As Peter Drucker, consultant and business professor, once said: "The most important thing in communication is listening to what we are told.". If you just buy ios reviews, that doesn't mean you have a great connection with your customers. What an apt phrase! We already know the importance of communication in the relationship with our clients; however, sometimes we forget that the two parties must communicate in the same way, exchanging opinions and contrasting information.
This is one of the main characteristics of two-way communication that we will talk about throughout this post.
What is two-way communication?
Bidirectional communication, as its name suggests, occurs in two directions. There is a sender and a receiver, and communication is from both parties to both parties. Not only does the sender communicate with the receiver, but both exchange information.
This area can be related to our communication with our clients. We can imagine that the sender is us, our company, and the receiver is the client or the users who will become them.
The main difference between two-way communication with one-way communication is that, in the second, the information only flows in a single direction. The sender releases the information, and the receiver has no opportunity to ask questions, propose suggestions, etc., since it would be a unique way of communication for the issuer.
Therefore, the communication that our brand establishes with our clients must be two-way. That is, there is fluid communication on both sides. If we only release information on our part, without offering the client the possibility to show us their point of view or raise any doubts that may arise, they will not feel confident. This would be a big problem for us since, if we want to achieve loyalty from our clients, it is necessary that they feel that they are part of the project.
Six benefits of two-way communication
As you may have already imagined, two-way communication offers many more possibilities for success. By relating to the user and involving him, it will make him feel part of the project. Therefore, we will generate greater confidence in him.
In addition to this, two-way communication offers us other benefits for our company. We are now going to cite six of them to understand better how implementing this communication model will improve the relationship with customers:
- Accuracy: The company can communicate with the client precisely and know what they are looking for at all times from our brand, which will be easier for us when developing our commercial strategy.
- Transparency: There will be communication from both the sender and the receiver, and both will express their opinions and communicate clearly.
- Relevant information: Being able to receive feedback from the client (communicator) will help the company (issuer) know relevant aspects about the suggestions to our products or services and allow the company to solve the problems raised by consumers.
- Direct relationship: Using this type of communication with our clients, a direct relationship is created between them and our brand.
- Trust: Users feel more confident with our company because they feel they have a place in the project and a voice to give their opinion and share.
- Humanization: When we talk to the client, listen to their point of view, and ask us questions or make suggestions, we stand up for our brand. This makes the user feel that there are people who are here willing to help him behind our company.
How can we achieve this communication with our clients?
To establish two-way communication with our clients, it is important to use the appropriate communication channels to be as fluid as possible. For example, "conventional" media such as television, radio, or the press (newspapers, magazines ...) allow brands to advertise and communicate with customers, but in a unidirectional way. When we see an advertisement on TV or in the newspaper or hear the promotion of a company on the radio, we as clients receive the information. Still, we do not have the opportunity to communicate with them.
If, for example, we see an advertisement on television for a moisturizer that may be attractive to us, but we have doubts about whether it will work for our skin type, we cannot ask the advertiser. So only one-way communication is taking place.
On the other hand, there are other means of communication that do allow two-way communication. And we have them at our fingertips, even on our mobile phones. Yes, we are talking about social networks.
Social networks have now become the main channel people use to communicate, either personally or at work. Therefore, brands must take advantage of this trend that is always on the rise to promote their products and that the user can communicate with us. In addition, the presence of social networks today is essential to growing our business.
How can we use social media to engage with our customers?
Although social networks are a fundamental tool to communicate bidirectionally with our clients, sometimes we don't know where to start, what language to use, how to show us… Don't worry; it has happened to all of us.
Now, if we want to start using social networks, it is important to define within our company the figure of a community manager who will be in charge of “standing up” for our brand and interacting with customers. In addition, it must have strategic planning carried out by the figure of the social media manager. You can read our post The role of the social media manager to achieve SMART goals talking about these two important figures for the company.
Finally, you must take into account the following tips before beginning your two-way communication with customers on social networks:
- Personalize your account: This can be done in many ways: putting an image to our account, speaking in the first person with customers, showing empathy with them ... This will help customers "humanize" our brand.
- Ask followers and take surveys: Taking advantage of the multiple tools offered by social networks such as Twitter or Instagram, we can conduct surveys so that users can give their opinion or launch questions to show us closer.
- Please reply to the followers: The fundamental thing about two-way communication is that both parties can communicate; that is why you must respond to your followers' messages.
- Take advantage of viral topics: Echo the topics that are current or that have gone viral at that time to show yourself closer to users and show that your brand is also up to date on all the news.
- Put humor in it !: Sometimes, we will receive messages or criticisms through social networks since it is a channel that has no filters and allows users to show their dissatisfaction with our brand in any way. Please don't give it more importance; use humor to communicate with them and be prudent.
Now that you have the necessary information, it is time to start communicating two-way with your customers and show them that your brand is there for them. What are you waiting for?