Business communication has evolved over the years. Today, it’s not just about sending generic emails or newsletters. Customers expect brands to build and cultivate relationships in a way that feels personal, relevant, and timely. In view of this, businesses have adapted their customer communications by incorporating Customer Communication Management (CCM) solutions that make them stand out in the varied market spaces.
Beyond that, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come in to push customer communication to a new level by integrating with CCM solutions to make communication smarter, faster, and more customer-centric than ever before.
In this guide, we’ll look at how AI is revolutionising customer communication.
Hyper-Personalisation Like Never Before
Personalisation is no longer just about addressing a customer by their name. Today, you can tailor every message or offer to an individual’s preferences and needs. This is possible through analysing huge amounts of customer data to understand customer behaviours and previous purchases. Every time they interact with the business, this data builds up and contributes to the communication.
This means that when your business communicates to a customer, it no longer feels robotic. It also doesn’t just tell a customer that you know them but rather addresses key issues that they may be having. It then helps build a deeper connection between the business and the customer.
Predictive Communication that Anticipates Customer Needs
AI has improved customer communication as it can now predict their needs before they even reach out to the business. This is possible as there’s a lot of customer data it can analyse – past behaviour, purchasing patterns, and real-time interactions. That said, it isn’t just about personalisation, as the business can also use the data it collects from other customers to know what a client might need.
For example, a customer may receive an offer about an item that’s often bought together with or after a specific product. It can also be a troubleshooting guide for common issues associated with a product. This approach helps boost customer satisfaction and enhance their loyalty to a brand.
Multi-Channel Consistency and Automation
Customers today interact with brands across multiple channels – from email and social media to live chat and mobile apps. One of the main goals of CCM solutions is to ensure that communication is consistent regardless of the channel used. AI then helps take this further through automation.
The system can understand the brand voice and previous interactions with the business and use this in automated messages. Since all data is synchronised, the next channel the customer uses to reach out to the business won’t matter. This consistency helps reduce customer frustrations and makes them feel like they’re having a one-on-one conversation with your brand.
Faster, Smarter Response Times with AI-Driven Chatbots
Most people today prefer to do things online as it’s faster and more convenient. And in that case, they don’t like to wait in line. AI-driven chatbots are helping solve this issue as they have information about business products and processes, as well as frequently asked questions. These aren’t the simple automated replies we are mostly used to, as AI chatbots can understand natural language and learn from all past interactions – both human to human and human to AI.
This means that when a customer only has simple queries, they won’t need to connect to a human representative as the AI chatbot can handle both routine and complex queries. If a customer isn’t satisfied, the chatbot can then connect them to a human representative. The reduced tasks mean that your agents can focus on more complex issues or customers who really need their assistance.
Enhanced Decision-Making with AI Analytics
When CCM solutions bring all customer data together, AI analytics can then come in to make sense of it. It can analyse data about customer complaints, responses in chats, and social media sentiment to understand patterns. It can then combine this with trends and predictions on customer needs.
This type of analysis makes it easy for the management to make decisions that go beyond traditional metrics. They can tailor-make strategies about a product or the entire company based on the insights to improve decisions and customer satisfaction. The company will also have a better idea of what customers expect and use this information to notify them of upcoming improvements.
Real-Time Sentiment Analysis for Better Customer Insights
It’s crucial for any brand to understand how their customers feel about various products and services. AI offers sentiment analysis, which analyses data and gauges customer emotions in real time. This can be data collected through emails, social media posts, or chat conversations. It’s then pooled together by the CCM and analysed by AI to help know where a business can improve and address customer needs.
Sentiment analysis can either be about the business in its entirety or a specific product. For example, if users post negative reviews about a new product, the customer service team can quickly jump in and engage customers before the relationship is broken. This shows that the business cares about the user and helps ensure all customers stay satisfied.
Joel is a tech content writer passionate about cybersecurity and online privacy. With over six years in the industry, he has contributed to several reputable tech publications. His expertise spans online privacy, VPNs, cloud security, and enterprise security. Additionally, he is an encryption technology expert and has created whitepapers for numerous security startups.