Communicating with Customers: The Fundamentals

In order to provide exceptional customer service, your business or organization should understand these fundamental concepts when communicating with customers.

Businesses and organizations use a variety of methods when communicating with customers: face-to-face, video conference, telephone, email, texting, and social media. Many of these methods – especially video, email, texting, and social media – leverage technology.

But which method is the best? In other words, within the context of providing exceptional customer service, which method(s) should businesses and organizations use to communicate with customers?

Not surprisingly, the answer is “it depends.”

Before we analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each communication method, let’s first review communication in general. When we communicate with others, we use up to three communication “channels”:

• the visual channel, which refers to our body language, such as facial expressions and hand gestures;
• the tone channel, which refers to the manner in which we communicate, such as volume and intonation; and
• the verbal channel, which refers to the specific words and phrases we use.

While the first two channels are “non-verbal,” the last channel is “verbal.”

You’ve probably heard that communication is primarily non-verbal in nature, that is, body language and tone. This doesn’t mean that verbal communication is unimportant; rather, it means that when there is a perceived conflict between non-verbal channels and verbal channels of communication, we favor the non-verbal channels to decipher communication – especially as it relates to intent and meaning.

Think of it this way. Assume your significant other asks you about his or her recent haircut. You say, “It looks great!” If you rolled your eyes and said “It looks great!” in a sarcastic tone, there is a perceived conflict between your verbal channel (“It looks great!”) and your non-verbal channels (rolling your eyes and conveying a sarcastic tone): even though you said “It looks great!,” your body language and tone convey the opposite meaning (“It looks horrible!”). Accordingly, your significant other will likely conclude that you didn’t actually mean what you said. Moreover, he or she might also conclude that you’re disingenuous or even dishonest.

And the risk of unintentionally creating a perceived conflict in communication increases as the number of channels we use to communicate with customers decreases. In other words, the fewer number of channels we use to communicate with customers, the more likely customers might misinterpret – that is, perceive an apparent conflict in – our communication.

Consider the following, which identifies each communication method, the associated number of communication channels, and the accompanying level of risk of misinterpretation.

Communication Method	# Communication Channels	Risk Level
Face-to-Face	3 Channels: Visual, Tone, & Verbal	Low
Telephone	2 Channels: Tone & Verbal	Medium
Email	1 Channel: Only Verbal	High
Social Media	1 Channel: Only Verbal	High
Texting	1 Channel: Only Verbal	High

So, does this mean that businesses and organizations should communicate with customers only face-to-face? No, not at all.

Nor does this mean that businesses and organizations should never communicate with customers through email, social media, or texting.

Next week, we’ll analyze each method of communicating with customers and, specifically, the conditions under which your business or organization should – or should not – use a particular method to communicate with your customers.

In the meantime, have a “customerific” week!

Mark