With the pandemic continuing to linger in the United States, businesses remain challenged in keeping up genuine communication with their customers. Organizations have had to fall back on their customer communication management strategies for the duration of this pandemic. Both B2B and B2C focused organizations have made some serious adjustments in the ways in which they are communicating with their customers. As customer preference for online communication has become almost a necessity this past year and a half, organizations around the nation have stepped up to the plate. The customers who conduct their business online, have reported being pleased with the considerations many organizations have made in regards to their customer communication management strategies.
However, there are a number of customers who have reported otherwise. In fact, a good majority of them are unhappy with how certain organizations have responded to recent pandemic restrictions. Nearly half of all businesses in which customers interact have not provided a means to high-quality communication that is expected of said customers. In situations where these customers feel this way, they’re more likely to avoid spending money and find another business that can provide them with what they’re looking for. In order to avoid this, organizations must provide their customers with high-quality CCM. Without it, businesses run the risk of losing existing customers and failing to attract new customers.
What exactly constitutes high-quality customer communications management, though? A few particular factors reign above the others. The first is personalized communication. Customers want their individual needs to be realized and understood. Second, customers want a secure and private channel to communicate with organizations on to avoid any of their critical information being stolen or shared. Providing both personalization and privacy can be a challenge for many businesses. Typically this means they’ll need to provide unique digital communication platforms that are highly secure while remaining fully integrated to other critical business operating systems.
While these aspects may be some of the most important in CCM, they are not the only ones. Another important attribute comes from interactivity. One example of this has been the advancement of live chatting services on businesses’ websites. The ability to communicate with a representative in real-time digitally today can make or break if a customer decides to spend money with your business. Which leads to the last, and perhaps most important attribute of CCM today: omnichannel communication. As more and more advancements have been made technologically, customers no longer want to be limited to one way of receiving information and communicating with businesses. A fully realized social media presence, in addition to a website equipped with a live chatting service, coupled with text-based notifications, all make for the best customer experience. Limiting your customers to one channel can prove to be disastrous.
Any organization that has been struggling to maintain customers throughout this pandemic should consider how a revitalized customer communication management strategy can improve their customer retention. For information and tips tailored to these organizations, take a moment to look over the infographic accompanying this post. Courtesy of Conduent.