A Detailed Overview of Business Communication Channels and Their Applications

Business communication channels are deployed for internal and external communication purposes. For a business, effective communication plays a critical role in all legacy business operations. Without a strong communication system, a company can’t hope to succeed. Business organization and communication are two sides of a coin. There are different types of business communication channels available these days.

Conventionally, we only had limited means and technology for establishing business communications, and that included only phone calls and fax messages. Due to the limitations in functionalities of business communication systems, we were not able to convey some of the prudent business prospects and operations. The times have changed now. Now we have access to extensive business communication systems.

What are Business Communication Channels?

A communication channel is basically a medium through which a person contacts another person for exchanging information. In layman's terms, communication channels are there to establish a conversation between two people sitting at remote locations. When it comes to business communication channels, it is established for exchanging information with clients and customers for providing service-related support.

Whenever a client or customer wants to share a concern, raise a dispute, make a transaction, or process a specific function related to a service, they will try to contact the company via one of the business communication channels. A dedicated representative is appointed to receive the contact request of customers and entertain them with their concerns and transactions on behalf of the company.

• Business communication generally involves probing a few questions and answering those questions. It is mostly between a person-to-person, over the phone, by email, or fax. These business conversations are necessary because a lot of business activities will depend on the instructions relayed during the conversation.
• A business communication channel is deployed for two reasons - external or internal. A business generally entails two major stakeholders - Clients/Customers and in-house. Either a company is customer-oriented or client-oriented. Keeping good connections with these stakeholders is paramount for the growth and success of a company.
• Establishing smooth and convenient communication systems with stakeholders help in better communication, which leads to better satisfaction, and more retention; eventually leading to better business outcome.
• Sales and marketing are the departments that are responsible for bringing more ROIs to a company. For delivering top-notch sales and marketing operations, multiple business communication channels are necessary.

External business communication channels are their conversating with clients, prospects, customers, business partners, shareholders, vendors, dealers, and investors. Internal business communication channels are there for communicating important details related to business operations among the team members and other departments of the company (the communication remains within the organization).

Although, we have extensive business communication channels available today, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we can all of them for running an effective business. Although providing your stakeholders with multiple communication options is good because it is convenient, you should also be mindful of their preferences. If the stakeholders feel more comfortable with a certain communication channel, you should rather focus on that channel.

Read More: The Advantages of Hiring a Third-Party Vendor for Business Growth

Types of Business Communication Channels

The purpose of having different communication channels is to provide your internal and external members remain connected. For some companies, a certain type of business communication channel would work fine but it all depends on how convenient it is for the company’s stakeholders and not the company itself. Establishing easily accessible and efficient communication channels helps in creating a good rapport among the clients.

Today, we are going to discuss a few impactful business communication channels and their significance. In some cases, a single business communication channel works fine both ways - external and internal. Before choosing the right communication channel, you must contemplate what communication fits your purpose best and how much would it cost to establish one. In the end, the cost of investment should be worthwhile.

Face-to-Face Communication or Video Conferencing

The first on the list of best business communication channels is video conferencing. If you wish to make the session more interactive and detailed-oriented, video conferencing is the best bet for an effective business communication channel. However, it only suits best when you are trying to interact with B2B sales or business proposal-related interactions. Video conferencing virtually shows everything that a face-to-face conversation may look like.

However, if there is a need for repetitive conversations like in the case of customer handling, video conferencing business communication channels won’t be such a good idea. Video conferencing is ideal for internal communication channels for team meetings and external client meetings in which investors, stakeholders, and business partners are involved because it demands one to be presentable, interactive, and aesthetically pleasing.

Conventional Phone Calls

Undoubtedly, the most impactful mode of communication has always been the old-school phone calls only. In the verbal sense, emails are ideal, and when it comes to voice, phone calls put the most everlasting impact. Phone calls are the fastest mode of business communication channels regardless of the levels or degrees of communication. Whether executive level or management level or upper level, phone calls suit all levels.

Phone call communication channels have always been the first mode of communication mediums for conveying urgent, formal, direct messages to people belonging to all kinds of levels. Especially, if you are handling a significant number of people on a daily basis like customer support service, the best communication channel is the phone call system. Even people of stature have admitted that phone calls are the best communication channel.

Text Messaging

Text messages are a simple, subtle, yet pretty impactful way of communicating short messages. Of course, it is not feasible to carry out extensive conversations via simple text messages. Text messaging is one of the business communication channels that lie somewhere between the grey area of phone calls and emails. Text messages are suitable for sending short-term marketing campaign texts or quick reminders.

Some folks admit that they prefer short messages better than email or phone calls. Traditionally, people used pagers, and PDAs (personal digital assistants) designated for short reminders for important meetings and business appointments. In many cases, a small text message would suffice to convey a simple message. It is not advisable to make a call or send an elaborate email to send someone a gentle reminder about a trivial task.

Emails

Now we all have seen and tried the potential of an email. Email is by far the most formal way of communicating a message, sending an invite, pitching sales and marketing scripts, sending a business proposal, and whatnot.

• If you wish to communicate something to someone on a serious note, an email would be the first thing that will arise in your mind. Email is the pioneer of effective business communication mediums to date.
• Email is still considered the most authentic business communication channel whether we are discussing internal or external organizational business communication affairs. It implores everyone to try their best to formulate their message.
• Email is one of the best ways to test the legitimacy, professionalism, conscientiousness, and other capabilities of a person or an organization. Although, spam emails are always a pain point for everyone.
• Otherwise, if leveraged properly, an email business communication channel could be a great tool to synthesize sales and marketing pitches and extract the maximum number of business leads.

We can use email communication channels in almost all cases except there are a few scenarios when it is advised not to use this channel, for example, emails should not be used for short insignificant messages and at the same time highly complicated messages that may require a phone call.

Live Chat

Live chats are new in the line of extensive business communication channels, where clients or customers both can visit your website and immediately initiate a live chat conversation at any given point.

• In fact, a live chat support system has become a mandatory communication channel on every commercial website. With the help of a live chat support system, many companies have been able to serve their customers in a better way.
• Unlike a phone call system, a customer support agent can entertain multiple chat conversations at the same time. So, the long hauling wait time has been reduced since the advent of chat support.
• Customers are able to immediately get connected with online assistance. Whether a customer is trying to gather information about the product or service, or trying to place an order.

Online chat support can help customers with all sorts of online transactions. Live chat is not only dedicated to serving customers but it can be also used to promote B2B communications.

Also check: Everything You Need to Know About Business Process Automation

Conclusion:

Hence, these are the most prominent organizational business communication channels we use on a daily basis for handling the internal and external affairs of the company. One must understand the complete potential of each of these channels so that their benefits could be leveraged for getting better business leads.

Communication is the key to making leads. If you have robust communication systems, you have already empowered your business. In recent, social media platforms are also becoming top-notch communication channels as it is easy to reach your target audience via social media.