From style to tone, how your company chooses to communicate has an effect on the customer experience, and in turn, your potential for repeat business and new sales.

Creating strategies for effective communications can help your business promote positive experiences and build stronger relationships with customers. Consider these ideas as you work on ways to improve your customer communications.

Be Accurate and Clear on Your Website

Make sure information on your business website is up to date and clear. That’s good advice anytime but an essential piece of an effective communication strategy, particularly if you’re selling online. 

Whether it’s descriptions of products and services, delivery and return policies or business hours and contact information, make it easy to understand, and accurate.

“Inaccurate information and outdated product information or even grammatical errors on your website will turn off consumers,” cautions a Business News Daily article by senior writer Jennifer Dublino.

“You should not only proofread each page before it goes live but also periodically check each page, especially after making updates anywhere else,” she writes.

Be as explicit as possible with product descriptions, and terms and conditions, even if the information seems obvious to you, explains a Business.com article by senior analyst Max Freedman.

“People often don’t read, and you need to spell it out for them,” says Jennifer Johnson, founder of True Fashionistas, in the post.

Maintain Consistent Messaging Across Every Channel

A strong customer communications strategy means consistent messaging across your company’s channels -- emails, social media, your website, phone calls, on-site interactions, and ads.

“Ensuring your brand is recognizable to potential customers, no matter where they find you, is one of the most important parts of building a loyal audience,” says a Forbes Expert Panel post.

“If the messaging a customer receives from your brand on Instagram differs from the messaging they receive in their email inbox, how can the customer trust what your brand is trying to say or sell? Similarly, if logos, fonts, colors or other design choices for your brand vary by platform, you may be giving off a disjointed, unprofessional look that can be off-putting to customers.”

Consistent messaging across social media is critical to promoting brand trust, says a Sprout Social blog by Sam Kendall.

“Think about the tone and cadence of your captions, and the visual language you’re focusing on,” the post advises. “By standardizing these elements, you create a stronger brand identity, which can lead to increased trust in your brand over time.”

Communicate with Transparency and Authenticity

Transparency is another key piece of an effective customer communication strategy. Be up front with your customers. Consumers prefer to shop, and will continue to shop, at businesses they feel they can trust.

Pricing is one area where customers expect transparency, notes a business.com article by senior writer Austin Mac Nab.

“Companies that don’t provide accurate and complete pricing information foster mistrust and lose an opportunity to build customer loyalty,” says Lasandra Barksdale, founder and principal consultant at Kompass Customer Solutions, in the article.

If you do have to raise prices, communicate that to your customers and provide reasoning behind the hike. Customers don’t want, or appreciate, being blindsided, Barksdale adds.

Transparent communication builds a strong foundation of customer trust and loyalty, which in turn can help drive sales, Barksdale told business.com.  “In a world full of spam, scams and shady fine print, clarity is a competitive advantage.”

In a survey by Label Insight, 94 percent of consumers said they would be more loyal to a brand that practices transparency, according to a post by the Better Business Bureau. “Whether it’s your products or services, you must be open with your customers.”

“Most importantly, words must align with actions. It's imperative not to promise anything you cannot deliver,” the BBB post says. “The better you follow through on your promises, the more authentic your message is, and the more likely the customer will trust you in return.”

Also, see why your business should Make Social Media Customer Care a Priority, and How to Build and Keep Customer Loyalty in Your Small Business.