The pandemic truly limited the ways in which businesses were able to service their customers, from the perspective of both B2B and B2C centric operations. What these organizations quickly realized was that a polished customer communication management strategy had become necessary. Despite a shift in customer preference leaning toward digital throughout recent years, the pandemic led to physical locations becoming more and more restrained. While it was clear that organizations could provide a high-quality digital communication, in-person dealings would have to be rethought. Surprisingly enough, a great deal of customers were pleased with the efforts that organizations had made in transitioning exclusively to digital commerce as a result of the pandemic.
While these happy customers were important, the unhappy customers who felt as though their expectations weren’t being met posed a new challenge for businesses. Specifically related to their customer communication management strategy, which customers claimed hadn’t changed enough in comparison to other businesses. One negative experience with an organization is enough for a customer to never shop with them again. Have this happen one too many times and it can lead to disaster. If an organization is unable to maintain their current customer base through these adaptations, how can they expect to attract any new customers? The key is through a high-quality customer communication management strategy.
There are three core elements to the most successful communication strategies. Personalization, security and privacy. Personalization is what gives customers the feeling that their unique needs are being identified and acted upon. In order to accomplish this, customers must be willing to divulge certain information to these businesses. Thus the importance of privacy and security. Customers expect that the information they share should remain private and secure, with the responsibility falling on the shoulders of the business they are purchasing from. In order to protect this data, organizations have had to invest in highly sophisticated digital communication platforms that have been integrated into their core systems.
While these three aspects are a solid foundation to any CCM strategy, many businesses have innovated even further. In the case of online retailing businesses, live chat services for the sake of interactivity have become extremely common. The ability to communicate with a representative in real-time regarding a product’s stock, sizing or even deals they might’ve overlooked is something customers have yearned for. Businesses within the e-commerce space have adjusted their CCM strategies to include omnichannel communication. So, instead of limiting how customers interact with your organization, these businesses have broken down all barriers and allow customers to communicate with them through any social channel. Allowing customers to communicate through any of their preferred channels is one of the keys to a fully realized customer communication management strategy.
The truth is, every organization’s most ideal customer communication management strategy will be different. If you were hoping to fine-tune your organization’s strategy, spend some time reviewing the information found within the infographic included alongside this post for some more helpful information. Infographic courtesy of Conduent.