In the post-COVID world, 86% of consumers prefer the “digital-first” approach in their brand interactions. In other words, “smart communications”.
Today’s customers also expect fresh, up-to-date, personalized, and interactive brand communications. To keep them interested, engaged, and loyal, brands need to up their Customer Communication Management (CCM) approach by deliberately moving towards Customer Conversations Management. Smart communications are the need of the hour, and brands are required to take action to make them happen consistently.
In this brief article, we’ll explore the changing nature of Customer Communication Management as the focus now shifts to customer-centric Conversations Management. We also explore how these conversations can deliver exceptional customer experiences on every channel and throughout the customer life-cycle.
The Need for Customer Communication Management
CCM systems like OpenText Exstream provide several powerful functionalities to create, update, store and deliver documents and assets for customer communications. They can simplify and streamline the process of creating everything from customer statements and invoices to marketing collaterals, contracts, compliance disclosures, product information, and more. Furthermore, by formalizing their CCM processes, workflows, and best practices, organizations put themselves in a good position to address customers’ queries, improve customer engagement, and boost conversions.
But times have changed. Although these types of communications remain critically important, firms now need to offer much more if they want to develop rewarding customer relationships that result in loyalty, retention, and long-term brand support. This means that they need to move on from static customer communication to more dynamic and smart customer conversations.
Evolving from Customer Communications to Smart Communications and Customer Conversations
“The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.”
— William Hazlitt
Loyal customers are key to a company’s success. However, today’s customers don’t want yesterday’s communications. And they definitely don’t want static, one-way communications that flow from brands to them in a uni-dimensional arc. These communications fall far short of delivering the meaningful experiences they expect and demand – and they’re not shy about letting brands know. What customers now want is conversations that are digital-focused, interactive, relevant, and timely.
62% of consumers say they are likely to switch vendors if their communications expectations aren’t met.
In the current climate, where face-to-face interactions are minimized, ensuring customer loyalty and “stickiness” requires two-way conversations with a focus on digital. Instead of simply distributing customer communications and bombarding them with information, brands need to engage them in interactive, highly-personalized, and smart conversations across all channels and at every stage of their lifecycle. This mutual “give and take” makes today’s customer communications more effective. And the role such effective communications play in garnering a positive customer experience cannot be overstated or ignored.
In fact, by making smart communications and customer conversation management an indelible part of their CX strategy, organizations can enable more dynamic customer relationships, engender trust and deliver amazing experiences that are more personal, relevant, and memorable than ever before.
WayPath Can Help You Make This Critical Shift from CCM to Smart Communications
The next generation of CCM solutions view every customer as an individual and deliver highly-relevant, timely, and personalized communications via their preferred channels. They also allow customers to initiate conversations and provide consistent experiences throughout their entire lifecycle. Nonetheless, the shift from traditional “communication management” to customer-driven, digital-first “conversations management” is not always easy. It requires a deliberate mindset shift from static, siloed, one-way communication towards real-time, contextual, and two-way dialogs.
If you recognize the need for smart communications and seamless conversation management in your organization but don’t know where to start – talk to us. WayPath’s experts will help you transform your traditional CCM processes into intelligent, digital-first experiences and two-way, interactive conversations. Call +1-877-334-4266 or fill out the form here to start your two-way conversation with WayPath!
