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<\/p>\nHow often do you answer a call from an unknown number? Or click on (yet another) promotional text from a brand you bought from once? I\u2019d guess hardly ever.<\/p>\n
Digital communications may be the de facto medium for most industries, but when it comes to building customer relationships there\u2019s a disconnect. In trying to pin the blame we point to rapid technological advancements, shifting consumer preferences, or sky-high standards. The reality is customer expectations have always been high. Businesses have just never been able to catch up.<\/p>\n
Customer Expectations Aren\u2019t the Problem<\/strong><\/h2>\nThink of your own expectations as a customer. When you need to contact a business you\u2019re not thinking about channels. You\u2019re thinking about what\u2019s convenient at that moment. This determines whether you pick up the phone, send an email, or click on a chatbot. And even if you like a brand, goodwill starts to fade when you\u2019re getting generic messages multiple times a week.<\/p>\n
These aren\u2019t unreasonable standards. So, is the problem customers\u2019 expectations or the infrastructure behind engagement? I\u2019d say the latter. Siloed systems, fragmented data, too much reliance on one-to-many personalization campaigns. It\u2019s the same list of usual suspects.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s go back to how these issues affect the customer experience. It could lead to people repeating themselves at every stage of support (i.e., wasting their time). It creates disjointed marketing campaigns, like someone getting an ad for an item they just returned (i.e., wasting money). A brand could start to be seen as \u201cspammy,\u201d which is hard to recover from.<\/p>\n
As consumers, we\u2019re subjected to so much noise, and it\u2019s become our responsibility to sift through it all. There needs to be a role reversal. It\u2019s on businesses to tailor communications to each customer and win them over with relevance (instead of settling for repetition).<\/p>\n
The Key to CX is a Long Memory<\/strong><\/h2>\nBusinesses have a short-term, transactional memory. They\u2019re focused on the next conversion or the following funnel stage. However, they should be thinking of the full arc of the customer relationship. The customer certainly is.<\/p>\n
Fragmentation makes it difficult for businesses to understand the bigger picture. This is where a customer profile comes in to contextualize. It consolidates the data that customers share directly (e.g., setting up their account) or indirectly (e.g., web or mobile activity). Crucially, this data updates in real time, so there\u2019s never a lag between a customer\u2019s experience and a business\u2019s understanding of it.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s use the example of a customer receiving a high bill for an unexpected overage. They contact billing, which sends them to customer support. In the middle of this, an account executive reaches out about a contract renewal. If I were the customer, my confidence in this business would plummet.<\/p>\n
So, let\u2019s reframe this: A customer receives an unexpected overage and contacts support. Artificial intelligence analyzes the call transcript and identifies a high level of frustration. This incident, \u00a0including the customer\u2019s perceived sentiment, is added to their profile (which aggregates every interaction they\u2019ve had with the business to date). Both the success manager and account executive are notified. But instead of getting up to speed on an isolated incident, they\u2019re able to see how it fits into the larger customer journey. As they coordinate on a resolution, they can factor in the customer\u2019s preferred channel, or even the time of day they prefer to be contacted, making the response feel even more personal.<\/p>\n
Along with offering something like a credit reallotment, they also have the opportunity to approach the contract renewal with more tact. The account executive could highlight certain add-ons or features that better align with the customer\u2019s current product usage, making them more cost effective. Instead of an out-of-touch sales pitch, it becomes a two-way conversation in which recommendations are rooted in the customer\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
People Want to Feel Listened to, Not Spied On\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\nWe\u2019re all wary of how our personal data is being used. Maybe there was a retargeted ad on a random website that felt Big Brother-esque. Or a promotional text that nearly got us to click \u2026 until we realized it was a scam.<\/p>\n
Every year, Twilio surveys consumers to understand the effectiveness of engagement strategies. This year, only\u00a015 percent said they “absolutely” trust brands with their data. I don\u2019t blame them. Fraud and phishing attacks are advanced, scaling with robo-callers and deceptive design. It\u2019s made consumers skeptical. Saying \u201cno\u201d is safer than saying \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without trust, you lose the customer from the get-go. To prevent that, businesses need to secure their tech stacks and respect individual preferences around data privacy (along with global regulations). This can include everything from regional data processing and encryption to honoring deletion requests and implementing two-factor authentication. Shifting to secure, branded communications like rich communications services (RCS) in native messaging apps adds to greater trust as well.<\/p>\n
Then, there\u2019s AI. On the one hand, AI will be instrumental in pre-emptively flagging fraudulent or suspicious activity and scaling personalization. However, just letting AI loose into your tech stack is not a strategy. There needs to be guardrails in place to ensure AI models aren\u2019t processing and sharing sensitive data they shouldn\u2019t have access to. There\u2019s also the matter of transparency. While conversational AI has moved far past rigid, robotic conversations, 54 percent of customers want to know when they\u2019re interacting with AI.<\/p>\n
Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/h2>\nFor a long time, businesses have been overestimating their customer connections. Someone buys an item once and suddenly they\u2019re inundated with messages to buy more. It\u2019s too much.<\/p>\n
To fix this, businesses have to start paying closer attention to the signals customers are sending, both direct and implied. Take a look at your communications: How many messages are being opened? Are people responding or giving them a quick glance before hitting delete?<\/p>\n
