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Customer experience

SMS rises up the ranks for customer communications, but are retailers are missing out on mobile?

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A Wunderkind survey of over 2,000 UK shoppers has revealed that while email remains the dominant channel for consumers, with 84% saying they find it the most convenient channel for communicating with retailers during the buying journey, a third (32%) say they now find text just as convenient – an increase of 6 percentage points year-on-year.

However, despite this increased consumer demand, just one in three retailers currently use text as a marketing channel (beyond purely transactional communication like delivery updates), meaning the vast majority are missing out on a huge opportunity to engage with customers, increase conversions and, ultimately, encourage a greater number of sales – especially when texts are used in careful conjunction with email.

Just over half (56%) of shoppers say they have received a text message from a brand or retailer in the last 12 months, with the same percentage (56%) saying that the speed and convenience of text as a communications channel enhanced and supported their online buying journey, whether by providing information faster than it would have been received through email, or by helping them react to a fast-changing stage in their buying journey, such as a shipping update or the option to use a discount or promotion.

This desire for text communications, Wunderkind’s research suggests, mirrors the now ubiquitous use of smartphones, with consumers increasingly wanting to interact — and buy — through their mobiles. mCommerce transactions made on smartphones and tablets are expected to represent over half (58%) of all online retail sales this year, rising to 63% by 2024, which will equate to sales of around £105 billion.

A separate poll of 60 senior UK marketing and ecommerce professionals in Wunderkind’s ‘Countdown to 2024’ report showed that just a third (34%) currently use text to communicate and engage with shoppers.

Wunderkind’s General Manager International, Wulfric Light-Wilkinson, said: “Text represents a significant opportunity for retailers to increase loyalty and drive sales. Best-in-class customer engagement isn’t about relying on any one channel – but rather, supporting the shopper on their path to purchase, and meeting them wherever they are.

“Regardless of the channel mix, consumer engagement success comes down to brands putting themselves in the shoes of current and prospective customers, understanding how they like to communicate and operate, and using that insight to build campaigns that engage them seamlessly across multiple touchpoints.”

Additionally, it is worth noting that customers engage quickly with texts, which is ideal for retailers or brands wanting to promote a flash sale or send out a time-sensitive message. Research suggests 90% of people open a text message within three minutes of receiving it, while, according to Gartner, texts have an average open rate of  98% and a response rate of 45% – much higher than email  (which has an average of 20% and 6% respectively).

Download Wunderkind’s full report: The Untapped Potential of Text.

Brands moving to digital interactions ‘leaving older consumer behind’

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Older consumers are being left behind when businesses digitise their customer facing operations, requiring organisations to take a more thoughtful approach to their digital engagement to ensure inclusivity.

Findings in research by Twilio reveal that while UK consumers over 65 hold significant digital shopping power, with 76% relying on online shopping, only 12% feel understood by brands they interact with digitally.

While many in this age group are digitally-savvy, the communications options offered by businesses can often fall short of providing a reliable route to resolution, eroding trust.

Meanwhile, more accessible methods of communication, like phone or email, are also often phased out in a drive for digital transformation, without consideration for the diversity of needs from different customer groups and the complexity of some customer support situations.

Use of modern technologies like chatbots should be judicious, and businesses must digitise with consideration of every customer’s needs.

The majority of consumers in the over 65 group indicated that they find it hard to get in touch with companies, because many organisations do not design their customer engagement with the nuances of different demographics in mind. Significantly, 85% of consumers over 65 said they would rather speak to someone over the phone compared to other methods.

That said, 16% from this demographic are happy to use technology channels such as chatbots and apps to interact with brands. Businesses should therefore analyse the feedback and data customers share to ensure they offer every customer the options that best suit them.

“Trust between business and customer is crucial, particularly in challenging economic times, and building that trust with tailored, personalised communication is key,” said Sam Richardson, Principal Visioneering Consultant at Twilio. “Customer engagement needs to be inclusive in order to be effective, and good old fashioned phone calls don’t need to fall by the wayside in an effort to modernise – in fact, all age groups find them useful for chatting through more complex problems. While in-app chat and SMS are useful for delivery updates and might perfectly suit more digital-native audiences, businesses should also think about what people with accessibility needs require from them.”

