Customer experience is one of the most defining aspect of a business that helps it stand out from the competitors. Effective communication with customers is vital to building a positive customer experience. Given this, customer communication management (CCM) is an important goal for any business organization.
What is CCM? It’s creating, delivering, and managing communication across all digital channels. It’s different from Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which involves customer communications on the one hand and marketing and sales on the other. While CRM has been around for a long time, CCM is relatively new and traces its origin to the advent of digital communication channels such as emails, messaging apps, social media, and chatbots.
Like in CRM, CCM functions are performed through CCM software and platforms for scale and automation. However, before you choose CCM software, it’s necessary to look at the prevailing trends and assess the unique needs of your business in this respect.
To help you with the process, we are going to discuss some of the dominant trends in customer communication management:
Use of AI and Machine Learning
Big data and data analytics produce trends and insights that help businesses make strategic decision. Machine learning (ML) allows bots to learn from the data progressively and prepare responses – with human-like intelligence! The use of AI and ML technologies can make customer communication more manageable and effective. AI- and ML-powered Chatbots, for example, can mimic human intelligence and prepare more intelligent responses than they do now.
Omnichannel Vs. Multichannel
CCM reinforces the idea of omnichannel communication, where the customer is at the center, in contrast to multichannel communication, where products take priority. As businesses target to engage their customers across different channels and platforms, they try to ensure customers and company executives have a seamless experience. CCM software that gives one-point access to all channels is increasingly becoming the go-to solution in this space.
Cloud & Privacy
The debate over in-house and cloud storage is settling in favor of the latter. While businesses may still use in-house servers, new software solutions are increasingly hosted on the cloud. For example, the realm of CCM for the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector also encompasses sensitive personal and business data. Even though these SAAS products have more comprehensive security features, security and privacy of customer communication is a critical concern.
Content Analytics
As content leads the charge of various digital campaigns, it’s all the more important in customer communication. CCM tools that offer content analytics help businesses customize and personalize customer messages. It is possible due to the analysis of customer interactions by the CCM reporting tool. In other words, content analytics help build positive customer relationships and customer experience.
Final Thoughts
Customer communication management is aimed at creating a positive customer experience. It’s different from customer relationship management, which aligns more with the sales and marketing objectives. A key trend in CCM is the omnichannel communication strategy which allows a seamless customer experience across all channels and platforms. Other dominant CCM trends include AI and ML, Content Analytics, and Security and Privacy.