5 tips for connecting with your customers better remotely

Words by Charlotte Alice Moore

Covid-19 has changed the way that we interact with our customers. And, for many businesses, across many industries, it’s been tough to find interesting ways to keep customers engaged.

However, a lot of the shifts that we’ve been forced to make during the pandemic are here to stay. For those that are feeling a little anxious about the world reopening, remote conversations aren’t going anywhere.

So, here are five tips on how to embrace the space and still maintain a personal connection with your customers.

1. Address what’s going on in the world

During the past year, we’ve all received emails telling us about sales, trends and subscriptions, that completely ignore what’s going on outside of our inboxes.

However, addressing what’s really going on in the world can help you connect with customers.

Try creating blog posts, designed to empathise or help your customer during the crisis, or changing your email strategy to actively reassure customers that you’re doing everything you can to serve them.

Fashion brand Lucy & Yak crafted a list of resources for each lockdown, including a few on mental health. This was something a little different for them, but it really engaged customers who flocked to their posts on social media and shared them widely.

2. Make yourself available

A study from AdAge found that 77 per cent of people wanted brands to be ‘helpful in their new everyday life.’ And to be helpful, you have to be available to help.

Think about adding a live chat option to your website for faster responses. Setting one up doesn’t have to be as expensive and time consuming as you might think – you can read about this in more depth in our blog How SMBs are using chatbots to improve customer service.

Many brands have also offered live stream events, where customers can have questions answered in real-time. And, this digital face-to-face communication can have a huge impact on overall brand trust and long-term ROI.

3. Be your authentic self

Authenticity is important to customers, now more than ever. While it’s tempting to panic and pivot your tone of voice to something new, Chris Stephenson, regional head of strategy and planning at PHD Media recently said in an article for The Drum, ”Above all, brands should respond authentically [to the pandemic] based on their brand positioning, values and tone of voice.”

While it’s important to have flexibility in your tone of voice, as long as your communication isn’t insensitive, staying true to your brand identity will only have a positive impact.

For example, Innocent Smoothies, known for their playful messaging set up Re-route the Fruit, offering unsold drinks to key workers. This stays true to Innocent’s tone of voice while doing something that is both positive and feels on-brand.

4. Entertain your customers

It’s time for your playful side to shine. There are plenty of brands that have done this well during the pandemic. The Getty Museum in California, for example, launched the ‘Getty Museum Challenge’, in which it asked social media users to recreate their favourite artwork using three objects found in their home.

Other brands have created interesting Zoom backgrounds for users to download or started day-time kitchen discos.

Of course, while this is perfect for some brands it might not work for all. Although even some of the more serious brands around have found ways to be appropriately playful during the past year – for example, British Gas produced a series of ‘Here to Solve’ videos.

These videos showcased what the new normal looked like for their workers who were still operating during the lockdowns. They showed things like support workers juggling their job and their children and engineers being greeted by customers in fancy dress. One of the videos was set to the soundtrack of the cancan.

5. Personalise, personalise, personalise

Personalisation was important long before COVID19, but there’s no better time to invest in new ways to personalise an experience and offer a bit more value to your customer.

There are a number of really easy ways to do this. From Netflix’s personalised entertainment algorithm to Spotify’s ‘wrapped’ campaign, users like content that is made for them, and just them.

So, how can you do this on a smaller scale? From segmenting emails to ensuring customers only see what they want they want to see, to a handwritten note to surprise your customers, there are plenty of innovative ways to impress customers.

Want more tips? Follow the tsoHost blog for more updates.