Failing to cater to the over 65 demographic also represents a missed business opportunity because they make up such a prominent portion of the online retail market. The 18-24 bracket is notably more likely never to shop online compared to over 65s: only 6% of consumers over 65 said that they never do their shopping online, compared to 30% of 18-24 year olds. Similarly, over half (51%) of over 65s read or keep hold of digital marketing communications.

But a lack of consideration is creating a trust barrier with older consumers, including when it comes to marketing. Half (50%) of shoppers over 65 didn’t know where brands got their contact details from, while one in five indicated that they believe brands only care about their money. This contrasts with younger consumers, who feel more understood as an audience, but are actually not as engaged with internet purchases.

“Older demographics are clearly more interested in regular brand engagement online compared to younger consumers,” continued Richardson. “As this older age bracket continues to grow in an ageing population, brands need to be better prepared to cater to older consumers digitally. This means reflecting customer preferences in available communication methods, as well as using first-party data – data collected consensually from customers – to deliver accurate, personalised experiences that make customers feel heard and understood. Technologies like customer data platforms can translate this data into insights, and this provides businesses valuable direction as to what customers actually want.”

Though companies dedicate a lot of time to getting to know their customers, data shows that many older consumers feel overlooked by the ways businesses engage with them, which is diminishing loyalty. Only one third (32%) of respondents over 65 feel like valued customers, 15% feel that brands care about them, and only 10% feel that they represent the main target audience when it comes to marketing communications.

Twilio commissioned the research in June 2022, with Walnut UNLIMITED conducting the survey. Walnut Omnibus is a quantitative syndicated survey conducted online twice a week with a nationally representative sample of 2,000 GB adults (aged 18+). The survey was completed in two waves, with a total of 4,028 consumers participating, 806 of which were over 65.

Tech giants exploring possibilities of the metaverse for customer experience

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Capgemini and Unity have joined forces to help organisations explore and seize business opportunities and benefits of immersive and metaverse experiences across industries.

Unity, a specialist in real-time 3D and immersive experiences, will enhance Capgemini’s capabilities from customer and employee experience (CX/EX) strategy and design to front-end development and integration. With its global footprint, its deep industry expertise and understanding of client needs, as well as its ability to deliver on large-scale digital transformation projects, Capgemini says it will help to accelerate the growth of Unity’s technology platform.

Capgemini will also share market trends and client insights which will enable Unity to further enhance its product roadmap. Joint client projects will benefit from Capgemini’s holistic capabilities in shaping business models and strategies, as well as its technology expertise in components that will be instrumental to roll-out and scale the future metaverse/decentralized Web3. These include AR, VR and MR, blockchain and NFTs, 5G/6G, AI, internet of things and cybersecurity.

Over the years, Capgemini and Unity have delivered together numerous value-creating projects for major global companies such as building an interactive application for a major consumer goods company that allows sales teams to visualize shelf space layouts in 3D, or developing an immersive simulator for a fire fighting vehicle manufacturer to train its operators.

Building on these projects, the two companies will now jointly define and execute sector-specific solutions and professional services to deliver tailored platforms for each client. As part of this new multi-year global partnership alliance, they will:

  • define approaches and methodologies, and conduct joint R&D projects as part of the Capgemini Metaverse Lab, jointly contributing to the building of the future metaverse/Web3;
  • support each other in terms of business development, solution development and sales initiatives, leveraging expertise and market insights from both organizations;
  • scale up a global bench of talent certified on Unity’s RT3D technology, through joint recruitment and training initiatives, in order to grow the global talent pool in these fields.

This new global alliance partnership will focus on sectors and use cases where the digital customer or employee experiences will benefit most: consumer goods & retail, manufacturing, life sciences, telecommunications, media & technology, energy & utilities, financial services, and public services.

“Metaverse and immersive experiences open a whole universe of possibilities for our clients across industries, from enabling more emotional connections with consumers, and reinventing employee experience and collaboration, to optimizing engineering, manufacturing and operations using digital twins,” said Pascal Brier, Chief Innovation Officer at Capgemini and member of the Group Executive Committee. “Shaping sector-specific use cases and developing them at scale will require expert technical and operational capabilities. We are thrilled to partner with Unity, one of the major engines of the metaverse, to enable our clients to realize its real business value.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Capgemini to accelerate the adoption of real time 3D technologies across a number of industries” said Marc Whitten, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Unity Create Solutions. “Unity’s real time 3D solutions will bring many new companies into the next generation of the internet, or metaverse, helping them achieve greater engagement with their customers.”

