Why Most Sales Teams Get Online Messaging Wrong

This week’s GC Insight comes from Summer Wong, our Luxury Consultant, reflecting on digital clienteling.

This is the reality of online clienteling for many luxury brands today. The channels are there, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, WeChat.

But the skill to use them meaningfully? That’s still catching up.

In a physical retail store, the energy of a space, a warm greeting, a well-timed pause, these carry the relationship.

Online, all you have is a message. Every word, every timing, every choice of format becomes the experience.

After years of working with top clients, here are five shifts that separate advisors who build genuine digital relationships from those who simply occupy inboxes:

Before a client reads your message, they have already seen your profile photo. Before they trust your taste, they have scrolled your Instagram. Before they believe you understand luxury, your visual presence has already made the case for or against you.

What does your WhatsApp profile picture say about you? Is your Instagram a reflection of the world your clients live in? These details are credibility.

Your personal brand online is an extension of the service you deliver in person. Make it worth their attention.

Generic check-ins don’t feel caring to clients; they feel like routine maintenance, and most clients notice this, even if they never say it out loud.

A thoughtful touchpoint tied to something specific, a new arrival that matches their taste, a cultural moment they’d appreciate, a piece that reminds you of something they mentioned, always lands differently. It signals attention. It says: I was thinking of you, specifically.

This shifts messaging from completing a task to engaging with intention.

“Dear Summer, our new arrivals are here…” is not personalisation. It’s a template.

True personalisation is showing a client that you remember. That you were listening.

Reference a purchase they made six months ago and how this new piece would complement it. Mention the trip they said they were taking and suggest something that might be perfect for it. Acknowledge a milestone they shared in the past.

When clients feel recognised rather than targeted, the dynamic shifts entirely. They stop being a sales opportunity and start being a relationship.

There’s a meaningful difference between a sales push and a personal edit.

“We just received our new collection” is a broadcast. Anyone could receive it.

“I immediately thought of you when this arrived. It has the same quiet confidence as the piece you chose last spring” is curation. Only you could send it.

The most effective digital advisors think like editors, not catalogues. Edited selections, thoughtful styling suggestions, gifting ideas framed around a person’s life. This is how messaging becomes a service, not a transaction.

The advisor who curates becomes the one clients turn to first.

Observe before you impose.

Does your client send long, detailed messages or short, punchy replies? Do they use voice notes, or do they prefer text? Are they expressive with emojis, or does their style lean formal and precise?

Mirroring is not mimicry. It’s attunement. Adjusting your communication rhythm to match theirs. A client who messages in quick bursts doesn’t want a five-paragraph response. A client who voice-notes their excitement probably appreciates the same energy reflected back.

In clienteling, comfort is connection. When clients feel comfortable in how you communicate, they stay in the conversation longer and the relationship deepens naturally.

The channel is not the strategy. WhatsApp, WeChat, Instagram, these are simply where clients are. What matters is whether your team knows how to show up meaningfully once they’re there.

When digital clienteling is done well, technology disppears. All that remains is the feeling of being truly known.

What does online clienteling look like in your team today, and where does the gap tend to show up most?

If you are interested in sharpening the online communication impact of your team, let’s connect!

Whenever you are ready, here are the ways we can support you (or your business) to thrive in your industry:

• Review Your Customer Loyalty Strategy

• Design a Clienteling Learning Ecosystem

• Elevate Your Clienteling Capability

• Master The Art and Science of Clienteling™

• Deliver an Inspiring Keynote

• Support Your Leadership and Communication Development