TBC News

Tag: Infobip

  • Customers seek authenticity, personalized attention from brands

    Customers seek authenticity, personalized attention from brands

    Global cloud communications platform Infobip has launched a new report featuring research insights by leading analyst firm IDC. The Infobip eBook titled “Driving Meaningful Customer Engagement with Conversational AI” highlights the growing importance of unified conversational solutions powered by conversational AI, especially within the Asia Pacific region.

    Customer expectations have changed in today’s digital information era. They expect authenticity and more personalized attention from brands. Yet many organizations have little to no capabilities to deliver unique experiences. The IDC Future of Customer Experience Survey 2023 revealed that 37% of organizations in China do not have the capability to maintain customer context across the customer journey and channels. This figure is higher in Malaysia (40%), Indonesia (60%) and India (60%).

    The same survey also reports that more brands are prioritizing interacting with their customers to establish superior customer experiences through increased allocations for corporate budgets towards improving customer experience (CX). Customer satisfaction and trust are the top investment areas for businesses in Malaysia (87%) and China (58%), while customer service and support are the main priorities for Indonesia (97%) and India (83%) businesses.

    Everyday Conversations Powered by AI

    The industry shift towards better CX is not unexpected. In the past, customers would have to wait for an available service agent to respond to their queries. Today, APAC businesses are empowering customers to find answers, request services, and complete transactions independently through the help of omnichannel communication solutions powered by conversational AI.

    By providing instant replies to common customer queries via conversational AI chatbots, businesses can accelerate time to first resolution and make customers feel more appreciated.  Conversational AI chatbots’ functionalities now go beyond automatic simple replies – they provide a variety of useful features including automated data collection, promotional activities, and even purchase process guidance.

    “Generative AI has reshaped conversational experiences. Having a single source of truth across interactions and channels powers context. This customer context allows for more relevant and intelligent conversations, and raises the bar for personalization,” said Lavanya Jindal, Senior Research Analyst, Asia/Pacific Customer Experience and Value Streams, IDC Asia/Pacific.

    Messaging Apps on The Rise

    Messaging apps have become increasingly popular across Asia, as customers prefer to communicate and purchase through digital channels. Recognizing this trend, brands in retail, digital commerce, financial services, and telcos are swiftly establishing their brand presence on popular platforms like WhatsApp and Viber, ensuring their services are readily available where their customers are most active. According to Infobip’s latest messaging trends report, there was a 509% increase in WhatsApp messages in Indonesia, a 226% increase in chat apps in Vietnam, and a 34% increase in Viber messages in the Philippines.

    WhatsApp continues to dominate globally with more than 2.8 billion active users. But cultural preferences, local language, and integration have seen other messaging platforms gaining popularity in certain regions, such as LINE in Taiwan and Thailand, KakaoTalk in South Korea, and Zalo in Vietnam. In some countries, a messaging platform can claim market dominance due to its significant user bases, such as WeChat boasting 1.3 billion active users – almost all based in China.

    “In today’s AI-driven landscape, CPaaS empowers businesses to easily orchestrate customer engagement across the entire journey, driving efficiency and maximizing value. It’s about doing more with less, reducing costs, and enhancing operational effectiveness, all while prioritizing long-term customer relationships,” said Velid Begovic, VP Revenue at Infobip.

    APAC is Investing in Conversational AI

    The IDC Business Value Engineering 2023 Survey revealed that about 39% of businesses in the APAC region consider conversational AI to be a critically important investment priority in the next two years. The primary business motivators for investing in AI-powered apps for improving CX are mainly to improve customer success, loyalty, and advocacy, as well as products/services that reflect customer’s needs.

    Chatbots are one of the top 2 areas that APAC businesses are planning to integrate GenAI, according to IDC’s Future Enterprise Resiliency & Spending Survey Wave 1, January 2024. Conversational AI chatbots today are capable of quickly pulling contextual data relevant to customers and using it to offer not only delivery updates and product recommendations but also simple personalized greetings to make customers feel more welcome.

    “Conversational AI has gained significant momentum in recent years. To truly excel, it must be properly integrated across the technology stack alongside the human elements throughout the customer journey. Infobip stands ready to support businesses on this transformative journey,” commented Begovic.

    To learn more about how conversational AI is reshaping customer experiences in the APAC region, download the report here: https://bit.ly/44UjRXE.

  • Infobip reveals blueprint to unlock evolving customer journeys

    Infobip reveals blueprint to unlock evolving customer journeys

    Global cloud communications platform Infobip has launched a new Conversational Everything Blueprint to enable brands to embed conversational experiences for customer communications.

    Infobip has developed the guide to help businesses stay ahead of the growing trend towards more personalized, end-to-end customer journeys from promotion to purchase and support through popular chat apps.

    As customer journeys move from the physical to the digital, businesses and brands need to be able to meet their customers where they are. Infobip’s data demonstrates customers want to connect with brands on the channels they already use such as chat apps.

    So, to meet changing preferences, brands must now deliver rich, convenient, and personalized conversational experiences and customer journeys on the channels their customers use and prefer.

    Infobip’s Conversational Everything Blueprint explains how brands can create such customer journeys using a conversational one-stop shop such as Infobip, which simplifies the process for brands. By developing meaningful conversations across the customer journey, businesses can:

    • Increase customer satisfaction and loyalty: through personalized and always-on customer support
    • Increase conversion rates: by 2.5 times compared to traditional eCommerce platforms
    • Create additional revenues streams: by adopting new digital channels and services
    • Reduce customer service costs: with automated support through chatbots and live agents
    • Improve cart abandonment: with automated events triggered and timely communication

    The blueprint also explains how organizations can embed conversational experiences across all customer touchpoints from marketing to sales and support.

    By combining marketing and promotional campaigns, businesses can engage customers in real-time using two-way conversations on their favourite channels.

    Businesses can also boost sales by shaping hyper-personalized end-to-end customer journeys on a single communications channel, where customers go from search to purchase in minutes.

    What’s more, conversational experiences can help brands provide always-on, automated support over customers’ preferred channels, with seamless agent takeover for a more personal experience.

    Tonko Šarac, Director of Go To Market at Infobip, said: “The conversational future is now, and customers are looking for quick, easy, and meaningful interactions with the brands of their interest on their familiar channel. So, brands need to start interacting with their customers, whether for promotion, sales, or support on popular chat apps that became main stream. That’s why we have developed the blueprint to help organizations keep up the pace with rapidly evolving trends and ever-growing customer expectations. This means that conversational experiences between customers and brands must be richer and more personal across all phases of customer journeys. The consequences of this approach are better customer loyalty and higher sales.“

    “This fast-moving transition may sound very demanding and resource intensive, especially for brands that are relying on traditional communication channels, but with Infobip’s Conversational Experince suite, this is not the case. Leveraging on its class-leading experience in the communication industry, Infobip has simplified this transition for the brands to the maximum, detecting and providing already pre-worked and templated conversational flows, of the shelf, which can be activated in a matter of days,“ concluded Tonko.