Capgemini is progressing its ambitions in this new emerging era of the internet through its Metaverse-Lab, comprising a team of senior technology experts from across the Group with a strong track record in the key underlying technologies of the Web3 / metaverse. The Lab aims at shaping industry-specific metaverse strategies and will develop disruptive actionable solutions and platforms with its partners including Unity. Its R&D programs will cover the future of immersive human-machine interfaces and controllers, the future of work in the metaverse, the future of digital twins, and the future of blockchain and Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).

Third of subscribers cancel within the first 24 hours

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Nearly one-third of all active churn happens in the first 24 hours – making this period a critical time for subscriber engagement and potentially causing a headache for those involved ion digital customer engagement.

That’s according to the 2022 Subscription Performance Benchmark Report from Piano, which analyses customer behaviour in publisher subscription environments, based on proprietary data from serving hundreds of organisations that garner more than 140 billion collective pageviews every month.

Building on Piano’s 2021 findings, which explored a global surge in subscriptions, the new report looks at current behaviour throughout the customer journey: overcoming registration obstacles; turning registered users into subscribers; engaging active subscribers; and mitigating churn.

“As subscription programs mature, publishers need to adopt more sophisticated tactics in targeting users for both acquisition and retention. When we analyse the customer journey for digital subscriptions, we’re looking at how organisations can drive engagement—and in turn, increase user value—as they move through that funnel,” said Michael Silberman, SVP Strategy at Piano. “The benchmark data we’re releasing this year highlights a few of the opportunities we’ve identified for organisations to propel future subscription growth.”

Takeaways from the report include:

  • ‘Sleepers’ comprise more than 40% of subscribers for the average subscription website (defined as active subscribers who haven’t been on the site in the past 30 days)
  • Nearly one-third of all active churn happens in the first 24 hours – making this period a critical time for subscriber engagement
  • Though they make up 65% of digital audiences today, mobile visitors convert at a much lower rate – 19.7% compared to 42.4% for desktop users

Access to benchmark data and insights about their own audiences allows publishers to optimise the subscriber experience at each step in the customer journey. The findings and recommendations in Piano’s annual Subscription Performance Benchmark Report are designed to help businesses identify areas of opportunity in their efforts to drive subscriber acquisition and retention.

“Analytics data fuels insights to tell organisations how they can make improvements to get better performance,” said Patrick Appel, director of research at Piano. “These businesses aren’t just set-it-and-forget-it businesses. You can’t say you set up some rules and now everything’s going to be perfect. Active management plays a big role for the publishers that have the greatest success. That kind of trajectory is important and is informed by data.”

For more subscriber journey insights, read the full report here.

Disabled customers not sharing personal circumstances with retailers and services

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More than three-quarters of disabled consumers have not shared their support needs with businesses and organisations when accessing essential services, according to the latest research from Experian.

Some 85% of disabled consumers and those with support needs said they had not explained to their bank or building society how they could be better supported when interacting with them, a trend repeated with credit card (90%) and pension providers (91%).

For those that have shared their support needs, 70% are satisfied with the extra support they receive – demonstrating that the support can be put in place once organisations are aware of people’s needs.

The findings come as disability experts, campaigners and businesses call for contributions to a new community driven, open-sourced website which aims to improve accessibility for people when dealing with businesses and other organisations.

The Support List (www.WhatWeNeed.Support) has been created in recognition of the challenges faced by those with additional support needs. It has been driven by leading disability and accessibility specialists, Dan Holloway and Chris Fitch, and informed by the lived experiences of more than 1,400 disabled people and those with additional support needs.

Those behind the project, including main sponsor Experian and other firms including Lloyds Banking Group, NewDay, HSBC, Co-Operative Bank and Tesco Bank, are hoping members of the disabled community will share their experiences to allow the List to expand its guidance, allowing it to incorporate a wider range of support needs over time.

The list is intended to be a publicly available starting point to promote dialogue between disabled people and those with additional support needs, and businesses looking to support the needs of their customers in delivering products and services.

It is a broad list, initially focusing on the areas of sight, hearing, and mental health and dementia, and outlines consumer preferences in the following categories:

  • Telephone communications
  • Written communications and in-person meetings
  • Communication preferences
  • Other support needs

The list will expand over time to cover more disabilities, vulnerabilities, and circumstances, informed by the lived experiences of contributors, and then tested by organisations to see how readily they can be put in place.

