We all know the mantra: customers want to communicate via their preferred channel. Why is this so significant? Because messaging has become a major global obsession.
The buzz, beeps, and pings of messages are an ever-present part of our lives. A 2019 Deloitte study underpins this, suggesting that 53 percent of people look at their phones more than 25 times a day.
Indeed, messaging is more than a preference; it is a habit. As a result, many Millennial and Gen Z brands are introducing the channel to engage with younger customers.
Yet, messaging apps also draw a broader audience, with many older people introduced to the channel via family WhatsApp and Messenger groups. Such familiarity gives the channel exponential potential.
In China, this is most evident. WeChat is already the number one networking, mobile payments, and shopping. Plastic bank cards are fast disappearing. Many even speculate that messaging apps could kill off browsers and apps over time.
Comparatively, our usage of messaging apps is modest. But, it is seemingly a sign of the change that is to come.
So, how can companies prepare for a future of consumer messaging? Perhaps the first step is to understand the fundamentals of what an excellent messaging experience looks like. Kustomer breaks this down into its three Cs.
- Convenience
- Connections
- Continuous Conversations
With guidance from its report, entitled: “The Modern Age of CX Messaging,” here is how brands can begin to build messaging experiences that contain each of these critical components.
Create Convenience
Messaging allows proactive, personal, and low-effort services. Moreover, apps such as WhatsApp enable companies to blend modalities, harnessing images, video, and perhaps even gifs.
An excellent messaging experience plays to these strengths, enabling convenient service, best paired with a short speed to answer.
The latter is critical, but proving extremely difficult for most contact centers. The Kustomer study underlines this, finding that 89 percent of customers think that contacting customer service should be easier and more convenient than it currently is.
How can companies deliver on this need for speed? Many will rush to automate contacts with conversational AI. Yes, this can make a notable difference. However, also consider agent support systems to lower handle times safely.
After all, 50 percent of agent time now consists of searching for information and performing repetitive, manual tasks. According to the report: “This is no longer sustainable.” It continues:
Businesses need to tap into technology tools and AI to eliminate the menial, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks, with intelligent automations that can detect intent, collect relevant information, automate agent interactions, and route conversations.
Many companies are even turning to conversational AI to support agents, retrieving information, sharing customer insights, and even coaching agents as they respond to customers.
Harnessing such technology to delve into the CRM, knowledge, and tracking systems – for example – will lower service levels, help overcome problems promptly, and allow agents to focus on building customer connections.
Build Connections
Messaging is a highly personal channel. Customers have likely experienced many emotive conversations via these apps – especially in comparison to equivalents, such as email.
Of course, many will place a bot upfront for simple queries. Yet, for those loyalty-building, complex exchanges, nothing is better than real conversation with an agent that cares.
Easy access to a CRM helps provide information to build rapport and add personalization. Yet, beyond that is the trickier topic of training customer service teams to be the brand’s human face.
Establishing values, supporting employee wellbeing, and leading from the top are critical considerations to service customers who no longer want to feel like a number in a queue.
Also, empowering agents to escalate messages to an audio or video conversation – when it matters most – will deliver an authentic, personable experience.
In a world where 82 percent of people appreciate it when companies communicate with them in a friendly, conversational manner, such an experience will allow customers to create genuine connections with the brand.
Foster Continuous Conversations
If the rise of omnichannel has taught us anything, it is that a channel’s value is often proportionate to its degree of integration.
Siloes stopping easy access to customer information and disconnections preventing channel shift stilts customer communication and the progression of CX.
Moreover, these issues clash with the expectations of modern consumers. Indeed, 80 percent of consumers expect agents to know about their orders and history without communicating it.
In addition, 69 percent of consumers appreciate the ability to switch service channels without losing context. This percentage increases when considering younger consumers.
These statistics stem from the Kustomer report, which concludes: “Consumers don’t want the conversation to end once a ticket is closed.”
Further findings support this claim, with the study also uncovering that 73% of consumers appreciate follow-up after their problem is solved.
Drawing a conclusion from this data, it notes:
Businesses must leverage a modern-day customer service CRM that focuses on the customer at the center of each interaction. A single and full view of the customer, and an integrated data system, gives you the complete context of that customer’s history so that you can take the right next action, at scale.
Again, this underlines the importance of a fully integrated CRM, connecting every channel to enable convenient, continuous messaging experiences that facilitate customer connections.
Final Thoughts
Messaging apps offer much potential in building more intimate customer experiences. Yet, success in the contact center is far from guaranteed.
Sure, it is tempting to ditch email in favor of messaging, especially as open rates are often much higher. But, brands must explore use cases, test demand, and track engagement through a pilot project first.
In addition, it is critical to remember: channels typically multiply, not die. Voice and email are the channels most customers feel comfortable with, for now. Yet, change is coming – it is just a stroll, not a sprint.
With such multiplication, companies must also embed the channel deep into their digital ecosystem. After all, a channel’s value is often proportionate to its degree of integration – as the rise of omnichannel has taught us.
Having all customer channels plumbed into an out-of-the-box hub – such as Kustomer – is ideal, allowing omnichannel routing and enabling smart decisions based on intent and context across every channel.
Learn more about how Kustomer is supporting omnichannel strategies – which include messaging – by visiting: www.kustomer.com
Alternatively, to uncover more about how to deliver excellent messaging experiences, check out its report: The Modern Age of CX Messaging
