Choosing Effective Communication Channels for Your Business

When running a company, effective communication is a cornerstone of success. It is not just the message that's important, but also the channel through which it is conveyed. The right communication channel can significantly impact how your message is received and interpreted, whether you're presenting new information to your entire organization or discussing a task with a single colleague.

The Formality Spectrum in Communication

Communication can be formal, informal, or unofficial. Each type has its place in the business world:

• Formal Communication: This often includes sensitive information like policies and company strategies. Think of business plans, annual reports, contracts, and company-wide correspondence​.
• Informal Communication: These channels are also essential for business but are presented in a more casual manner. They often involve conversations with coworkers or requests for assistance​.
• Unofficial Communication: This type of communication usually takes place outside of the workplace and is entirely casual and unrelated to work topics, like chatting about a favorite sports team during a break​.

Diverse Communication Channels

Depending on the nature and urgency of your message, different communication channels may be more appropriate. Broadly, these can be categorized into written, digital, and mobile communication:

1. Written Communication: This is a formal and less urgent method of communication, often used for contracts, notices, and other company-wide documents. Examples include memos, contracts, reports, manuals, and guides​.
2. Digital Communication: These channels can be used for both formal and informal communication, ranging from extremely urgent to not at all urgent. Examples include email, messaging apps, project management apps, video conferencing software, intranet, blogs, social media, live chat, and more​.
3. Mobile Communication: This is a form of digital communication that's specific to mobile devices. It includes mobile phone calls, SMS text messaging, messaging apps, and video calls on mobile apps​​.

Top Communication Channels for Teams

1. Email: It's common, easy to use, and integrates well with other platforms like video conferencing software and task management platforms. While it's a reliable method, response times can be slower​.
2. Face-to-Face: This age-old method remains the most reliable medium of communication, with varying levels of formality from passing conversations to formal meetings​.
3. Video Conferencing: This is great for remote or hybrid teams as it mimics face-to-face communication, increasing engagement and promoting collaboration​.
4. Instant Messaging Apps: These are excellent for quick, real-time dialogue. However, care should be taken as context and tone can sometimes be misinterpreted.

The Power of Mobile Communication

Mobile communication channels, a subset of digital communication, cater specifically to mobile devices. These channels include mobile phone calls, SMS text messaging, messaging apps, and video calls on mobile apps. With the ever-increasing dependence on smartphones, mobile communication forms a crucial part of the communication mix. It's important to ensure that your business fully utilizes these channels for immediate, direct communication, especially when reaching out to remote employees or engaging with customers on-the-go.

Choosing the Right Channel

So, how do you choose the best communication channels for your needs? It all depends on the context, the nature of the message, and the audience.

For Teams

In the context of internal team communication, variety is the key. Relying on one medium, such as email, can lead to message fatigue, with all messages being treated with the same priority. Diversifying your communication channels based on the situation and the message will enhance the reception and processing of your messages.

For instance, email, as common as it is, is best for formal digital communications, messages with lower urgency for response, and messages with attachments. Meanwhile, instant messaging apps provide fast, casual communication perfect for real-time dialogues and quick reminders. Video conferencing, on the other hand, is a great tool for remote or hybrid teams, client meetings, and team meetings, especially when face-to-face interaction is not possible.

For Customer Service

When it comes to customer service, the emphasis is on choosing channels that foster a personal, engaging, and responsive relationship with customers. Social media platforms, live chat, and phone calls are excellent choices in this regard, allowing for real-time interaction and immediate response to customer inquiries or complaints.

In the era of digital transformation, businesses are also turning to AI-powered chatbots to handle initial customer interactions, guide customers through various processes, and gather information before escalating the issue to human agents. However, human touch remains irreplaceable for complex inquiries and for customers who prefer human interaction.

For Business-wide Communications

For business-wide communications such as announcements, policy updates, and company-wide correspondence, channels that can reach all employees effectively and efficiently are needed. Email, intranet, and digital signage are typically used for these purposes.

Disadvantages of Communication Channels

Email

• Slower response times are expected. This is because, unlike instant messaging or phone calls, people don't always check their emails right away.
• Open communication allowing outside entities to contact via email, which can lead to an overflow of messages or spam​.

Face-to-face

• While it is the most reliable medium of communication, it is not always practical, especially in today's increasingly remote and digital work environments.
• Meetings can be counterproductive if the goals and purposes are not clear and the meeting doesn't stay on task. About 71% of managers find meetings to be counterproductive when these criteria are not met​.

Video Conferencing

• It can be difficult to collaborate and prevent speaking over each other in a video conference.
• Different camera qualities can make for different levels of efficacy in communication​.

Instant Messaging Apps

• The context and tone can be misinterpreted in text-based communication.
• Attachment sizes can be limited, which might pose a problem when sharing larger files​.

A Word on Internal Team Chat Platforms

Companies with large teams or remote workers often rely on internal team chat platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams for real-time collaboration and communication. These platforms offer features like file sharing, video calling, and screen sharing, making them highly versatile tools for both formal and informal communication.

The journey towards effective business communication involves understanding and selecting the right communication channels. Remember, the method of communication you choose can make a significant difference in how your message is received and interpreted. Choose wisely, and ensure that you're utilizing each channel to its fullest potential based on your specific communication needs and goals.