COVID-19, what a crazy ride it’s been so far! More than ever the public are looking to pharmacies for guidance and support. Whether that be for hand sanitizer, their scripts or for general advice, every client I have recently spoken to have said that customer communication is higher than it’s ever been. Some of your team members might be spending their whole day on the phone or responding to emails from people seeking advice.
What has been the most difficult for both pharmacies and the public is the ever-changing information. Every couple of days there is something new being passed by the Government to protect the Australian community. This of course makes a lot of sense, but also extremely hard to navigate! So, today we are going to share some ways to communicate with your customers during a crisis to hopefully help you alleviate some stress for your team.
Direct all communications to one place
The ways people communicate with pharmacies has shifted. From the introduction of digital scripts and the Australia Post delivery service a lot has changed almost overnight. Therefore, with any new system there will be teething problems. These teething problems also extends to other health professionals changing how they communicate to you. For example, doctors and contactless scripts.
So, the best way to manage the influx of communication is being clear with where they can contact you. The beauty of Google and other digital platforms is now people can reach out to businesses in a lot of different ways. However, this also can pose a threat to your pharmacy that maybe some contact is being delayed or not received in a timely manner due to it coming from multiple channels. Make sure you choose your main point of contact tool, then direct all your other communication tools to your preferred one. For example, if you are wanting everyone to call through to the pharmacy, set up automated responses on both your email and social media channels directing customers through to your designated phone number.
Utilise social media to share updates
Social media is such a powerful tool during the current climate. People are on social media so much more during self-isolation and being at home. Therefore, this should be used to your advantage for communication. Any update that you would like to your customer base should also be communicated on social media.
There are also so many resources that are related to COVID-19 available for pharmacies. The Pharmacy Guild for example are sharing many visuals and tools you can use to communicate with your customers. If you are a part of a brand, then also make sure you rely on head office for communication. They will be posting a lot on their main social media pages and you can use this to share onto your profiles and pages.