Whether by website, chat, email, or phone, it is essential to have several communication channels so that your customers and employees can talk to your company.
This article will introduce you to the different types of communication, which channels you should invest in, and some results from companies that invested in new means of contact.
What are Digital Communication Channels?
At first glance, when we talk about “communication channels,” it may seem that we are referring to television channels.
Although these are also media, they speak to a larger group. In this case, the population of a country. And that is not the focus of this article.
The focus of this article is the communication channels of companies. That is, the means that a company makes available so that its customers and employees can get in touch with it.
Digital communication channels are those that take place through digital. That is channels that involve the internet (email, virtual chats, social networks, etc.).
2 Types of Business Communication
As we mentioned earlier, it is important to provide means of contact for both customers and employees. And it’s in this sense that the types of communication differ.
Internal Communication
As the name suggests, it is the communication carried out internally. That is, inside the company.
It concerns the various means of communication that your employees can use to talk to other employees or departments—namely, human resources.
External Communication
On the other hand, there is external communication, which, unlike the previous type, is directed to customers, such as Customer Service.
This type of communication refers to all the means of contact that consumers have to communicate with your brand.
Direct vs. indirect communication
Both external and internal communication can be direct or indirect.
We call direct communication with an immediate response—for example, exchanging messages between two entities.
Conversely, indirect communication is communication that has no immediate response. It is, for example, what happens in marketing campaigns.
The receiver receives the message but does not respond (directly, at least). These are means of transmitting information mostly focused on the customer. But they can also be done internally.
This is the case with internal newsletters, where the company sends out communications to its employees but does not expect a response from them.
Consumers’ Preferred Communication Channels
According to the Microsoft report, most consumers use between 3 and 5 means of contact to solve their problems.
The most preferred means of contact is undoubtedly voice (telephone). This is followed by email channels, Live Chat, online self-service, and social networking.
However, according to the same study, the use of the email channel has started to decrease due to the increase in self-service (53%) and chat (48%) channels.
This aligns with the nearly two-thirds of respondents who use self-service first before moving on to other communication channels.
It’s Super Simple to Optimize Your Digital Channels
One of the reasons users leave self-care options is the lack of information and the basicity of the systems.
Once elementary solutions that only referred consumers to other means of contact.
Today, with the advancement of technology, these channels are much more responsive, namely, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
These self-service systems are now solutions called chatbots.
Find out more about the technologies used at Visor.ai in the articles below:
- Does Artificial Intelligence Really Make Chatbots Smarter?
- How Does Machine Learning Work in AI Chatbots?
- What You Should Know about NLP Chatbots
Chatbots
Chatbots are intelligent virtual agents that help users solve their problems and queries.
Another factor that gives preference to these automated solutions is the speed of response. And the disuse of email channels is related to this.
Email response time is very high, and in contrast, chatbots are much faster.
However, it is possible to optimize your email channel with email bots.
Email bots
Email bots are solutions for automating processes that take place over the email channel. In particular, they decrease response time since they triage, extract document information, and forward it to the correct departments.
In addition, social media channels are increasingly being used for query resolution and problem reporting.
Social media
With users turning more and more to social networks, it is normal that their contact with brands is done there.
Channels such as Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, among others, are the most used in this type of interaction with brands. Facebook has up to 32% of Customer Support contacts.
Lucky for us, it’s possible to integrate a chatbot into these social networks and thus offer an automated service without necessarily increasing costs.
What are the Benefits of Optimizing Your Digital Channels?
As we have already mentioned, AI and machine learning are the tools that optimize your contact channels.
In chatbots, these technologies allow the systems to have a fluid conversation with the user.
The machine understands what is asked of it and responds with the corresponding information.
Beyond Customer Support, these automated chat solutions can be a great option to integrate internally in your company. For example, in situations of Employee Support, when it comes to large companies. Or even for the optimization of Human Resources services.
You can learn more about chatbots for Human Resources here.
Good communication inside and outside the company is necessary for its smooth operation and consequent success.
Internal advantages:
- Faster responses
- Ease of obtaining documents/information
- Increased productivity of the teams
- Creation and maintenance of the company-employee relationship
- Easier management of human resources
- Possibility of remote work
- Increased employee satisfaction
External advantages:
- Faster and more efficient problem solving
- Greater personalization of contacts
- Easier feedback collection
- Increased lead generation
Companies that gain from the expansion and optimization of communication channels
Companies that choose Visor.ai solutions optimize and expand their contact channels easily because they are modular and scalable. That is, they adapt to any customer depending on their needs.
All companies obviously started with traditional contact channels, but quickly and over time, they saw that the answer was digital.
As they increased their digital transformation and wanted to be where their customers are, they bet on Visor.ai solutions. And the results have been great!
On average, companies working with Visor.ai have a 40 % increase in their interactions through digital communication channels.
What are you waiting for? Increase your communication channels as well and reach more customers! With Visor.ai’s chatbot and email bot solutions, automate your communications and see the results with your own eyes!
