Why conversational messaging improves your customer satisfaction
74% or retail customers prefer using the messaging channel over the voice channel when communicating on mobile phones.
Salesforce, 2022
Most of us know the pictures of large rooms filled with ladies and men wearing headsets, hectically answering calls or convincing the other side to buy their products and services. Although this seems like a long time ago, these immense call centers have only started to disappear during the last decade. Especially the rise in popularity of the Dutch ‘Bel-me-niet-register’ has changed the way phone communication is used in organizations. Traditional call centers are slowly disappearing and turning into Customer Care Centers, equiped with the latest possible communication tools. One of the key features: conversational messaging.
Conversational messaging is a one-on-one conversation between a business and a customer that occurs on any messaging platform, like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Telegram. In contrast to live chat functionalities, where customers wait for a response of an agent and discussion history is not logged, conversational messaging is more like texting a friend. It has become a key aspect in developing a strong relationship between the company and its customer base. The customer satisfaction score even increases by 29% when conversational messaging is integrated. And according to Harvard Business Review, this could even lead to a 15% increase in annual spend.1 So, why are some retailers still waiting to optimize this essential part of their customer care?
Here are some of the most important features that have positioned conversational messaging in the driver’s seat and result in these improved business results:
1. Customer data – one of the main reasons why conversational messaging has experienced tremendous growth over the last years is the seamless integration it has with customer data platforms. Through this integration, incoming messaging and calls can be directed and queued to the right department and agents. So, less waiting time, less reconnecting with colleagues and more efficient communication.
2. Personalization – unique and customized messaging. The connection with customer data does not only make sure that messages and calls come in the right department and with the right person, but also makes it possible to send personalized and unique messaging, either real-time or automated, through bots. Based on customer profiling and previous purchasing and preferences, companies can send out interactive, custom messages. This increases engagement and conversion.
3. Video chat – besides real-time interaction through text messaging, conversational messaging has also evolved into the possibility to video chat. As most social applications, like WhatsApp, support video calling, the store (agent) has the possibility to use video to speed up the conversation, display tangible products live in stores or just show their face to increase engagement.
4. Predictive information – through the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence, more and more tools are available to support predictions and recommendations for customer care agents to surprise consumers positively. Predictions can be activated with tools like Salesforce Einstein, the first comprehensive AI for CRM, to suggest the agent with the Next Best Action.
5. Social Sales – one of the newest features that conversational messaging supports, is the integration of social sales. By connecting the webstore into the customer data platform and the messaging tool, it is possible to push products to the customer via the chat, have the customer select its required product and immediately confirm the order with delivery data and payment options. This way, companies can transform their customer service department from cost centers to revenue centers.
Fortunately, we see more & more retail brands that have integrated a smart version of conversational messaging into their customer data platform. However, there is still plenty of room for improvement. By centralizing all interaction data of the most favorite communication apps of a respective audience, direct interaction becomes easy, fast and can be achieved whenever and wherever. The result is increased customer engagement, higher NPS scores and the introduction of new sales channels through the customer care center. One of the commonly used tools is AskAmy, which features native integration within the Salesforce platform.
Interested in more information on the opportunities of conversational messaging for your organization and the added value of VANEIGENS? Brands like Rituals, Omoda & many more already chose AskAmy as their conversational messaging platform. Get in touch with me via jh@vaneigens.com!
Jelle is co-founder at VANEIGENS and has a long history with Salesforce products and services, at companies like Accenture, KPN and SuitSupply. As CTO he concentrates on innovation and developing unique and disruptive solutions for clients.