Laurent van Hamme

Anxiety is present everywhere. According to McKinsey, the confidence index shows an alarming level of economic pessimism. France stands at 36%, just behind Spain and Italy. Japan reaches 41%!
In the B2C segment, customer concerns during the crisis revolve around:

1. Information: being notified if they may have been exposed to the virus at the supplier’s site.
2. Follow-up: being kept informed about stock shortages, delivery delays, or disruptions.
3. Preventive measures: knowing what actions are being taken to prevent the virus from spreading.
4. Communication: receiving clear information about suppliers’ health and safety rules.
5. Flexibility: the removal of penalties in cases of delay or cancellation.

To regain customer trust, communication and customer relationship management must be included in the company’s new roadmap.
A recent survey shows that 50% of companies claim they are marketing-ready to face the crisis.
But are they really prepared? And what should those still “in the fog” do?

The Need to Optimize Customer Relationships in Times of Crisis
Whether it’s a global issue like COVID-19 or a local emergency, companies must have a crisis communication plan and be ready to adapt their customer relationships. This is a company-wide project involving all departments — from customer service teams to websites, social media, and customer-facing staff.
According to Gartner, 81% of B2B buyers are worried about the situation. This anxiety stems from business paralysis, lack of clarity for themselves or their teams, and the fear of being overwhelmed by the workload required to adapt to change.
Although we can’t always control the crisis itself, we can control how we respond to it — throughout the various stages we go through.

Six Keys to Communicating Effectively During a Crisis
Here are six best practices to help you craft a communication plan that conveys both the impact of the situation and the next steps for your customers.

1. Show Empathy
Show your customers that you care. People seek connection in times of uncertainty, and businesses play a key role in providing it.
Send a message to your customers to acknowledge the problem and offer the help they can expect from you. Social media, email, and online communities are great channels for short, immediate communication.
Don’t follow the example of Royal Air Maroc, which completely shut down its customer relations during the COVID-19 period — suspending all phone calls for over two months and even blocking incoming emails (customers received a “The recipient’s mailbox is full and can’t accept messages now” reply). A true customer experience misstep!

2. Be Proactive in Your Customer Relationship
Your customers depend on you more than ever in times of crisis. Communicate proactively about any changes or impacts on your business.
Don’t make your customers search for information — bring it to them. Proactive communication allows your teams to focus on essential tasks rather than answering the same questions repeatedly.
Use multiple channels: emails, SMS, push notifications, social media, IVR systems, chatbots, homepage banners, or dedicated landing pages.
Each generation has its preferred communication channel — for instance, 49% of customers use smartphones as a shopping tool.
Tailor your strategy by channel: use Facebook for philanthropic messages or donation drives, Twitter for community engagement, and Instagram for health-related content (according to Gartner’s effectiveness analysis).

3. Offer Comfort
Respond with authenticity and compassion. Show your humanity.
For example, Spotify doubled all donations to support the music industry. In the U.S., CVS waived delivery fees for prescription drugs during the pandemic. Other companies provided free meal deliveries to seniors to keep them safe at home.

4. Stay Humble
A crisis is no time for promotional campaigns. Do not try to capitalize on tragedy.
According to the Harvard Business Review, 89% of consumers want brands to produce goods or services that help fight the virus, and 54% are willing to consider new products only if they contribute to the pandemic response.

5. Be a Source of Inspiration
Those less affected can often help others. Be a catalyst for corporate citizenship — do what you can to help.
Share your web space with charities, promote donation campaigns, support coordination efforts, or offer products, services, funds, or time.
Host webinars to guide your customers.
Salesforce, for example, offered free access to its CRM platform for 30 days to help companies manage customer service remotely.
Marriott and Hilton launched “Hotels for Hope,” providing free rooms to medical staff near hospitals. Simmons donated 100,000 mattresses. GE and Ford joined forces to produce ventilators.

6. Audit Your Entire Process
From order to delivery, payment to after-sales service — review your entire communication flow with customers.
Evaluate all channels — social media, promotional and transactional emails, push notifications, and SMS — to identify messages that must be paused or adjusted.
Failing to do so could harm your brand if a message appears inappropriate or tone-deaf.

A Company-Wide Effort
Adapting your communication strategy in a crisis requires an enterprise-wide effort.
Form a cross-functional task force including experts in public relations, social media, email, data and IT, mobile, web, philanthropy, retail, logistics, supply chain, and customer service to coordinate actions.
Then, create a communication governance plan defining responsibilities across your organization. Develop a crisis strategy and message templates.
Finally, integrate official health and safety resources from government and public institutions into your communication and operations.
This will help you remain helpful, empathetic, and effective in guiding your customers through this extraordinary period.
Laurent van Hamme