How to Capitalize on Current Customer Communications Management Trends

BY BLUERUSH | PERSONALIZED VIDEO

Effective communication is at the heart of the customer experience, and so making the concerted effort to improve your customer communication management often leads to increased retention, satisfaction, and revenue.  Easier said than done, of course, as consumer expectations are constantly evolving, even more so in our hyper-digital age. For example, customers have become savvier about their purchasing decisions, valuing personalized experiences in their interactions with brands more than ever.

In fact, 63% of consumers will stop buying from brands that use poor personalization tactics.  

So if you’re still using outdated CCM tactics – like creating a “one size fits all” messaging that strikes customers as generic – your ability to effectively reach new customers is severely limited.   Customers set the pace, and your CCM strategy has to constantly adapt to the consumer trends shaping customer management. To help take your CCM to the next level, here are the 5 top current trends that you need to look out for and capitalize on.  

1. Personalized messaging

We’ve already touched on it, but it can’t be overstated: discerning customers now prefer being treated as individuals rather than customers. With this, people expect content tailored to their individual needs that provide solutions to their specific problems. And when you personalize content, you make customers feel acknowledged and accepted, which draws them closer to your brand.  

So when 84% of consumers say being treated like a person, not a number, is very important to winning their business, if your content is impersonal, you’re literally pushing away your business.

 Personalized customer care lays the foundation for organizations to build a strong brand and keep their clients engaged and happy. 

2. AI and machine learning  

We all know how important it is to keep track of customer preferences. Having this prized information gives you deep insights into your customer base, which you can use to continually improve customer experience.   While it can be difficult to stay on top of constantly shifting trends, there are readily available tools that make gathering customer data even easier. The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) means that businesses now have convenient access to analytics engines powered by sophisticated algorithms, giving them an unprecedented ability to monitor and analyze customer actions, gather insights, and predict specific customer needs. And with better data comes better decisions. For example, AI-powered analytics help identify what channels are the most successful in reaching customers efficiently, so you can adapt your strategy accordingly.

3. Teams + tools = quality comms 

Regardless of how customers contact your business – via phone or chat – your customer service team needs to be able to quickly pull up any relevant data, including their purchase history or any other recent interactions with your brand.   Companies on the cutting edge of consumer trends know this, and are already leveraging tools like Live Chat, Help Desk, Ticketing Systems, as well as Customer Relationship Management platforms to store and manage their wealth of customer information. 

The right tools give your customer communication team a proactive way to access specific customer issues without, for example, the client having to go through the painful process of describing their problem a second time.

So not only can your team be more efficient at handling these critical communications, but it can also improve their quality and, with it, the overall customer experience. 

4. Be social

Globally, over 3.6 billion people use social media and the number is only growing, projected to increase to 4.41 billion in 2025. And this isn’t just posting selfies, as more people are using social media to connect with brands:

A recent survey found that 44.8% of global internet users use social media to search for brand information. 

Social media is now native to the consumer journey, and so enhancing your CCM with a robust social media strategy will have an immediate impact on business.  Consumers also now expect a certain level of care directly through social media platforms. In addition to driving traffic to your website, social media can be an effective channel for customer service, allowing you to address their needs directly and personalize your messaging in a more relatable way. And when 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging, creating these positive experiences for your customers via social media strengthens brand love and develops long-lasting customer relationships. 

5. Use video to engage

Digital trends rise and fall, but one trend is here to stay: the power of video.   Video content is now the most widely consumed form of digital media, and its influence has moved well beyond entertainment, as customers increasingly prefer to receive brand information through video as opposed to traditional images or text.

In a recent survey, 96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.  

Using video, you’re meeting your customer where they prefer to be, which enhances customer engagement and helps to sustain and drive new business. 

In the same survey, 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.

This means when video is combined with personalized messages – as in the case of personalized, interactive videos – these two singularly powerful trends mutually reinforce each other, such that your ability to keep customers engaged is multiplied exponentially.  

Welcome to your future

How you communicate with customers can be the difference between your brand growing or stagnating, or even sinking. Instead of being a bystander and watching the more proactive competition pass you by, you need to make a plan and actively pursue updating your CCM strategy.    Leveraging these 5 customer communications management trends – designed to target and then enhance your customer engagement and experiences – will boost your brand reputation, help you build customer trust and loyalty on a deeply personal level, and ultimately help you achieve more growth and productivity.