4 ways your brand can deliver that human touch

The same can be said for our online shopping experiences. Granted, the convenience of buying something from the confines of our home or while travelling on a train is appealing, but with that said, to avoid the human touch being totally eroded, your brand must create an authentic experience through humanity.

So, what can you do to maintain the fundamental thing that makes us who we are, and not lose sight of the human touch?

1. Open a real shop

2. Use live chat

3. Use an empathetic tone

4. Resolve issues promptly

1. Open a real shop

Walking into a shop, talking to a salesperson, making a physical purchase, and walking out with a bag can be very invigorating for some, while for others it's the only way to shop.

There are many large businesses out there that understand the importance of the shopping experience, so much so that they include digital aspects in their shops.

Take Nike for instance. Its Digital Retail Experience in collaboration with Demodern, fuses Nike stores and the web to create a seamless experience for its customers.

Of course, this takes a huge investment, but Nike isn't short of a few pounds. But even a tablet in a physical shop offering the opportunity to browse more inventory ups the retail experience, with the added benefit of customers interacting with a salesperson.

2. Use live chat

Okay, so it's not the same as having a face-to-face with somebody, but it can come close. Giving your customers the option to use live chat and connect with your teams is a great way of answering queries, resolving complaints, and maintaining the more familiar human aspect. 

Also, live chat helps customer retention. A survey by Emarketer found that over 60% of customers were more likely to return to a website with live chat. The same survey also identified that close to 50% of people think talking to someone via live chat is an experience differentiator.

3. Use an empathetic tone

Understanding online behaviour, and even human behaviour, can have a positive impact on customer relations. Making the right connection with existing and potential customers establishes and maintains relationships.

Tapping into customer intent by delivering personalised sales driven empathetic messages will most likely gravitate people to engaging with and trusting your brand. But ultimately the proof is in the pudding. If you fail to deliver a quality product or service, then your comms would have been in vain. Which leads us nicely to the next point.

4. Resolve issues promptly

Let's assume you have a disgruntled customer. It happens, no matter how well established a brand you are. There's nothing more frustrating than a website having no contact details. The key here is to give as many options as possible to the complainant to air their grievances, and for you to act quickly when they've been received.

Live chat, email, and even a contact number to your customer care centre or shop goes a long way to resolution. Ideally, the latter would be the best option. There's nothing better than talking to an empathetic ear.

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