Any company can face it, whatever its sector of activity: a crisis. Indeed, the management of an alarming event is something important to take into account in a company strategy.
A company affected by a problem should not remain silent! On the contrary, it must act quickly and communicate with its customers and employees.
Communication tools are relevant to use in this case, and SMSFactor advises you the SMS crisis management! Opt for SMS alerts which will allow you to quickly reach all your contacts!
Communicating during a disruption
Your customers trust you and will take it badly if a crisis occurs and they are not informed directly. Transparency is essential in a company. A crisis is managed in 3 stages:
- Detection: alerting all the players who could be affected, using a crisis management SMS for example;
- Evaluation of the situation: quickly think about the solutions to be brought to resolve the problem;
- Exiting the crisis: letting everyone know that the disruption is over!
First of all, you need to tell your employees that a crisis is taking place. Indeed, good internal communication is more than important in this type of case, especially if you are in a large company where information can take a long time to get out. Everyone in the company is affected by the crisis and must react accordingly.
Secondly, you should tell your customers as soon as possible. This will prevent them all from contacting customer service to find out what the problem is. Communicating with customers with a crisis management SMS during all stages of the resolution of the crisis will help maintain the trust they have in you, so don't neglect this aspect. Everyone makes mistakes, even in business, the important thing is not to hide them.
It is essential to have a "crisis plan" if it happens so that you are not distraught and know what to do. This will save precious time when dealing with the impasse you are experiencing: prevention is better than cure!
Tools for good crisis management
You need to choose the most appropriate communication tools for your needs, especially when it comes to communicating with your customers during a crisis.
At the beginning :
- Internal communication tools: You can use company social networks ("slack" for example) or send mass SMS messages which will enable you to quickly reach all your employees.
Throughout the crisis :
- Monitoring tools: During the crisis, your communication department must be on the lookout for what is being said about your company on the Internet, not only on social networks, but also on consumer forums, news reports, etc. With good monitoring tools, you will be informed of your customers' state of mind during the management of your crisis and you will then be able to perfect your communication. Tip: thanks to the Zapier connector, you can be notified by SMS as soon as your company's name is mentioned online! Simply connect your monitoring solution with SMSFactor via Zapier.
- Social media: They are perfect for communicating in a crisis to your entire community. You can keep your customers who follow you on your social networks up to date by posting progress on the situation (in a few tweets for example). Of course this means that your Community Manager must be ready to answer the many questions that will be asked following your announcement.
- Sending SMS for crisis management: The SMS will allow you to alert your customers immediately in one single transmission. In a few words you can inform your customers that a crisis is taking place. Moreover, you are almost certain that the SMS will be read because its open rate is 97%! SMS is a good communication tool to integrate in your communication strategy in case of disruption because it perfectly combines speed and efficiency! SMS communication for crisis management is possible at all stages. From the beginning of the crisis to inform customers, then during the crisis to keep them informed of the progress and after the crisis to tell them that everything has been resolved.
- Protection tools : During a crisis, protecting critical information is essential. It can help communicating securely with your team, cliens or any stakeholder involved ! A good way to do that is to go for one of the best VPNs in the market to prevent unauthorized access to your network.
After :
- The press: This tool is not necessarily relevant for announcing the disruption but rather for the "aftermath" to inform that everything has been restored, to apologise and to explain what happened in order to be as transparent as possible. This may be best done in the form of a press release that is widely distributed.
SMS bonus: Following a corporate crisis it is important for you to know what your customers think at the moment and whether the crisis management was effective for them? Send them an SMS survey to find out what they thought of your response. You will be able to get the answers to your survey, analyse them and take feedback to improve in the event of a future crisis.
Examples of crisis management SMS
There is no clear-cut case of crisis for a company, it will depend on its sector, size and many other factors. In any case, whatever crisis a company undergoes will tarnish its reputation, but not necessarily in the long term when the crisis is managed masterfully.
Recalling a product due to failure
Whether you are a supermarket that has had a problem with the cold chain, or a laboratory that has to recall a series of medicines with untested side effects, it can happen. Send a crisis management SMS to your customers to let them know.
A transport issue
Here too, SMS is the ideal communication tool to warn customers in the event of an accident or work to tell them that their bus will be late, for example.
A problem with a supplier
Although the problem is not your fault, it is up to you to warn your customers. They will be delighted to be informed in advance that their order placed on your site will be delayed for example.
A natural disaster
In particular, town halls must react quickly and inform residents of what to do in the event of an earthquake or storm.
SMSFactor bonus: pre-register crisis management SMS templates directly in your software thanks to our SMS API! Also pre-register your contact lists. This allows you to be prepared. When the time comes, you will only need a few clicks to notify all your contacts!
You now know how to communicate with your customers in the event of a crisis in your company, in particular thanks to communication tools such as the professional SMS. Do you have a question about SMS and its use? Contact our team!