The New Year brings a new start as well as a new decade. For a lot of companies, this signifies a new opportunity to change the way they do things – particularly how they communicate with their customers.
2020 brings the chance to look at the progress of your communication strategies and set goals for where you want to be. But how exactly can you change customer communications? Read on to find out!
Better audio quality
Despite the rise in social media and many people being glued to their screens, the telephone remains critical to customer services. In the UK, 56% of businesses cited telephones being their most important channel, followed by email (50%) and online form (28%), reported PR Newswire.
However, while the telephone remains important, audio quality is also important to customers. Using Unified Communications, for example, offers better audio quality than traditional telephony. Investing in better audio quality allows for a stronger rapport between customers and agents, and can also have a significant impact on customer satisfaction.
Automation and Artificial Intelligence
In 2020, it’s predicted that 53% of businesses will be using chatbots. Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are set to become even more mainstream in 2020 and can change the way you communicate with your customers for the better.
The technology of AI and automation will provide your customer service agents with relevant data and customer histories. This means they can deliver a more personalized experience for your customers that is quicker, more convenient and effective. Not only will your customer service become more efficient, but it will also allow your business to stand out from the crowd.
Be there for the touch-points
Consumers expect brands to be there throughout their whole customer journey. Therefore, your customer communications must allow for this going forward in the new year. When a customer wants to know something or to make a purchase, your business must be there.
To make this happen, you need to recognize the different touchpoints a customer has throughout their journey with you, and make sure you are communicating with customers during these points. By measuring these interactions, you can begin to understand what your customers value and what they need during this point in their journey, helping to increase the chance of a purchase.
Multichannel communications
Of course, multichannel communications are nothing new. And if you aren’t already offering multichannel communications, then your business needs to! Customers like to have options so it’s important you allow them to choose the channel that they prefer. However, how do you stop confusion on your side?
Rather than having multiple different systems in place, you want to look for something that integrates all of your communications into one, easy to access platform. For example, Unified Communications By Gamma allows your business to deal with each communication channel from one platform and effectively manage your customer service. Unified Communications will become more important to businesses looking to maintain efficient customer communications in the new decade.
Ensure accuracy of information
The information that you communicate at all levels and departments must be accurate and on time. If the information from different customer touchpoints differs, this brings about confusion to the customers and they end up unhappy. From the year 2020 and beyond, customers are looking forward to not only getting the right information but get it on time. The information delivered on time allows the person to plan their business well. Set your company systems right and ensure you’re accurate on delivery of information-this will increase customer confidence and makes them loyal.
Be proactive in dealing with customers
Every other time, customers are making inquiries and you will need time to give a response. you must keep the customer informed of the process rather than keeping them waiting for a resolution. Keep them in touch with every step so that they don’t have to get in touch with your time and again for an update. It may take longer than expected but by proactively engaging them, they’re satisfied.
Online presence
The customers have so many things to deal with and with every company going online, you have to be good enough to compete for some space. Your content must be optimized to ensure that they rank highly on the search engines. Again, you must ensure that your products are available on social media and other platforms so that wherever the customer is, they can easily get you.
The customer demands are changing every other day and for your business to prosper in 2020 and beyond, you must proactively be engaged in identifying things that will make your products stand out among the competition.
Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.
