Communicating in a digital world

Understand the rules of digital body language.

Are you a digital immigrant or a digital native? It might have to do with the year you were born. According to Marc Prensky, digital expert, people born before 1980 are “digital immigrants” who had to adapt to the digital world, while “digital natives” born after 1980 are quite comfortable using virtual technology because they grew up with it.

No matter when you were born, it is important to understand the rules of digital body language. Some people have had to learn by trial and error, but mishaps can be prevented with a little help.

What does all of this have to do with running a successful gift shop? Plenty! If you can’t digitally communicate with your employees and customers, you can end up with misunderstandings, frustrations and disappointing results.

A deeper dive

Digital communication is how we transmit information via digital channels like emails, texts and video conferencing. Most of us are using, and in some cases misusing, these forms of communication with our customers and employees.

Digital body language is everything we do or say, or don’t do or say online. Digital body language helps us analyze and understand each other.

Digital body language helps us analyze and understand each other and what we want to do.

One example is sending email responses in a timely manner. A 2015 study by the USC Viterbi School of Engineering found that 50% of all email responses were sent within an hour.

For email responses sent by people ages 20 to 35, that number dropped to just 16 minutes. People between the ages of 35 and 50 typically answered within 24 minutes, and those age 50 and older responded an estimated 47 minutes later.

According to leadership expert Erica Dhawan, response times are lower since more of us use mobile devices.

Texting and instant messaging is another form of digital body language, which tends to be shorter and more concise than email communication.

Know your audience

The audience for these forms of communication should be informal. According to experts, when using social media in a professional setting, it is best to write in complete sentences although you don’t have to write out every word.

Find out the best way your gift shop customers prefer for you and your team to communicate with them digitally. Whether you identify as a digital immigrant of a digital native, you’re well on your way to better digital customer service.