Messaging applications are now necessary “digital fronts” to businesses and embracing them as go-to communication channels has proven to transform customer connection. However, many businesses in Asia-Pacific (APAC) still face significant gaps in maintaining customer context across various touchpoints, according to the IDC Future of Customer Experience Survey 2023.
What do people expect of businesses when it comes to seamless customer experiences, and how can businesses better prepare for that?
Integration across their customer journey
A survey by Gartner has found that high-effort transitions between service channels lead to significantly worse customer experience outcomes. 93 per cent of respondents reported high customer satisfaction when there was a seamless channel transition, as compared to seven per cent when faced with high-effort channel transitions. In the same vein, messaging applications should have features that nudge customers along throughout the full customer journey in an integrated and unified manner.
Messaging applications are relevant in many use cases, from customer service and support to marketing and advertising. Businesses should identify key interactions and map them back to touchpoints, experimenting with new ways of maximising customer communication channels and leveraging crucial moments for conversion. Data on customer behaviour at each point also bring valuable customer behaviour insights to light, which businesses can distil into strategies that encourage purchase.
For example, WhatsApp is integrating AI to help businesses create advertisements on Facebook and Instagram reminding customers when they have left an item in their cart or offering a discount for a purchase they have been waiting to make. Integrated with Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) platforms, these advertisements become fully trackable with analytics that will help businesses understand user behaviour, evolving the information into valuable data-driven decisions for customer service, reengagement, and loyalty-building.
A priority on privacy
Recently in Singapore, scammers have been using messaging and social media applications to attack, with Meta platforms and Telegram among the growing number of sites used as a form of contact in 45 per cent of scams. Messaging applications were used as a mode of contact in 8,336 scam cases, increased from 6,555 in the same period last year.
In the face of ever-evolving cybercrimes, customers are demanding privacy-focused platforms offering end-to-end encryption as they become more conscious of their digital footprint and security of their personal information. This shift has led to the emergence of alternative messaging applications that prioritise user privacy, appealing to a segment of the market that values privacy and security above all else.
Also Read: To Voice AI or not: The changing face of customer experience
Its rise indicates a broader trend toward more secure digital communication and has spurred innovation in the industry to offer smart security functions that improve data protection across different channels. In Asia, LINE TAXI, a ride-hailing app worked with Infobip to tackle data privacy challenges by integrating features like number masking, ensuring safer, more secure rides for their expanding user base.
Super apps are the next frontier
We are also witnessing the rise of super apps in the region such as Grab and WeChat. These applications have transformed simple messaging applications into one-stop-shop platforms that seamlessly blend various aspects of daily life into a single application that offers a range of integrated services including e-commerce, mobile payments, and ride-hailing.
As consumers, we are already familiar with super apps – it has become the norm for customers to complete their entire commerce journey from browsing, instant messaging to payment processing all within these applications.
For businesses, super apps are simplifying workflows and keeping all customer interactions in one place. It gives access to previous customer interactions and preferences to quickly resolve queries while tailoring the customer experience. They can in turn also fuel data-driven business decisions, allowing insight into consumer trends to plan for future products, services, pricing, and promotions.
One of the most well-known super apps is WhatsApp, which firmly established itself as the leading messaging platform in the region with its versatile features like video calls and voice messaging. Infobip’s messaging trends report also highlights a staggering 421% increase in WhatsApp messages across APAC in 2023. The platform’s widespread adoption underscores its role not just in personal communication but also in business interactions, where it serves as a crucial tool for customer engagement and operational efficiency.
Also Read: Meeting the customer where they want to be, in an omni-channel world
Improved customer experiences, powered by AI
The future of messaging lies in unlocking the potential of AI. AI integration is revolutionising messaging application capabilities with more natural, context-aware, predictive, and intelligent responses. Fuelled by advanced language models, AI-powered messaging applications can analyse entire conversation histories to provide more relevant, appropriate, and tailored responses, suggestions and assistance for more satisfying user experiences.
AI also plays a crucial role in bolstering privacy in messaging applications. By enabling advanced security features that conduct real-time threat detection, authentication, and encryption, as well as monitor, identify and block malicious activity, AI-powered privacy enhancements create safer and more secure messaging environments that protect customer information.
Moreover, generative AI will drive a boom for digital personal assistants. AI-powered digital personal assistants within super apps will enhance user experiences by providing recommendations, automating tasks, and streamlining workflows, fully integrating the experience from awareness to purchase and levelling that up with convenience and personalisation.
Businesses must move in lockstep with this evolving messaging landscape to leverage these powerful tools that help them deliver exceptional customer experiences.
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