Today, customer journeys are increasingly characterized by the ‘Autonomous Customer:’ An independent, tech-savvy type who is able and willing to self-serve. However, while this sounds lovely on paper, BT’s recent research in collaboration with Cisco reveals that things don’t always go that smoothly.
“In our annual research, we explore Customer Experience across contact channels, focusing on the highs, the lows, and the way forward,” shares Borja Garcia Sanchez, Product Manager at BT.
“We usually detect notable gaps between customer expectations and what businesses deliver in practice, and in 2023, one of the main themes was the rise of the Autonomous Customer,” he notes.
I spoke with Garcia Sanchez to get a glimpse into this year’s stats, learn about the implications for businesses, and see what they can do to bridge the gap.
Customer Preferences
In a nutshell, BT and Cisco’s data reveal customers who are much more inclined towards the digital experience, look for seamless and immediate contact with businesses, and prefer smart and personalized interactions. Here are some key stats from the 2023 research:
35% of customers are shopping more on apps, and 39% are shopping more on websites compared to 2022.
“We can see these digital channels are very well established, creating high expectations regarding the type of support that can be received through them,” Garcia Sanchez notes.
69% of consumers want organizations to make it really easy for them to contact them over the phone, webchat, email, messaging, and social media, and they find dealing with customer service issues very frustrating.
The research also reveals that many customers want smart, proactive, and personalized interactions built around their choices and backed up by robust systems that deliver them up-to-date responses.
“So, we can see a prominent need for innovation within this space,” Garcia Sanchez concludes.
What Does This Mean for Businesses?
Now, let’s try and understand what this effectively means for business.
“We see that businesses struggle to keep up with tightening customer expectations, and in some instances, it is simply not feasible for them,” Garcia Sanchez says.
Here are the main challenges:
- Providing 24/7 customer service by human agents, which is difficult both financially and practically
- Integrating various customer communication channels with existing systems
- Delivering a consistent customer experience across all channels and avoiding missing context situations forcing customers to repeat themselves
“These issues create ongoing frustration among customers, which tends to build up and translate to poor customer experiences and churn,” he explains.
BT’s Smart Messaging: Customer Expectations, Met
This is where BT’s Smart Messaging comes in, helping businesses transform customer journeys and encourage quality self-service. It offers a single cloud-based solution supporting personalized messaging across SMS, RCS, and WhatsApp, as well as AI-powered chatbots.
Other than addressing real-time queries or immediate issues from customers, speeding up response times, and helping them self-serve, Smarting Messaging chatbots really go the extra mile when it comes to personalization:
“We can learn from conversations to detect the type of queries a customer has and build a customer profile so that the chatbot knows who they are,” Garcia Sanchez explains.
“This way, every time customers self-serve, businesses not only meet but exceed their expectations, since the bot has a comprehensive view of their history and needs.”
To learn more about BT’s Smart Messaging, visit their website here.
