By Vasudeva Rao Munnaluri, RVP India & SAARC, Zendesk
Today’s consumers are increasingly discerning, setting the bar high for brands looking to keep their loyalty. Two in three customers in India will switch to a competitor after just one bad experience, according to Zendesk’s latest research. As much as 80% of Indian customers are willing to spend more with brands that provide a seamless experience between all points of contact, giving rise to a new standard of CX – immersive CX.
Against a backdrop of rising customer expectations amid a challenging economic environment, businesses need to make tough decisions about protecting what they’ve already built, where to make investments, and where to cut costs. This is where investing in CX technologies can be a driver of growth – 82% of Indian businesses say customer service has a positive impact on the company’s growth and 90% of them say delivering great CX is crucial to future-proofing their customer base.
Immersive CX offers something powerful to customers: the ability to be truly seen and heard. It enables natural, fluid interactions between customers and companies. This can range from AI-powered chatbots that closely mimic human agents to conversational experiences in which a customer can begin an interaction on one channel and then switch to another mode of communication without having to jump through hoops and repeat themselves. And yet, less than two-thirds (64%) of businesses have implemented conversational customer service.
Businesses in India need to move into this new standard of immersive CX if they want to deepen their customer relationships and increase revenue.
Conversational AI as a Driver of Growth
Customers today have a clear idea about how they think AI should evolve — with voice-based AI and chatbots. They want AI to communicate with them in a conversational way and also have the capacity to handle multiple, complex questions at once. Consumers recognise that chatbots have come a long way – 71% of Indian customers say interactions with bots have become more human-like. Yet, as customers enjoy richer experiences with bots, their expectations have also risen. In fact, 84% of Indian customers expect AI interactions to become more natural and human-like over time, and the ideal evolution of AI will be able to move across channels, and spaces, and begin or end at any time they choose.
Businesses today are challenged to do more with less, and with new technologies like AI and generative AI, it’s possible now to increase efficiency and scale. AI-powered chatbots empower customers to solve problems independently around the clock. With bots handling simple inquiries, agents have more time to resolve complex issues, leading to faster resolution times, decreased handle times, and shorter wait periods. Chatbots can ensure seamless experiences and reduce human error as it captures customer details automatically and gives agents all the context they need to handle a problem seamlessly. Ultimately, conversational AI delivers immersive experiences — a win-win for both businesses and customers.
Personalisation that builds trust
It’s common for consumers to see targeted ads, especially on social media. This level of personalisation has become a norm, but customers want more and expect companies to do a better job with personalisation. Half the customers in India want companies to increase personalisation in their wants and needs, whether it is online or in-store – a clear indication that customer data should go beyond marketing efforts and into experiences that build trust.
This is where the customer support function plays a huge role. Building trust requires businesses to make customers feel remembered and understood. With the right solutions, brands can connect customer data across all touchpoints to anticipate potential issues the customer may face and deliver great CX that factors in their past interactions with the brand. Instead of asking customers ‘What can I help you with?’, agents can engage customers with the right context such as, ‘I noticed you ordered a pair of boots from us that was delivered two days ago. Here are some product care tips.’ This level of personalisation is possible when CX solutions capture the right data and deliver the insights to agents. Going a step further, when customer service data is integrated across business functions, it improves the company’s understanding of what customers really want. When customers feel that the brand cares about them it builds a deeper relationship and increases trust.
Using the power of data to ensure customer well-being
Companies need to pay attention to customer sentiment not simply because doing so contributes to the bottom line. Upsetting interactions with a company’s support team can cause real emotional damage to customers and a bad experience related to a purchase can upset their entire day. That said, a positive experience can drive revenue – Zendesk research shows that 88% of customers in India say a positive customer experience makes them more likely to make another purchase.
If businesses want to retain existing customers and build lasting relationships, they need a more formalised way to capture and accurately leverage customer emotions and intent to deliver the optimal experience. Analysing sentiment and intent across channels can help identify product opportunity areas, building a roadmap for businesses to drive revenue growth. It can also help businesses triage tickets better, ensuring that high-complexity support requests skip the chatbot and go to the right agents. An open and flexible CRM platform is a great place to house customer data. When integrated with other business software, the CRM can automatically capture all the information exchanged during customer interactions, helping to keep your business in sync. Sharing knowledge across the organisation not only informs product evolution and refines their capabilities, but also creates consistently immersive experiences across channels, deepening trust.
The most successful organisations are the ones prioritising investments in delivering the best experiences. And they’re doing this by optimising existing customer support technology that enables them to achieve operational efficiency and business growth while also meeting their customers where they are. Businesses in India too need to pivot their CX strategies to deliver more immersive experiences or risk being left behind.