All it takes is one out-of-touch message for customers to disengage. You may have an idea of what people are interested in, but taking it a step further to understand how timing, context and mood might change their preferences is how you elevate engagement.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a new way to build trust. The brands that will win loyalty going forward won\u2019t necessarily be the loudest, but the most perceptive.<\/p>\n
Inbal Shani is chief product officer and head of R&D at Twilio, a customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalized experiences for today\u2019s leading brands.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Businesses have a short-term, transactional memory. They\u2019re focused on the next conversion or the following funnel stage. However, they should be thinking of the full arc of the customer relationship. The customer certainly is.<\/p>\n
Fragmentation makes it difficult for businesses to understand the bigger picture. This is where a customer profile comes in to contextualize. It consolidates the data that customers share directly (e.g., setting up their account) or indirectly (e.g., web or mobile activity). Crucially, this data updates in real time, so there\u2019s never a lag between a customer\u2019s experience and a business\u2019s understanding of it.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s use the example of a customer receiving a high bill for an unexpected overage. They contact billing, which sends them to customer support. In the middle of this, an account executive reaches out about a contract renewal. If I were the customer, my confidence in this business would plummet.<\/p>\n
So, let\u2019s reframe this: A customer receives an unexpected overage and contacts support. Artificial intelligence analyzes the call transcript and identifies a high level of frustration. This incident, \u00a0including the customer\u2019s perceived sentiment, is added to their profile (which aggregates every interaction they\u2019ve had with the business to date). Both the success manager and account executive are notified. But instead of getting up to speed on an isolated incident, they\u2019re able to see how it fits into the larger customer journey. As they coordinate on a resolution, they can factor in the customer\u2019s preferred channel, or even the time of day they prefer to be contacted, making the response feel even more personal.<\/p>\n
Along with offering something like a credit reallotment, they also have the opportunity to approach the contract renewal with more tact. The account executive could highlight certain add-ons or features that better align with the customer\u2019s current product usage, making them more cost effective. Instead of an out-of-touch sales pitch, it becomes a two-way conversation in which recommendations are rooted in the customer\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
People Want to Feel Listened to, Not Spied On\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\nWe\u2019re all wary of how our personal data is being used. Maybe there was a retargeted ad on a random website that felt Big Brother-esque. Or a promotional text that nearly got us to click \u2026 until we realized it was a scam.<\/p>\n
Every year, Twilio surveys consumers to understand the effectiveness of engagement strategies. This year, only\u00a015 percent said they “absolutely” trust brands with their data. I don\u2019t blame them. Fraud and phishing attacks are advanced, scaling with robo-callers and deceptive design. It\u2019s made consumers skeptical. Saying \u201cno\u201d is safer than saying \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without trust, you lose the customer from the get-go. To prevent that, businesses need to secure their tech stacks and respect individual preferences around data privacy (along with global regulations). This can include everything from regional data processing and encryption to honoring deletion requests and implementing two-factor authentication. Shifting to secure, branded communications like rich communications services (RCS) in native messaging apps adds to greater trust as well.<\/p>\n
Then, there\u2019s AI. On the one hand, AI will be instrumental in pre-emptively flagging fraudulent or suspicious activity and scaling personalization. However, just letting AI loose into your tech stack is not a strategy. There needs to be guardrails in place to ensure AI models aren\u2019t processing and sharing sensitive data they shouldn\u2019t have access to. There\u2019s also the matter of transparency. While conversational AI has moved far past rigid, robotic conversations, 54 percent of customers want to know when they\u2019re interacting with AI.<\/p>\n
Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/h2>\nFor a long time, businesses have been overestimating their customer connections. Someone buys an item once and suddenly they\u2019re inundated with messages to buy more. It\u2019s too much.<\/p>\n
To fix this, businesses have to start paying closer attention to the signals customers are sending, both direct and implied. Take a look at your communications: How many messages are being opened? Are people responding or giving them a quick glance before hitting delete?<\/p>\n
All it takes is one out-of-touch message for customers to disengage. You may have an idea of what people are interested in, but taking it a step further to understand how timing, context and mood might change their preferences is how you elevate engagement.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a new way to build trust. The brands that will win loyalty going forward won\u2019t necessarily be the loudest, but the most perceptive.<\/p>\n
Inbal Shani is chief product officer and head of R&D at Twilio, a customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalized experiences for today\u2019s leading brands.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
For a long time, businesses have been overestimating their customer connections. Someone buys an item once and suddenly they\u2019re inundated with messages to buy more. It\u2019s too much.<\/p>\n
To fix this, businesses have to start paying closer attention to the signals customers are sending, both direct and implied. Take a look at your communications: How many messages are being opened? Are people responding or giving them a quick glance before hitting delete?<\/p>\n
All it takes is one out-of-touch message for customers to disengage. You may have an idea of what people are interested in, but taking it a step further to understand how timing, context and mood might change their preferences is how you elevate engagement.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a new way to build trust. The brands that will win loyalty going forward won\u2019t necessarily be the loudest, but the most perceptive.<\/p>\n
Inbal Shani is chief product officer and head of R&D at Twilio, a customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalized experiences for today\u2019s leading brands.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n