it can also be used as a promotional channel. However, SMS seems quite personal, and clients may feel like their personal space is being invaded if you text them too often.
Privacy Concerns Around Messenger
Facebook Messenger and other instant messaging platforms are extremely popular nowadays, but just as their popularity is rising, so is the concern around privacy. I know a number of businesses that rely on Facebook Messenger to do business, but not everyone is on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or any other number of instant messaging platforms. I would go as far as to say that both emails and SMS are more popular means of communication when measured by the number of individuals signed up. They may not be the most popular when looking at the sheer volume of communication, but the more important factor for most businesses should be having a means of communication that more people can sign up for.
We Should Make it Easier for Customers
There are two ways to look at this. Let’s put it this way – customers don’t have to sign up to listen or hear from you. You need to take away any level of difficulty in the signup process if you want them to. It should be seamless, and ideally instant. By making it easier for customers to sign up, you’re adding more people who can hear about your latest news or promotions.
We Should Make it Harder for Customers
Making it easier for customers to sign up for your communication is generally in your interest. However, depending on the stage of your business, you may also find that the complete opposite is true. Too many people signing up increases things like your phone or email provider bill at the end of the month. Some businesses may actually benefit from making it harder for customers to sign up. It might be worthwhile focusing on a higher-value customer who is happy to jump through a few hoops and is, by nature, more likely to engage further with your product.
Location and Type of Business Matters
Location and type of business are important considerations when talking about communication. Communication is a very personal thing that changes drastically from country to country, or even city to city, let alone across different industries. As a Canberra web design and marketing consultancy, for example, our clients may be more business-minded and prefer to receive email newsletters, whereas the clients of a bespoke, Canberra-based jeweller might prefer to get an SMS update. Saying this, however, giving the customer the option to select how they want to listen to what you have to say should always be an option.
Capabilities are getting there
Ideally, marketing and communications will evolve so businesses can send a single message out and clients can choose how they want to receive it. Imagine a world where you can send out your monthly newsletter, and it goes out as a Facebook message, an email, and an SMS with little to no interaction on your part. Given the fact that even email segmentation is only just catching on, I imagine we are a little way away from this. In the meantime, you need to give this some serious thought: How can you talk to your customers in a way that they want to listen?
