Every business model thrives on being reachable and accessible to the broader public. When there are more eyes on your business, it’ll naturally increase the rate at which you can close out deals and increase your sales figures.

That being said, a lot of businesses unknowingly make it harder for themselves to stand out. This can make it more difficult for customers to find your business and initiate a transaction, thus reducing your potential revenue ceiling and causing your business to dwell in a never-ending state of survival.

If you find yourself questioning the possibility of your business’s low reach, then you’re in the right place. This article will help you determine if your business is reachable or not. Then, we’ll give you a breakdown of steps that your business could take to improve its accessibility.

Let’s jump right into it!

4 Signs Your Business is Hard to Reach

Sometimes, the biggest barrier to growth isn’t your product or pricing—it’s how difficult it is for customers to actually contact your business. As such, it’s vital to be aware of your touchpoint flow and proactively fix it to ensure that your customers can reach you with little friction.

This, of course, starts by gaining awareness of these signs in the first place. You may not be aware that you’re not unlocking your business’s potential in terms of its reach and access. Here are these signs in greater detail:

1. Customers Can’t Find Basic Information Easily

A sign that your business is lagging in terms of its reach potential is when your customer base finds it difficult to find important information about your business. 

If customers have to message you just to ask for your location, operating hours, pricing, or available services, it creates unnecessary friction at the start of their buying journey.

When you notice a trend that slows down decision-making, this could be the difference maker in having customers choose the competition instead of your business. As such, it’s important to make basic business information readily available as much as possible.

For instance, if you have a social media page on Instagram, then you can pin your business’s opening hours and product offerings at the top of your page. Or, you could make it a highlight that potential customers can easily scroll through. 

If you have a website, put all the important information in the footer of the homepage—or in a dedicated webpage that’s clearly marked for the customer’s convenience. For physical storefronts, put up clear signage of your business’s location and other pertinent information like open hours. Do this in spots with visible foot traffic.

By improving accessibility in these areas, you could give your customers a better chance to reach your business and potentially transact instead of leaving it for another competitor entirely.

1. You Don’t Respond on Time

Another indicator of a business with poor communication is when they fail to respond to emails and queries promptly. 

Customers expect a high level of professionalism when contacting your establishment. If you reply in a delayed time, this may signal to them that they’re not a priority, which could lead to them bringing their business elsewhere.

Speed affects conversion. As such, if you see that your customer service team don’t meet promptness KPIs, then it’s essential to work on that problem ASAP. This may mean integrating auto-reply software to keep customers on the call or hiring extra hands to handle more messages.

1. You Depend on a Single Communication Channel

Do you rely on just a single email or phone number to enable customers to reach you? Is only one person handling each account or number?

If you said yes to both, then you’re putting up a bottleneck that could massively stunt your earning potential. When all inquiries are funnelled through one channel and person, this could reduce the rate at which your business can handle business emails. 

It could even lead to dissatisfaction for customers in some instances, as phone lines could get busy or emails could be too full to accept any new messages.

To avoid this, businesses should diversify their communication channels and distribute responsibilities across a team or system. For instance, businesses can invest in inbound business phone numbers to allow multiple agents to handle multiple open lines. You can set up a business number with Teleca.

You could also consider outsourcing queries to services that handle calling operations, like call centres. When the customer has an easier time contacting a representative of your company, you’ll have an easier time appeasing them and getting them to convert—leading to higher revenue potential for your business.

1. Customers Complain About Reach in Surveys 

One more sign that your business may be hard to reach is when customers explicitly mention it in feedback forms and review posts. 

Sometimes, your customers may write down reviews about your company on third-party websites or on your website’s product review page. You may also request them to fill out a survey about their experience.

The insights you can gain from feedback can be extremely valuable in helping you see how your customers perceive your product. More importantly, it helps you see what could be lacking in certain departments—both in terms of the product itself and the overall purchase experience.

If you’ve spotted a trend wherein your customers complain about a lack of contact options or bad response times, then this could be something your business could work on addressing to enhance your overall business performance.

Accessibility Audit: Things to Do to Improve Business Accessibility

Identifying gaps in your business’s accessibility can feel overwhelming, especially since multiple factors—from communication channels to response times—can affect how easily customers reach you. However, understanding where these gaps exist is a crucial first step toward improving them.

That said, accessibility isn’t fixed overnight. It’s built through making intentional steps to lessen the friction in which your customers can connect and transact with your business. If you want the task to feel a little lighter, then read on. We’ll list down the essential steps to help you actively improve your business’s accessibility.

• Improve contact information visibility across your social media pages and website.
• Offer multiple communication channels to attract a wider customer base.
• Make sure customer service agents maintain a fast response time.
• Use tools like shared inboxes or CRM systems to manage and track messages.
• Keep your business information accurate and consistently updated.
• Implement chatbots to reply automatically to customer queries during operational downtime.
• Provide a standard operating procedure to your CS team to handle customer interactions professionally and consistently.
• Review customer feedback and integrate it to improve your overall accessibility.

The list above includes just some of the ways you can improve your business’s reach. By refining your business’s accessibility, you can create a more reliable customer journey. This, in turn, can increase the odds of product conversion and achieving a loyal customer base.

All the best in refining and improving your business communications sustainably!