The ambition is that the Support List will be used to develop standardised approaches and responses to those with disabilities and support needs, which can be used across multiple industries and sectors, to benefit people with support needs anywhere in the UK. It will be iterated over time based on feedback from consumers and industry.

Dan Holloway, Co-convenor of the Futures Thinking Network at The Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities,said: “As disabled people we are used to having to repeat often highly personal, information to every organisation disabled people deal with, just to be able to access services others take for granted. We hope that this project will help break the cycle of exhaustion and trauma that has such a disastrous impact on our lives.”

Chris Fitch, Consumer Vulnerability Lead at the Money Advice Trust, and Research Fellow at the University of Bristol said: “Firms have a legal, regulatory, and business imperative to make changes that allow disabled and vulnerable consumers to access and use their products and services.  Support List connects firms with people – so firms can understand the changes people need, and disabled and vulnerable people can change the way firms understand their needs.”

Paul Speirs, Managing Director, Digital Consumer Information, Experian UK&I, said: “I am proud that Experian has played a role in supporting the creation of the Support List resource over the past year. We hope the website will act as a catalyst for knocking down barriers that are faced by disabled and vulnerable people every day.”

Kathryn Townsend, Government Disability & Access Ambassador (Banking Sector), said: “Companies that provide services on an on-going basis, such as finance, energy and telecommunications, have a unique opportunity to deliver personal, accessible experiences for their customers – and yet many disabled people still face barriers.

“The financial services industry has been leading the way on accessibility, but there is more that can be done across all sectors. The Support List provides a welcome resource which puts disabled people’s voices at the heart of the solution, and will hopefully help address some of the challenges that companies cite.”

5 ways digital technology is improving the utility service experience

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By Tony Corlett, Commercial Enterprise Client Director at Maintel

The current utilities market has never faced greater competition or demands from regulators. However, adopting digital technology can significantly improve the overall utility service experience; from engaging and retaining customers, to adhering to regulation.

It’s easy for organisations to be overwhelmed by the myriad of services and technologies that are available to help them improve competitiveness or compliance. Selection of the appropriate technology and delivery partner is key to success.

Failure to effectively choose and integrate new technologies can have significant repercussions and affect relationships with customers, regulators, and ecosystem partners.

New technology can help utility organisations to improve operational efficiency, resilience, and compliance. Through integration of the online and on-phone experience, reducing costs, and empowering employees, digital technology has an important part to play in improving the utility service experience:  

  1. Improving customer experience

A great customer experience is paramount for utilities; from sales to in-life service, expectations are high, and competition is intense. This pressure comes in many guises, from industry peers, to resellers and comparison websites. So, the service experience must be easy, informative, and available through a range of contact channels. Failure to quickly meet customer expectations can result in them easily moving to another supplier.

Digital technology can significantly improve customer satisfaction by delivering systems that can provide information, handle calls efficiently, and integrate online and on-phone communications. Also, information provided during a service disruption or outage can significantly reduce customer frustration and improve overall call handling efficiency.

Services such as contact centre and unified communication solutions can help address the above challenges and improve the utility customer experience.

  1. Enhancing employee productivity and satisfaction

New technology now allows utility organisations to enable a more empowered and flexible workforce and therefore drive greater productivity. Ensuring that employees are engaged, motivated, and digitally empowered is key to maximising efficiency. Utility organisations typically depend on good internal communications to operate effectively, and so designing and integrating an effective workplace communication infrastructure is critical to improving the overall employee experience. Using technology to automate processes and free teams from repetitive tasks significantly helps drives efficiency and allows a focus on providing a great supply experience. Conversely, not harnessing new technology can undermine operational efficiency and restrict employees’ ability to deal with customer enquiries.

  1. Increasing security and ensuring compliance

Utility companies have unique safety requirements and often operate in high risk environments, with stringent compliance and security regulations across the entire organisation. Network security, protected data, intrusion protection, virus detection and removal are critical requirements for all utilities. Ensuring the safety and compliance of these organisations is essential to enhance cyber security and prevent threats including viruses, hacking, piracy and DDoS attacks. Leading-edge technology can help prevent breaches which could result in the loss of customer data or operational failure, both of which can be catastrophic for any utility organisation.

