How Companies can Keep the Human Touch in the Digital Age

A few years ago, a study found that 42% of customers distrust brands because they feel arrogant, self-serving, and unreachable.

While digital communications can make your brand even more abstract, you can turn them to your advantage. When used strategically, digital marketing allows you to build a memorable brand and maintain its human touch.

Here is how.

Establish a Unique Brand Voice

Every human being has a unique tone of voice. Our manner of talking reflects our personality.

For your business to become more human, it also needs to have a unique tone of voice that matches its personality. Brand voice injects brand unique emotion and values into every communication.

When establishing a brand voice, consider your company’s traits. Your brand can sound confident, professional, helpful, or friendly.

Your brand voice also depends on your customers. Marketing to Boomers and Gen Z, for example, requires a different approach.

Once you determine your brand voice, keep it consistent across all digital channels you use. No matter if it is your social media posts, product descriptions, blog articles, or email newsletters, your content should be recognizable and on-brand. Audit your current content and eliminate any inconsistencies in messaging.

Have a Purpose

Customers love ethical and sustainable brands with purpose.

No matter if you donate second-hand clothes to those in need or you run an environmentally-conscious brand, 91% of consumers are more likely to shift to a brand that supports a good cause.

Moreover, top employees are three times more likely to work for a company with a strong sense of purpose.

It is important to inject your missions and values into every digital marketing and sales campaign you launch. For example, for every pair of TOMS shoes you purchase, the famous brand gives out another pair to people in need. Over time, the brand has become synonymous with a social conscience, generosity, and sustainability.

Provide Spectacular Customer Service

Your customer service is the nerve center of your company. According to statistics, most customers will stop doing business with you following one negative experience with your CS representatives.

To get the most out of your customer service, keep it personal, targeted, and relevant.

For starters, invest in omnichannel customer support. Provide 24/7 service via email, live chat, call center, social networks, and chatbots. Let your customers choose their preferred communication channel.

To keep interactions with customers more relevant, you can also use CRM software. It captures customer data across various channels and keeps it in a central location. That way, your CS agents can track customer touchpoints with your brand and provide more relevant feedback.

Keep It Conversational

Apart from traditional means of customer communication, you can use customer support to show the human side of your brand:

• Use social listening tools: They allow you to track your brand and product mentions in real-time. That way, you can stay on top of customer conversations and provide helpful feedback faster.

• Create online communities: For B2C brands, Facebook groups are a great way to build trust with customers and address their problems. Use a Facebook community to share helpful and informational content instead of promoting your brand.

• Leverage AI: Apart from providing relevant and real-time feedback, AI bots have a lot more to offer. For example, you can hire content producers to create engaging scripts that will make each customer conversation an exciting journey.

Connect Customers with your Employees

To humanize your brand, you should let customers meet your staff.

Start with your website. Create the Our Team section on your site to show the faces behind your brand. Publish their photos and biographies.

Social networks are also a great way to humanize your brand. For example, you can provide customers with a peek into your offices. You can also use your Instagram page to celebrate employee success and tell their stories.

Acknowledge Mistakes

Are you one of those brands ignoring customer complaints? If you are, rethink your decisions. Sweeping problems under the carpet can only harm customer relationships and your brand image.

Instead, be honest and transparent. When you make a mistake, acknowledge it and apologize. That will make your brand more human and gain customer trust.

Instead of copy-pasting generic messages from your CS templates, be authentic and create a personalized message for each customer and issue. Prove that you are actively listening to your customers.

Keep your Brand Human to Connect with Customers

Keeping your brand's human touch is essential in the digital age. That way, you will evoke emotions in customers, earn their trust, and build stronger relationships with them. Most importantly, it will make your brand more relevant to your target audience.

With these simple tips, you will manage to boost your brand presence and humanize it on all digital channels you use. They are easy to implement and, above all, they do not require significant monetary investments.