Top five customer engagement trends of 2022
One of the most exciting parts about working at a technology company is being at the forefront of what comes next for both businesses and consumers. Kristen Pimpini considers it a privilege. He talks about how to work alongside individuals and customers who are building trends for the future.
From the future of live video to Voice AI, here are the five trends we’re most excited about in 2022.
Trend 1: Live video
While live video isn’t anything new, quality streaming to an unlimited audience has historically been a bit of a buffering situation.
But as the world gets increasingly more comfortable with streaming from home in every aspect of their lives – from fitness to education – the bandwidth to do so in a more immersive capacity is ever more important.
The need for this kind of technology is growing rapidly. Recently we introduced Twilio Live, allowing users to connect with an unlimited audience in a truly personalised, immersive and secure way. From marketing and live shopping events, to fitness workouts, to education and training, live video experience will become an increasingly important way to bring audiences ‘inside’ your world.
Trend 2: Hyper-personalisation
From every corner of the digital world, you’re being asked to buy now, shop here, click this, learn more. Naturally, we’ve grown more discerning in our clicks. And with 72 percent of consumers now saying they only engage with marketing emails tailored to their personal interests, it’s in every business’s best interest to figure out how to safely harness user data to create more personalised experiences for their customers.
But figuring out how to do so can once again be incredibly overwhelming. Without the correct tools to automate information and segment your audiences strategically, your user data is left to go to waste, or worse still, hacked.
A platform that gathers your customer data in one unified view makes it easier to personalise unique campaigns, segment audiences, and strategise about each touchpoint on your customer’s journey.
Hyper-personalisation is no longer just an upcoming trend, but something you can implement into your marketing strategy now.
Trend 3: Next-level business messaging
On its face, a 98 percent open rate is a pretty incredible stat. It’s no wonder more and more businesses are using SMS to reach their customers. But just because your customers are seeing your messaging, doesn’t mean they’re acting on it. There are several factors that impact that conversion decision but one of the most important is trust.
Like a good relationship, communication with your customer (regardless of channel) is built on mutual trust. Unfortunately, when bad actors (hackers, spammers, etc.) enter a channel, that trust is eroded for everyone.
Businesses should be looking for a tool that allows you to register for verified phone numbers and APIs to create a seamless and trustworthy customer experience.
When you approach messaging with trust, intention, and quality, it improves your business’s chance of converting them to long-term customers.
Trend 4: All-access channels
We’re all familiar with the frustration of calling a business that handballs your inquiry or is unable to address it because they don’t have all the information at hand.
Channel synchronisation is essential, and many companies are already trying to do it. But oftentimes, they are working with several different platforms to deliver this service.
Businesses should be using a single API to enable any digital channel (including SMS, chat, and email) to engage with their customers in one place. With one customised view of the customer from a single location, regardless of whether your team is in sales, services or marketing, you can offer customers a great experience while saving time and money in the process.
Trend 5: Voice AI
More and more businesses are integrating a digital virtual assistant into their customer service journey. Therefore it’s no surprise improvements in voice AI are on the horizon. This will make customer voice calls a smoother, customised experience.
Automated voices and pre-recorded choices are still very much the norm. However, the next generation of voice AI will identify and extract important signals from unstructured natural conversations. This allows customers to get to the right place at the right time and not have to deal with a rabbit hole of pre-recorded robot calls.
Want to be at the forefront of trends today? Think about integrating products that work together seamlessly with very little uptime. These can be built upon further as technology changes.