  1. Optimising organisational resilience

Organisational resilience is a priority for any utility organisation, both for competitiveness and for regulatory compliance. Installing a highly secure network solution ensures that multiple devices and locations can be seamlessly connected. This enables telemetry and usage data to be captured and analysed to optimise energy network performance and customer consumption. Networking technologies can also be used to monitor utility distribution infrastructure and help avoid leakage and wastage problems by allowing instant and secure access to critical system data. A highly resilient utility organisation is better positioned to sustainably serve the long-term needs of its customers.

  1. Operational efficiency

Managing costs and ensuring operational efficiency is critical for any utility organisation. Replacing old technology with more effective alternatives can lower support costs, improve the ability to collaborate and increase resilience. Proactively monitoring networks and usage patterns can also help to reduce wastage, minimise consumption and deliver sustainability. By using technology to monitor energy consumption, not only can the optimal supply and distribution balance be achieved but customers can also receive real-time consumption information to help them reduce their usage. In addition, digital transformation offers a convenient opportunity to simplify infrastructure by consolidating to fewer suppliers. Using a variety of technologies from disparate vendors is complex to manage and not always cost-effective.

Consumers want more self-service options

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81 percent of consumers say they want more self-service options yet only 15 percent of consumers expressed a high level of satisfaction with the tools provided to them today whereas businesses believe 53 percent of consumers are very satisfied with their self-service.

That’s according to the NICE 2022 Digital-First Customer Experience Report, which highlights significant gaps between company and consumer perceptions of current digital- and self-service channels.

This despite 95 percent of companies reporting a major increase in self-service requests in 2021, indicating a rapid growth in consumer demand for greater speed and convenience.

The 2022 Digital-First Customer Experience Report was designed to compare the perspectives of businesses and consumers regarding self-service and digital channels, drawing on responses from 1320 respondents in the United States and the United Kingdom.

NICE noted that consumer expectations are increasing as digital and self-service channels proliferate and evolve, which has led to companies searching for insights into customer experience and brand loyalty. The NICE report is intended to meet that need, revealing potential blind spots among service providers and helping them improve their digital and self-service options. For example, although 36 percent of consumers say they would like to see companies make their self-service smarter, less than 11 percent of businesses are making that a priority.

More generally, the NICE report indicates that 95 percent of consumers place great importance on customer service which impacts brand loyalty. Online self-service and easy access to their preferred channels are two of the top customer service factors in their decision regarding brand loyalty. The majority of consumers (57%) surveyed said they would abandon a brand after one or two negative digital customer service interactions, yet most businesses tend to underestimate how quickly that could happen. Nonetheless, the survey does show that companies recognize the importance of current digital channels to consumers and are attempting to improve their availability. In 2022, the top digital channels companies are planning to expand significantly are chat (47%), website access (44%), and search options (42%).

Paul Jarman, NICE CXone CEO, said, “Avoiding friction is the key factor today in shaping opinions and differentiating between brands consumers love and those they feel are not worth their time. We undertook the 2022 Digital-First Customer Experience Report in order to provide companies with the consumer’s viewpoint and to help them set priorities that drive frictionless experiences. While focusing on digital-first interactions, our report underscores the importance of both agent-assisted and self-service channels, with businesses primarily wanting the ability to choose whichever option they prefer at any given time. This confirms the need for CXi–Customer Experience Interactions–a new approach that focuses on the end-to-end digital customer journey, requiring a complete customer experience platform that only NICE CXone offers.”

You can download a copy of the report is available here.

Heralding the new age of the chatbot

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By James Stokes, Enterprise Team Lead UKI, Infobip 

When people think ‘robot’ they may visualise a 1960s-style sci-fi creation, but today’s robots come in many forms. And although many of these may be invisible to consumers in the form of chatbots and automated services, they are forging the way for a new era of customer experience.

We’ve seen plenty of dynamic use cases of robots in modern day retail, from Amazon introducing automated retail through their digital Amazon Fresh grocery stores and robot-powered micro-fulfilment, to a whole host of organisations investing in chatbots to provide assistance to online shoppers.

And with Insider Intelligence predicting that consumer retail spend via chatbots worldwide will reach $142 billion by the end of 2024, we find ourselves asking – is the chatbot leading the way of today’s digital-first economy?

The age of the chatbot

The scale and potential of robotisation boils down to its role in improving CX. We’ve seen during the pandemic that consumers prefer a blend of approaches when interacting with brands – and the retail industry is investing in new ways to enable this.

