Putting Customer Communication at the Core of New Apps

As developers and entrepreneurs create new products and services, it is critical for a powerful communication solution to sit at the heart of the solution and support all customer engagement. Reason being, when customers begin to engage with the application, they’ll expect easy access to troubleshooting tools like live support chat. 

Neglecting to offer such support could make or break the overall customer experience. In fact, 78% of customers have reportedly backed out of a purchase due to a poor customer experience, and at least 54% of respondents said they would prefer to speak to a chatbot instead of a human customer service representative if it saved them 10 minutes. 

However, doing so is no easy feat when it comes to automated communications services. Human-level support is effective, but often creates unwanted lag and is not easy or cost friendly for companies to scale. Automated customer service technologies and solutions are a viable choice but need to be able to quickly recognize the intent and context of what a human is saying in order to solve their problem effectively. 

Not only that, bots need to be able to maintain a live dialogue with the customer and keep the conversation flowing in the same way a human customer service representative would. This ultimately creates an even bigger challenge for the developer, outside of the initial task of developing an effective and engaging application.   

How Have Developers Traditionally Approached Customer Communications? 

We often see companies looking to implement things like text message, video or voice calling into their customer communication strategy. While it may seem like a small task from afar, most in-house or self-built solutions require intensive upkeep and are often difficult to scale. 

Not only that, once a company decides the type of communication it wants to deploy, the developer often struggles to find the right overall architecture and means for implementation. Once these are finally in place and working properly, expanding that functionality down the road makes for yet another grueling process. Because of this, many developers often decide to outsource all together.  

Most enterprises and contact centers will have communications systems, such as Private Branch Exchange (PBX), that are based on software as opposed to being delivered as a service. This software may be completely run within an office or partly inside the enterprise’s cloud environment. This software was not designed for the modem cloud era, and the more advanced software option generally won’t offer any flexibility to alter or customize communications flows.

What Are Some Best Practices for Integrating Customer Communications into New Applications?

There are a few things for developers to keep in mind when building out their customer communications capabilities. First, you’ll need to decide what type of communications methods are required for optimal customer experience, whether it be text message, voice, video or a combination of the three. 

From there, you’ll need to determine the communication logic that leads to the best customer experience. For example, there is no longer a need to follow the traditional model where a customer calls, navigates through an Interactive Voice Response (IVR), waits on hold and then finally talks to someone. Communications flows can be centered around what provides the best experience for the customer, not what the communications system can handle. If a customer service call results in scheduling an appointment, why not text details of the appointment for easy reference by the customer? 

Proactive reminders as the appointment approaches are even better. Rather than subjecting customers to annoying IVRs with many simple prompts, they can leverage the technologies that drive Alexa and Google Assistant to help direct customers. Instead of the customer struggling to accurately describe what they are seeing, why not escalate to a video call so a technician can see what the agent is seeing? We also see this with options like automated call backs instead of having the customer waiting on hold to prolonged periods of time. 

Next, you’ll need to find the appropriate technology stack that aligns with those standards. This often means using a CPaaS (communications platform as a service) platform that is compatible with your needs. Once you’ve found a solution that can cater to your needs appropriately, you can start building and integrating your communications system.

Choosing the Right Solution

There are a few things to consider when choosing the right solution. 

• The solution you’re choosing needs an API function that suits your needs. Most of the apps and services need to connect your account with a consistent user ID that offers context into a user’s information and history. The most common practice is using a phone number as the ID because SMS is the fastest and easiest way to reach the customer, but you’ll need robust API capabilities in order to do that in a way that’s quick and catered to the individual’s account. 
• If scaling your call-handling staff is a concern, you’ll need a solution that automates parts of the interaction to offload human callers. When implemented correctly, this will increase the efficiency of customer communications by solving customer problems faster. Done right, you can increase call volumes without adding to call hold times.
• Unfortunately, scale is useless if you’re compromising quality. Automated customer service technologies and solutions need to be able to quickly recognize the intent and context of what a human is saying. Solid Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities can maintain a live dialogue with the customer and keep the conversation flowing in the same way a human customer service representative would. It doesn’t matter if the robot sounds and listens like a human if it doesn’t know how to respond to questions and statements in a human-like manner. 

Customer communications should be a priority when it comes to building out any new application, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a hassle to implement. By keeping the best practices above in mind, you can deploy quality customer support in a way that’s approachable, scalable and simple to augment as needed.

— Alexey Aylarov