End-to-End Customer Journeys: Better Conversations, Improved Brand Value

BT's Borja Garcia explains why end-to-end journeys are exactly what customers want

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Published: July 2, 2024

Linoy Doron

With customers increasingly demanding interaction with brands over their favourite channels, many modern businesses have opted for a data-driven, omnichannel contact strategy to generate higher engagement and better customer experiences.  

While ‘traditional’ omnichannel still offers a host of benefits that businesses continue to utilize, the advent of AI and improved conversational capabilities provides the opportunity to take customer engagement a step further. This next step is end-to-end customer journeys, where the entire service and sales funnel passes through the customer’s single channel of choice. 

“We already know that customers want two-way conversational interactions with brands through the channels they use with their friends and family,” says Borja Garcia, Product Manager at BT.  “But what’s even more interesting is, we see an increasing demand for smoother, less disjointed experiences within the same channel – be it RCS, WhatsApp, or other Rich Messaging channels.” 

This effectively means that brands need to begin reimagining their customer engagement to offer truly frictionless conversational experiences. With Rich channels, offering a set of features that lay the foundations for such journeys, brands can take that next step forward. 

What Will This Look Like? 

Here is what an end-to-end marketing funnel could look like: 

  1. Awareness and Consideration – In this initial stage, brands could leverage rich messaging channels to send personalized offers to customers and share dynamic carousels where consumers can flick through and discover different items.  
  2. Engagement – Still in the customer’s preferred messaging channel, this stage would involve a personalized message with a discount code or voucher for them to use. 
  3. Up and Cross-Selling – Continued communication through the same channel, offering defined clickable options for similar offers or upgrades. 
  4. Purchase – A “Buy now” button in the same conversation thread, connected to one or more payment apps.  
  5. Re-engagement and Loyalty – Still on the same channel, notifying the customer that their order has been completed and offering further clickable options such as downloading a user guide for their purchase, exploring add-ons, or filling out a survey. 

 “As the entire customer journey moves to one single preferred channel, we are also expected to see embedded delivery tracking features and suggested ‘one-tap’ replies, making it even easier for customers to interact with brands,” Garcia adds. 

A Natural Evolution of Omnichannel 

You must be reading this, wondering: How can single-channel and omnichannel coexist? In fact, we’re talking about an evolutionary process, beginning with a single channel, growing into omnichannel, and now, transitioning into end-to-end journeys. 

End-to-end journeys still offer omnichannel interactions in that they offer the full breadth of channels. However, if what existed before was a version of omnichannel that was still somewhat disjointed, with various pieces of communication spread across different channels – now, once a customer interaction starts in a certain channel, it will remain there for the rest of the journey. 

“The entire customer journey happens through a single digital channel, but it’s not because there aren’t other channels available to the business,” Garcia clarifies. “It is to remove entirely any potential friction caused by going back and forth between several channels and empower customers to self-serve and engage with brands through their channels of choice.” 

The Benefits 

What are the main benefits of keeping customer engagement in one channel? 

On the customer’s side, it enables a simpler, more consistent experience. 

 “Customers can now do everything within the same place, which is infinitely more convenient,” Garcia notes.  “It’s also very helpful for them to be able to keep track of the interaction details since there is only one thread to refer to.” 

For brands, end-to-end journeys mean lower drop-off rates throughout the purchasing journey, a higher sales rate, and increased customer loyalty.  

 “Businesses that are very early to adopt this trend can also position themselves as forward-thinking, innovative brands,” Garcia Sanchez says. 

 And let us not forget Conversational AI: 

 “Conversational AI technology is the intelligence that helps stitch these rich end-to-end customer journeys together, making interactions more personal and contextual.” 

With BT, The Future Starts Now 

It’s important to note that end-to-end customer journeys are not a future opportunity – they’re happening as we speak and are a globally growing trend. 

“WhatsApp payment for business, which is a great example of that trend, is already available in countries like India, Brazil, and Singapore, and it’s only the beginning,” Garcia says. 

With their Smart Messaging solution, BT supports brands to deliver end-to-end conversational experiences across Rich Communications Services (RCS), WhatsApp for Business, Apple Messages for Business, and more, leveraging conversational AI capabilities. They also offer guidance from their SMS security professionals and collaborate with organisations like the UK National Cyber Security Centre to ensure the safety of businesses and their customers.  

“With a robust infrastructure and direct connections to UK mobile networks, our experienced Messaging Team offers top-notch account management and customer success services to support businesses every step of the way,” Garcia concludes. 

To learn more about BT’s Smart Messaging solution, visit their website here. 

CCaaSCustomer Engagement CenterDigital TransformationOmni-channel

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