The phrase ‘every company is a software company’ is one that has become more common. It is a phrase born out of the recognition that businesses are increasingly operating digitally, and the need for companies to do so in order to be successful. Operating solely offline is quickly becoming obsolete.
A recent report by Microsoft entitled Unlocking the Economic Impact of Digital Transformation in Asia Pacific reveals that by 2021 digital transformation will be worth a staggering US$45 billion to the continent’s GDP, and businesses who invest in digital transformation will see a 40 per cent improvement in productivity and cost reduction and a 50 per cent increase in profit margins.
For retailers and business-to-consumer companies, in particular, one of the main reasons investing in technology is crucial is the need to be where their customers are, and engage with them on their terms. The customer experience is increasingly complicated as shoppers expect brands to be available to them in a personalised way across various channels, in real-time. Customer-centric businesses are now realising that the customer experience can make or break their outlet.
It is a long journey to get this right, but businesses will increasingly need to overhaul and digitally transform their current customer communications.
A Twilio study found that nine out of 10 consumers globally want to communicate with brands digitally. The majority of these people want to, not only receive messages from a business but also be able to respond to that message. Sixty-six per cent of consumers now prefer to reach (or be reached) through messaging apps. Globally, 47 per cent of users prefer native text messages when communicating with brands, followed by Facebook Messenger (21 per cent), Whatsapp (18 per cent), LINE (six per cent), and Snapchat (two per cent).
What this shows is that businesses need to adopt a multi-channel strategy to ensure they interact with customers on the modern and varying channels that they like to frequent.
Also Read: The art of customer loyalty: 5 ways to create irresistible customer experiences
Recognition and complexity
According to a report from SmarterHQ, 72 per cent of consumers say they now only engage with marketing messages that are personalised. So along with ensuring companies to tailor messages based on customers’ wants and interests, there is no better way to personalise a message than to send it on their preferred channel.
Despite this, a report by Forrester entitled Vendor Landscape: Mobile Messaging Platforms, shows that while consumers send over 370 billion texts, Apple iMessage, Facebook and WhatsApp messages globally in a fortnight block, enterprises are still struggling with finding new and effective ways to engage customers using the channel.
A key issue here is often that businesses do not recognise their communication shortfalls, or where they are going wrong. As a result, they fail to improve and communicate with their customers effectively. This was supported by Twilio’s Bridging the Communications Divide research which showed that 81 per cent of consumers say it is often difficult to communicate with businesses, but only 34 per cent of businesses acknowledge these challenges.
There is also a question of complexity. Traditionally, integrating various messaging channels and maintaining the infrastructure has presented a difficult technical challenge for businesses.
Tech is the answer
The answer to the customer communication problem is a combination of recognition and action. Going back to the notion that every company is, or should be, a software company; once a business has recognised that they can improve how they communicate with their customers, the best course of action is to invest in the right technology to truly execute an effective customer communication programme.
Businesses should look out for APIs that enable developers to build conversational experiences across multiple messaging channels simply and at scale. As mentioned, integrating multiple messaging channels and having the foundations in place to support group messaging and cross-channel conversations has, until recently, been extremely complex.
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As such, businesses should capitalise on modern technologies which remove complexity by allowing developers to leverage a unified API to scale group conversations across platforms such as SMS, MMS, Chat and WhatsApp.
No excuse
It must be said that despite there being a long way to go until brands get customer communication right – more leading companies are recognising the importance of multi-channel communication in delivering high-quality customer experience and are investing in technology to do so effectively.
Frankly, there is no longer an excuse. Rolling out a multi-channel approach is more attainable than ever. Customers want to be communicated with on their preferred channels; the technology is there to enable developers to make it happen. It is now up to businesses to capitalise on it. As the saying goes, every company is, or should be, a software company.
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