For some time, we’ve spoken of chatbots as ‘the future’. Yet we’re well past the tipping point of automated conversation as a new and emerging technology. According to research, 60% of people have engaged with a chatbot in the last year, and 35% of consumers say they would like to see more companies taking advantage of chatbots. Chatbots are now simply part of modern life, accelerated by the pandemic and an increased desire from consumers to engage with brands instantly and digitally. For businesses, this means embracing automation to greet customers at the digital front door, on a landing page website, or providing support for FAQs by making sense of what’s been said, understanding intent, and generating a suitable answer.

Breaking down the CX advantages

Businesses shouldn’t view implementing a chatbot as a tick-box exercise. Robotisation like this has real, tangible benefits in terms of automating services, reducing pressure on human agents, and the provision of instantaneous communication.

Not only are chatbots proliferating in retail settings, but the next generation workforce is heralding their use in corporate environments.Gartner predicts that in 2022, 70% of white-collar workers will interact with conversational platforms daily, given that chatbots cater to millennials’ demand for instant, digital connections that keep them up to date.

The crux of their effectiveness is the immediacy of response. According to Google, over half (53%) of website visits are abandoned if a mobile page takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Tech dependency means we’re becoming more impatient with slower services, and chatbots can help approach this challenge by dispensing wait times with human agents. Chatbots can initiate the conversation, asking for an overview of why a customer is enquiring, and potentially being able to answer the question through rule-based software. In the instance a more sophisticated response is needed, the chatbot can then hand this over to dedicated customer service teams, ensuring all relevant context is at the agent’s fingertips, so they can provide the right support.

Advancements in chatbot tech

Chatbots are nothing new, yet misconceptions still exist around their efficacy. Years ago, rudimentary chatbots could only answer very basic questions, and would prove inadequate replacements for speaking to a human agent. Today, however, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are trained to understand customer intent through Natural Language Processing (NLP). Customers don’t have to stick to a set script as the chatbot is able to make sense of what’s been said, understand the intent, and generate a suitable answer. This makes interaction much more natural and avoids scenarios where deviation from the script drives the conversation to a grinding halt. And, thanks to machine learning, these chatbots get smarter over time as they’re exposed to more conversational data. A report by IBM found that chatbots can answer 80% of questions.

To capitalise on technology advancements in this space, French luxury fashion brand DIOR Beauty recently launched an industry-first campaign with global influencer Jisoo. Users can interact on WhatsApp in a way that lets them feel like they’re talking to Jisoo – they can choose the type of content they want to receive, from themed videos to exclusive behind the scenes footage of Jisoo’s life as a brand ambassador.

Harnessing chatbot capabilities to deliver enriched communications like this means that brands can connect one-on-one without the challenge of ensuring individual human interactions. Yet, when necessary, the switch from chatbot to human agent is imperceptible, as part of a consistent, seamless digital service.

Chatbots as a force for good

Instant communication through chatbots has positive effects in terms of keeping customers engaged and informed. Not only are we seeing chatbots make CX waves in the private sector, but they can also be used as tech for good.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several public and government health organisations across the world were faced with the challenge of providing up-to-date information quickly and at scale, whilst also combatting misinformation. For many, the answer was using chatbots to alleviate pressure on contact centres, who were already facing a significant influx of calls, while ensuring the public had access to the latest advice and guidance.

These chatbots, built by Infobip and WhatsApp, were easily accessible over a publicly available number. Contact was initiated by the user through entering a number in their contact list and sending “Hi”. This started a dialogue with the WhatsApp chatbot, where users could choose from a list of topics depending on the information they were looking for.

Chatbots like this were used across the globe – from the UK to India – to ensure the right information was accessible 24-7, and so contact centres could function as efficiently as possible during an exceptionally busy time.

Final thoughts

Customers expect to reach businesses whenever they want, wherever they want, and for the experience across each channel to be integrated and seamless. A customer might discover your product on Instagram, send a direct message on the app for more information, go to your website for purchase, and then remain in touch via WhatsApp for ongoing support. At every stage they expect consistency.

Chatbot messages, WhatsApp updates, email confirmations – these can all be managed by an invisible robotic hand, to keep customers updated and satisfied across a plethora of channels. Robots aren’t gadgets and gizmos that have no purpose – they are here to stay, and their involvement in boosting CX will only grow.

