How Covid changed the way we communicate with brands & our habits
Covid changed us, the world, our habits, our behavior, our way of working, and our way of socializing. It was something no one expected. No one was prepared for it, no one knew what it was, what to do when it all happened & sent the world into panic mode. Confusion, frustration, waiting, lockdowns, customer issues left unresolved for days & weeks on end.
All of those & more were the characteristics of the first few months for a large majority of brands and their customers. What was that? What was causing the bad vibes all around? Has it since improved? Has the way we communicate with brands changed since Covid became part of our everyday lives? We will aim to answer all of these questions & more in today’s blog.
Shifting preferences
We all know that every brand exists for the sole reason to make a profit. But to make that profit they have to have customers and those customers should be happy to do business with that brand (in an ideal case). And every company will of course try very hard to do everything they can to keep their customers as happy as humanly possible. Or will they? Well, Covid showed us where the main problems lie. The biggest problem can be summarized into 2 words: legacy channels.
If you have never heard of this phrase, let us explain. By legacy channels, we mean the traditional contact methods brands and customers alike have been used to using for the past few decades. Phone, chat, and email. Until Covid hit. So what’s changed? A lot has changed. Firstly customer behavior has shifted dramatically and their preferences have changed and brands have found themselves struggling. Struggling to keep up with the sudden change and deliver on the promises they made to their customers.
Delayed payments, late orders, no replies, escalations, redirects, disconnected chat conversations, no replies to emails sent by customers, hours on hold to a customer service agent, and poor or no customer service delivered on-brand social media channels. That in short was how it looked in the first few weeks and months of Covid for many brands out there. To summarize- customer service failed miserably. Why?
Customers want more
More in terms of service. More efficient, better staffed, more digital, better in sync with their daily lives, and not tied to the already mentioned legacy channels. And because we live in an era of instant gratification & technology they feel they should get it. And actually why not.
Timeliness of service can make the world of difference between a poor and a delightful customer experience. Fast, straightforward answers & first contact resolution are what your customers want today. And they want them at a time that suits them and ideally immediately and 24/7.
Brands on the other hand have found this out the hard way. At least those whose negative sentiment has gone through the roof because of unresponded calls & emails or delayed orders and customers left in the dark.
The solution: Go Digital
We have the technology at our fingertips so let’s make the most of it. Customers want digital options, so offer it to them. But let’s go step by step.
Some options can be:
If your brand has a presence on social media, make sure you offer all possible ways for customers to engage with you easily. That means, setting up Messenger on FB or offering WhatsApp support and letting customers know how fast they should expect a response
Make sure you have enough social media agents who will be ready to help your customers out
Incorporating self-service support- so a chatbot that can help customers with frequently asked questions or common tasks such as opening hours or order tracking and also help connect them to a social media agent in case of a more complex issue
Swapping website or in-app live chat to web messaging. The biggest difference is that messaging is more efficient, cheaper, and asynchronous. It does not time out like a live chat. Therefore the customer doesn't have to repeat their question after some time of inactivity and carry the conversation throughout the entire day or even across multiple days. Messaging simply works around the customer’s day. And messaging agents can handle more than one messaging conversation at a time while a phone agent can only talk to one person at one time. How’s that for efficiency?
Make it easy
Covid has truly transformed the way customers and brands interact with each other. Efficiency, digital options, convenience, availability & seamless transitions across multiple devices shouldn't be something to be desired. It should be the standard.
After all, it all comes down to meeting customers where they are, anticipating their needs, and offering digital solutions.
