Enhancing user experience through effective communication has been proven to boost retention rates, revenue growth, and customer satisfaction. Being said that, it is essential to remember that consumers are more thoughtful and value their experience with the brand more. Let us see about Customer communication trends you should watch in 2021. 

Why Adapting to New Trends is Important

Not establishing a connection with your potential customer base in their preferred way or channel could cost you a customer loss. Being said that, it is imperative for brands to evolve and update their approach to consumer communication to stay on top of the curve to shape customer management. Incorporating high-level customer communication management strategies is one of the ideal methods to create an exceptional customer experience. 

In this digital era, customers expect top-level experiences, including seamless customer journeys and great convenience. When numerous brands office great consumer experiences, the competition gets even more fierce. Ultimately users become accustomed to it. 

RISE OF THE CHATBOTS

Chatbots are incredibly beneficial in elevating the user experience while brands experience great business benefits. Though Chatbots have existed for quite a few years, experts anticipate them to become more prevalent in 2021. Over 50% of the businesses are now planning to invest more in chatbots because the potential operational cost savings are up to 30%. 

Here are some of the benefits of deploying chatbots: 

–         They minimize the pressure on customer executives by handling simple customer issues. 

–         Chatbots can be beneficial for lead generation, supporting the sales team efficiently to convert more potential leads 

–         Collecting and analyzing customer data is made easy and provide valuable insight into the target audience base

–         Enables 24/7 operation. This is undoubtedly useful for the customers who prefer the flexible way of communication and do not prefer the typical 9 – 5 pattern. Furthermore, if you are targeting the global market, this could be beneficial for you to engage your users living in different time zones

–         Improved customer engagement 

–         Cost savings in the long term 

MACHINE LEARNING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR INSIGHTFUL DATA ANALYTICS

Brands need to understand and monitor customer preferences. It offers prodigious insights into their customer base and lets them implement a tailored customer experience. 

With the proper support of the tools and analytics, it is highly challenging for the brands to reach the targeted customer base successfully. Hence, the role of analytics engines powered by machine learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). These technologies empower organizations with proper tools to analyze and monitor the user actions, obtain insights and predict specific user needs. 

AI and ML-powered analytics assist in identifying the channels that are most efficient in reaching users promptly. Deploying intelligent data usage lets the brands demonstrate their understanding and care about user needs to their potential customer base. The insights panel that appears in Google Analytics is the perfect example. 

Here’s a brief look at some data types that companies are focusing on more:

• Customer preferences 
• How consumer utilizes the product 
• Transactional user data
• Behavioral activities on the website 
• Text data from email, live chats, and other communication channels like compliant forms 

Segmentation: Segments of the data patterns in the customer’s shared activities or experience. Some examples are age, location, political persuasion, marital status, education, and so on. 

IMPLEMENTING RIGHT TOOLS 

Deploying the right tools to track customer communication effectiveness can help the customer service teams be highly efficient at handling customer requests. Irrespective of the communication channel, the customer executive should promptly pull out any relevant data. The data can be related to their previous purchase history or any other interactions with the brand. As the Help Desk, Live Chat, Ticketing System, the customer relationship management tools are also essential to manage and store customer information. 

INCREASED FOCUS ON PRIVACY AND SECURITY

Data breaches are continuously occurring at an alarming rate, which seems to continue for the upcoming years. Users realize their data adds value to your business and understand that sharing their data can help them get a valuable outcome (personalized experience) in return. However, customers sharing their data doesn’t happen swiftly. In fact, a vast customer base does not trust companies with their data. For this reason, many companies come up with more approaches to scrutinize their cloud security practice and privacy for customer’s data.  The organizations that take customer data security as their top priority attract more users, especially the privacy-conscious ones

OMNICHANNEL APPROACH

Customers anticipate companies to have a consistent experience across all the platforms. Users will not get impressed if their experience is different on LinkedIn and email. Customers repeating their information on various platforms doesn’t make any sense. Rather the data should follow the customer on various platforms and their different activities. Omnichannel platforms are an excellent way for this, and by 2021 experts anticipate many companies will switch the channel. 

Takeaway

Companies’ approach to handling the customer data can bring the difference between your brand being evolved or stagnating.  It is time to reform the organization’s marketing strategy. By leveraging these customer communication trends in 2021, marketers can better engage their customers and scale up their brand reputation and ensure long-term customer communication marketing success in the future. This was all about Customer communication trends you should watch in 2021.