Decoding the metaverse for digital transformation leaders

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The metaverse, a virtual world where users share experiences and interact in real-time within simulated scenarios, can reshape how companies and customers engage with products and services. However, concerns exist as new technologies necessitate hi-tech strategies and ways to establish confidence, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Kiran Raj, Principal Disruptive Tech Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Digital behemoths like Meta and startups are tapping into the metaverse with technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), digital twins, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, IT services vendors like Accenture and Infosys are developing tools to help enterprises enter the metaverse.”

Abhishek Paul Choudhury, Disruptive Tech Analyst at GlobalData, added: “As the metaverse is maturing quickly, this is a crucial time for digital transformation leaders to act. It can be adopted for several use cases to make business operations more personalized, improve customer engagement and increase revenues.”

GlobalData’s Innovation Explorer database highlights tech-driven innovations that are shaping the metaverse to become a reality.

Customer experience

The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) unveiled MetaHealth, the world’s first metaverse customer satisfaction service center to address customer requirements in a three-dimensional (3D) space. The VR-powered service displays customers’ real faces instead of avatars and allows them to communicate with a real employee, who can handle associated questions, services, and duties.

Engineering and design

Boeing collaborated with Microsoft to leverage the metaverse to strengthen its engineering and prevent manufacturing flaws in the design and development of aircraft. It aims to unite the design, production, and operations of airline services under a single, digital manufacturing system. Boeing will equip its mechanics with Microsoft HoloLens smart wearables for better visualization of aircraft designs and parts.

Event management

US-based live event sports company B2Digital partnered with Colombia-based digital content creator Metaskins Studios to distribute its multiple B2 Fighting Series (B2FS) in browser-based platform Decentraland. Capitalizing on Metaskins’ capability to develop web 3.0 content, B2Digital aims to make B2FS one of the first combat sports brands to offer live virtual events in the metaverse.

Sales and marketing

Gucci sold a limited-edition Dionysus bag for 350,000 Robux, online game platform Roblox’s virtual currency ($4,115).  The bag was offered as part of the ‘Gucci Garden Experience,’ a partnership between Roblox and Gucci. The event was organized in the Roblox platform to catch the attention of the targeted Gen-Z demographic.

Training and development

US-based Talespin created a spatial technology platform for workplace training to improve talent development and skill mobility. It uses immersive technologies such as AR and VR to transform training environments and assist individuals in learning new skills and measuring skill capabilities. The startup’s end-users include learning content creators, learning platforms, AR & VR hardware partners, and enterprises.

Workforce Collaboration

Meta has launched the Horizon Workrooms app to offer employees virtual office space for team collaboration. The virtual meetings are accessible via laptop through video call or by using Quest 2 headsets. It gives a personalized feeling as the user can interact with employee avatars and perform office activities such as taking down notes, file sharing, and chatting in a virtual space, intended for effective team collaboration.

Choudhury concluded: “As the metaverse continues to evolve, several enterprise use cases will emerge. Digital transformation leaders, who can assess the impact of the metaverse beyond gaming trends, will be able to tap into the opportunities generated by this virtual world. However, challenges such as potential cybercrimes, safety, and data privacy concerns, slow development of underlying technologies remain in the metaverse particularly due to lack of standardization.”

WEBINAR REWIND: Financial services organisations struggle to create a CX culture built to last – but why?

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Don’t worry if you missed the recent webinar from Davies Group exploring the secrets of great CX – You can now re-watch the entire session online!

84% of financial services leaders rank business process alignment as more important than putting the customer first when designing customer experiences. How can they then create a CX culture that really puts the customer first?

Davies has discovered that culture seems to be taking a backseat for most CX leaders, although we all know that the absence of customer-first thinking often brings longer contact-centre wait times & more effort, resulting in enhanced frustration & unhappy customers.

In the webinar session, you’ll discover why, and the expert panel will share top tips on how to create a CX culture that will help you achieve those all-important business objectives, including:-

  • How organisational culture is holding your fellow financial services peers back from achieving their CX goals
  • What CX leaders across financial services see as the most important factors in CX design
  • Common misconceptions on building and sustaining a strong internal CX focussed culture
  • Get actionable insight on how to develop a sustainable CX culture in your business

If you have any questions about the webinar content, please contact Boyden Manns at Boyden.manns@davies-group.com.

You can watch the full webinar below:-

Webinar: Financial services organisations struggle to create a CX culture built to last – but why? from Davies Group on Vimeo.