How Businesses Can Rethink Customer Engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed nearly everything about the way small companies do business. Social distancing, means in practical terms that small businesses can’t connect with their customers in the same ways they’re used to.

Some small business owners may even be unwittingly making the problem worse. By not being available, not posting updates, and not maintaining a digital presence, customers may assume small businesses are shutting down. This can be an expensive prospect, as it’s much more expensive to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones. Small businesses need to ensure they don’t break the lines of communication, which could ultimately lose customers.

As the traditional means of customer communication change, there are innovative ways for small business owners to keep customers engaged through technology:

• Know the power of voice – Even in an increasingly digital marketplace, phones can still serve as the main lifeline to customers. Whether they’re in your customers physical business or at home, during business hours or on nights and weekends, having a phone line that rings endlessly, or worse, leads to an error or disconnect notice, indicates to customers that the business doesn’t care to hear from them.
• Maintain a digital presence – If your customers aren’t communicating face-to-face with their customers as much as they used to (and even if they are), your customers should have a digital experience that’s reflective of the atmosphere of their business: helpful, caring, and active.
• Keep employees engaged – Employees might be remote, but that doesn’t mean they have to be any less connected right now. It is important your customers make sure their employees have the bandwidth and tools they need to stay engaged while working remotely.

For more information on how your customers can rethink their customer engagement, read the full story on the Comcast Business Community.