Covid-19 has forced a seismic shift in business-customer communications. Customers are now communicating from the comfort of their homes, preferring online and social channels rather than visits to malls, restaurants, or the doctor.
This has resulted in customer channel fragmentation, as customers use an endless array of tools to ask companies questions, search for information, or buy products. But customers still expect seamless, uninterrupted communication - and the customer is always right.
A recent report on global customer engagement surveyed 5,000 consumers across 14 countries and asked how the pandemic impacted how they communicate with businesses. It found that two-thirds of consumers worldwide used video more in August than they had in January, before the pandemic.
While video use surged, consumer interaction fragmented among other channels, including voice calls, email, chat and social media. Thirty-one percent of APAC customers preferred to communicate with brands via mobile phone calls, but the remaining 69 percent looked to a wide array of methods. This points to the increasing need for telco operators to provide a wide selection of communication options if they are to deliver a better customer experience.
Sunny Rao
SVP, API
Global Sales,
Vonage
Such changes present considerable hurdles for brands to set up multiple channels of communications, and unify those channels to ensure a seamless customer experience while providing a quick response. At the same time, this presents them an enormous opportunity to enhance customer communication.
With the right strategy and technology in place, telco operators can leverage a best-of-breed multichannel approach to adapt to these changes. Below are key trends shaping the future of business-customer communications.
#1: An Integrated, Multichannel Approach to Enhance Customer Experience
Covid-19 has sped up the evolution of how customers interact with brands, opting for a wide array of channels which include mobile phone calls, voice calls, email, chat and social media. What this means is that telco operators cannot rely on just one communication channel but rather a selection of channel options.
The fragmentation of consumer communication preference across channels also underlines the importance of unifying channels to provide a seamless, integrated customer experience. Every channel should update new customer interactions made on others. For instance, a customer might first speak to a company via its chat function, then give it a ring. They may send a follow-up email a few days later or connect with the brand via a social network. With an integrated omnichannel technology solution, each channel will already be up to date with the customer's previous conversation on different channels, helping resolve their issues faster, provide a more efficient experience, and eliminate the need for the customer to repeat themselves.
Telkom Indonesia provides a great example of an effective omnichannel customer communication approach. Using an application programming interface (API), the telco provider notifies millions of customers on billing updates and reminders through WhatsApp - Indonesians’ top mobile app. Those the company fails to reach on WhatsApp are notified through SMS. The API also enables Telkom Indonesia’s chatbot to respond to customers with commonly requested information including billing queries, product details and corporate information. The API is embedded within the telco’s system and helps overcome undelivered notifications.
#2: Businesses Adopting New Communication Channels
Businesses across industries are now engaging with customers through channels they did not use before. For instance, with Covid-19 forcing consumers worldwide to adopt telehealth and remote learning, healthcare and education providers have turned to video solutions to ensure business continuity.
While customer demands grow for virtual experiences and with that, the adoption of newer channels, businesses - in particular, telco operators - will be challenged to differentiate and deliver personalized engaging customer experiences.
For instance, Philippine-based operator Globe Telecom’s innovative developer community Globe Labs decided to employ voice APIs to expand its offerings. This was on the back of voice solutions’ increasing popularity among Filipinos as a search tool for queries, weather updates, and road navigation and even to automate payment reminders. Through voice APIs, the company helps brands in the country and across Southeast Asia deploy voice technology solutions to connect with their customers with personalized, contextual communication.
#3: Increased Use of AI and Machine Learning
The integration of AI and machine learning in business processes has increased over the last few years and can be a vital part of customers’ contact with telco operators.
In contact centers, it can effectively manage low level queries, ensuring that customers have a low-effort experience in resolving their issues. This can enhance customers’ interactions with companies while also increasing productivity within the business, as more calls are quickly solved.
Customer service voicebots, for instance, can answer customers' questions or even provide step-by-step instructions to resolve issues. Voicebots can also connect customers to human agents for more complex questions. The result is a better experience for the customer and greater operational efficiency for the business, with human agents able to spend a greater amount of their time handling more complex tasks and customer inquiries.
Applications of AI in business environments are also helping to enhance collaboration and communications. For example, voice assistants can help schedule meetings, make calls, send SMS messages, and even translate voicemails to text.
AI and machine learning are set to improve over time, meaning that more and more tasks will be handled, perhaps even without much employee involvement.
Cloud communication technologies continue to play a vital role
To connect with consumers now and in the future, telco operators must adopt an omnichannel communication approach and employ innovative communications technologies that allow them the flexibility to embed programmable capabilities or APIs - voice, video, messaging and verification - directly into existing applications and workflow.
I believe the seamless integration of unified omnichannel communications, while adding layers of AI, machine learning and programmable APIs, will be key differentiators for telco operators to succeed in offering a personalized and frictionless customer experience in 2021.
