As a business, you will understand how important it is that customers feel satisfied with the service that you’re providing them. But, what about customer sentiment?

The two are just as important as each other; it’s all very well knowing that you provide a quality service that your customers are happy with, but if they don’t have positive thoughts and feelings towards your company for other reasons, then this can be the make or break between them taking their business elsewhere.

Direct comms and validation can play a key role in ensuring customer sentiment is high, making these aspects of your business that you should certainly focus on improving if you have not done so already.

In this article, we will explain more about what customer sentiment is and why it is important to analyse this for your business, as well as what direct comms are and how these can help to improve customer sentiment. Read on below to learn more.

What is Customer Sentiment?

So, what is customer sentiment? Even as a business, you may not have heard this term before, but it is one that you should be focusing on. Essentially, customer sentiment is a way of measuring how your customers think and feel towards your business or brand. This doesn’t mean in-depth qualitative analysis of their opinions, but rather it allows you to see whether users of your service have positive, negative or neutral views of your company.

Customers are the key to success for any company, which is why customer satisfaction and customer sentiment go hand in hand in maintaining your business’s success. Ideally, your customers will hold pleasant, favourable feelings towards your products and/or services, though if they are actually feeling frustrated or angry, then the reasons should be identified and rectified.

Customers’ feelings towards a business can play a vital role in how well you retain said customers and continually generate revenue. One of the key areas in which customer sentiment is often affected is customer support. Whilst some people find it easier to resolve an issue by talking to a real person, they often experience long caller queues and automated voice prompts before they even make it through to the call. This can lead to feelings of stress or a negative interaction with customer support teams (that we want to avoid at all cost).

What Are Direct Comms?

When it comes to customer outreach, the traditional methods employed are phone calls and letters. These can often prove costly and ineffective with zero guarantee of receipt or response.

Instead, businesses could consider using more innovative methods of communication, such as direct comms. Direct comms, or direct communication includes utilising mobile to allow more direct and effective communication with your customers via SMS, WhatsApp & automated bots.

With customers leading busy lives, direct communication through these methods can be well-received versus traditional methods. Phone calls and letters are increasingly seen as more time-consuming and laborious to respond to.

Customers are now more content with direct messaging services or email that fit with their daily lives. By being less disruptive and more efficient with our channels of direct communication we can improve customer sentiment.

How Direct Comms Can Improve Customer Sentiment

As we’ve discussed, customers can be left feeling frustrated and/or stressed when having to deal with customer service teams over the phone. By cutting out the middle person and contacting them directly via email, SMS, Whatsapp or direct chat services (such as ChatBuilder), you can more effectively and directly communicate with your customers without inducing anxiety or stress. By ensuring our communication is instant and in real time, we are also able to fit more effectively with customers lives and illicit more effective responses.

ChatBuilder uses automated data analysis to validate phone/mobile numbers, emails, addresses and account numbers, without the need for customers to provide evidence of these or sign up and provide this information over the phone. Once validated, ChatBuilder can automate communication accordingly for each customer; for example, if someone is overdue a payment for your service, then they will be sent a reminder of how much they need to pay and by when, as recognised by their unique account number or contact details.

This is much less intrusive than bombarding customers with letters or phone calls, allowing customers to feel respected whilst informing them of any necessary changes, information or prompts, which in turn will increase the amount of respect and positivity they feel towards your company, thus improving customer sentiment.

ChatBuilder

If you own a company with a large customer base, then your customers talking to contact centres in a timely fashion is not always possible. What could be an effective alternative? ChatBuilder.

If you’re looking to improve both communication efficiency and customer sentiment, then ChatBuilder is an indispensable asset for your business.

Through our technology, ChatBuilder is able to validate customer information and automate communication with your customers according to their individual accounts. This improves business efficiency, whilst also providing a more streamlined experience for your customers, easing pressure on your customer call centres.

Get in touch with us today to request your free demo of ChatBuilder.