Every business, regardless of industry, location, or size, depends on communication to create a fantastic customer experience. You can’t build relationships, get feedback, understand customers, or share information without being a great communicator. But there’s a difference between communication that is brand-focused and communication that is customer-focused.
Online marketing expert and author Amy Porterfield helps entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes create clear, customer-focused communication. No matter if you’re getting a business off the ground or working with a beloved brand, communicating clearly is crucial.
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Here are three tips from Amy for customer-focused communication:
- Listen more than you talk. Amy firmly believes that customers will tell you their challenges, pain points, and exactly what they want and need. You just have to listen. But too often, brands get caught up in sharing their message that they don’t take time to listen and understand their customers. Amy says when customers know you understand and hear them, they pay more attention, and it creates more tailored messages, stronger relationships, and more effective customer communication.
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Ask yourself if the customer cares. It may sound trite, but does the customer actually care what you have to say? A common communications pitfall is moving too fast with too many messages and products. But when you stop for air, consider whether the customer cares about your actions and the messages you’re sharing. A lot of the time, brands dig too deep when that’s not what the customer needs or wants. You may be passionate about your product or message, but consider what the customer needs to know to have a great experience—it’s probably less than what you want to share.
- Share from scabs, not wounds. Today’s customers crave authentic communication that shows vulnerability behind the brand. Amy says it’s important for brands and entrepreneurs to share from past experiences, not necessarily things as they are going through them. Wounds are fresh and still healing. But if you share from scabs after challenges or issues have settled, you have lessons to share and can add value. It’s the difference between over-sharing in the moment and distracting from your brand and waiting to share valuable insights after the fact. Both strategies show vulnerability, but sharing from wounds also adds credibility.
Above all else, Amy says to focus on providing value for customers. As you create content and messages, listen to what customers want and need and adjust your communication to always be valuable.
Communication is central to building strong relationships, and customer-focused communication makes all the difference.
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Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist and the bestselling author of The Customer of the Future. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.