Who does business on the phone nowadays? Well, the truth of the matter is that plenty of us still pick up the phone to speak to people. However, this does not mean that things are not changing. Younger people, in particular, are less and less likely to make enquiries over the phone. If you want to sell your goods and services in the future, then you are going to have to look at the communications technologies that are increasingly likely to take over.
Pre-Purchase Enquiries
These days, enquiries about what your business does are more likely to come in a written (electronic) form than from a phone call. Whether they work in manufacturing, the engineering sector or digital publishing, long-established businesses are often geared up for plenty of phone-based communications but other recently established businesses don’t take the same approach, expecting their website to be the first port of call for potential new customers.
Because a corporate website and its associated landing pages are increasingly important to modern SMEs, this is where you ought to be investing in your relationship with would-be clients. Although some people will always prefer to pick up the phone and ask about your products and services, many clients will simply look at your website instead. What happens if they cannot find the answer they want?
If that happens, then some people will simply move on to a competitor’s website. Others will stick with you, but only if you provide a readily available means of finding out what they want to know. This is where contemporary chatbot technology and instant messaging services come into their own – they offer you the chance to keep those clients who might otherwise disappear on board for a little longer which, in turn, means they are more likely to purchase from you eventually.
Post-Purchase Enquiries
Research has shown that voice-based communications are still important, especially when it comes to enquiries after a purchase has been made. Technical support queries, reordering enquiries and delivery questions are all more likely to be made with a phone than an instant messaging service. That said, some customers will also want to make post-purchase enquiries via a chatbot or instant messaging system, so it’s good to give them a choice.
The reason for this is twofold. Firstly, there is the cultural element which says that as more and more people become accustomed to using chatbots and so on, they rely less on the technologies of the past. Secondly, the globalised economy means that enquiries can come from any country, at any time of the day or night. When your office is shut, and employees are not picking up emails, an automated response service means that customer service can continue around the clock.
If you don’t want your business to fall behind with its communication, then give us a call or send us a message for a friendly, no-obligation chat.