Nearly 80% of companies will implement conversational customer engagement to improve CX

Today’s customers are increasingly comfortable with technology in their everyday lives, but they still need and want to talk. Whether they need to resolve something that the self-service channel couldn’t handle or they want to talk with you because it’s more personal and convenient, research shows that when customers can make a human connection, it creates greater trust and loyalty.

So how do you make it easier for your customers to engage? By giving them multiple options for how (and where) they want to talk — whether it’s calling, messaging, chat, or video. And by making sure you have the right capabilities to provide a great experience for every customer interaction. Because it’s not about connecting them just once; it’s about providing the best experience possible at every touchpoint along their journey — from marketing through sales and service — so you can deliver better business outcomes.

The key is creating a futureproof digital customer experience strategy that takes into account where and when your customers want to communicate with you. That means having the flexibility to adapt as new technologies emerge. It also means using data insights to create a consistent, personalized experience wherever your customers choose to interact with you.

Defining Conversational Customer Engagement

Conversational engagement is essentially a one-on-one chat between a customer service agent, sales team member, or expert consultant and a customer. It's an excellent tool for increasing both customer loyalty and conversions.

Within these chats, experts can provide their opinions, recommending relevant products or services to leads and customers within chats. Customers are far more likely to trust these personal recommendations than blanket advertisements.

Why Businesses Need Conversational Support Right Now

In a recent white paper published by the International Data Corporation (IDC), research showed that while almost 80% of companies plan to invest in conversational customer engagement, more than half of them will be using a Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) to do so.

More and more businesses are realizing that customers want to engage with them on their terms. Meanwhile, customers are looking for quick, personal interaction that solves their problems—and they're not shy about taking their business elsewhere if they don't get it.

Conversational customer engagement is now a hot topic in customer management. This is a huge benefit to customers, as they no longer need to call or visit customer support websites, they can rather ask questions or request services directly from messaging platforms they already have and use. This is why more and more businesses that take a personalized approach to customers will future-proof their business.

Highlights from the IDC white paper include:

● 79% of survey respondents have or plan to implement conversational interfaces in the next two years. The majority will use CPaaS (a communication platform as a service) to do so.

● Although most companies use multiple channels and a majority are leveraging conversations, only 22% of companies use more than three messaging channels. Consumers typically use at least four.

● Customer service activities, like customer care and support and customer satisfaction surveys, are the top use cases. Operations activities, as well as financial transactions, are also common.

● 33 % of organizations allow customers to transfer from a chatbot to a live agent for enhanced support, but those who have implemented conversational engagement are much more likely to provide an enhanced customer experience.

What is CPaaS and How It Enhances Multichannel Communication

CPaaS stands for Communications Platform as a Service. CPaaS offers a suite of real-time communication services, such as voice, video, and messaging. These services are best implemented using APIs so that companies can easily build communications capabilities into their business apps with little effort. CPaaS is the engine in the background that offers a wide variety of communications capabilities with easy scaling.

Multichannel communication solutions have made it easier than ever for companies to reach their customers on the channel of their choice.

Text-based messaging is the MOST POPULAR form of communication in the world. People send more texts than emails, make more voice calls, and post on social media.

By leveraging leading CPaaS offerings with services like email-to-SMS, bulk SMS, mass texting, and RCS messaging, businesses can use all the popular messaging apps through a single interface.

While the initial purpose of cloud communications platform as a service (CPaaS) was to enhance communication, businesses can use the software to improve customer support.

Let’s say, for instance, that a customer purchases an item online and opts to pick it up at the local store. The eCommerce site gives the customer a projected date that the item will arrive. If weather causes shipping delays, the eCommerce site can proactively notify the customer via text message so she doesn’t make a wasted trip to the store. Since text messages are generated via software, this all happens seamlessly.

About Yootelco

Yootleco makes it easy for businesses to communicate with people. We'll help you engage your audience with tools built for personal interaction.

At Yootelco, we believe that great customer service requires a great messaging experience. That is why we have created a mobile-first messaging solution that can help you add value to any customer engagement. Our solution will help you create a more engaging experience for your customers, agents, and employees by allowing them to chat with you in real-time via their preferred channels (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, and more).

Final Words on Conversational Customer Engagement

The world we live in is quickly evolving as more companies realize they need to increase their customer engagement efforts. In this online age, businesses have to make sure their social media platforms are operating at full capacity to ensure their customers are getting the help they require promptly. This is where conversational customer engagement and CPaaS come in. As a customer service trend, CCE is set to soar in popularity among businesses that listen to and respond to customer needs with speed and accuracy.

Keep your customers happy with Yootelco- a messaging platform operator!