The impact of internal communication on customer experience

Communications with individuals and groups outside of your organization can directly impact brand loyalty, visibility, reputation, and revenue. Effectively managed internal communications creates a ripple effect that can positively influence external relationships with customers, third-party vendors, business partners, and even competitors.

Effective internal communication enhances customer relationships

While there is significant value in prioritizing employee satisfaction alone, it also tends to organically translate into more effective interactions with customers. It’s not hard to understand why: Happy people naturally exhibit more positive attitudes, and others are more likely to respond in kind.

Employees’ opinions about their company can also influence customer relationships. There is a growing public interest in how well companies treat their employees, and customers often look to employees’ opinions to inform their own buying decisions.

Consistent internal communication improves partner and vendor relationships

As effective communication practices become a regular part of your everyday internal operations, they will naturally begin to extend to external communications with groups such as third-party vendors.

Consistency, in particular, is key to nurturing these relationships. Consistent, on-brand communication naturally fosters a sense of leadership and authority that will encourage other companies and third-party vendors to trust in and collaborate with your organization.

Communication is a means of protecting your company’s voice. If you do so in a way that evokes respect and admiration, this will increase the perceived value of a partnership with your brand—which in turn will increase your brand reach.

How to improve team communication

No matter the company, there is always room for improvement in internal communication. Here are a few steps you can take to start improving this for your team and company today:

• Define your expectations clearly regarding tone, language, and the use of various channels. A brand style guide can be especially helpful in sharing these expectations and maintaining consistency across all communications.
• Make it easy for team members to connect. Offer multiple channels and allow employees flexibility, whenever possible, to use the channels that best suit their communication style and preferences.
• Clarify each person’s role within the team. Teams work most efficiently and effectively when members know which individuals are best equipped to answer general questions or troubleshoot certain types of problems.
• Lead by example. Make sure management models good communication practices by being transparent, honest, direct, and respectful of others’ time. Avoid spamming workers with unnecessary messages and always include a call to action that clearly defines what response you expect to see.
• Have open discussions with your team about current communication practices, how they can be improved, and what benefits they can expect to see from doing so. Be willing to listen to feedback and ideas, and be ready to offer solutions to common or recurring challenges.

Credit: Grammarly