What to say to who, when, via what channel
Customer communications are key to any customer journey. In some journeys, information is the product customers are buying. In others, outbound communications help guide people through the journey, reinforce benefits and get people back on track when they drop out.
However communications also do many other things. They can be used to cross and up-sell, encourage recommendation, demand or acknowledge payment or promote the brand and its values and purpose. Many different departments may want to communicate with a customer at any moment in time via a range of media.
We typically find that communications grow organically and that automated communications are rarely reviewed or updated.
No wonder that when we speak to a firm’s customers we find that some hear nothing whilst others are inundated with messages and have stopped reading them altogether. This can be seen in customer data which all too often shows that conversion and lifetime value are lower than they could be whilst errors and complaints are higher.
Often a review and a reset is needed. The key elements of this are:
- Document the current communications a customer segment is sent; service messages, tactical sales messages and brand/relationship messages.
- Establish what the current and potential lifetime value of that segment is and what the marketing allowable should be to profitably manage that relationship and move as many customers as possible towards their full potential lifetime value.
- Map their journey and work out what messages should be triggered by specific events.
- Do qualitative research with those customers to establish their genuine needs and what messages are welcomed and relevant.
A frank conversation then needs to happen with all the stakeholders who are trying to hit their own targets to agree which messages should have priority at different stages in the customer’s journey, and what the optimum contact frequency is.
With these inputs we then produce a contact strategy. This optimises the budget, focusing it on key moments of truth and reflecting the CX hierarchy:
- Brilliant basics delivered through timely, concise messages that reduce customer effort and maximise conversion.
- The personal touch delivered through communications that reward loyalty and offer relevant benefits to build engagement.
- And emotional connection made with messages that spot-light the values and purpose of the organisation and deliver benefits that customers care about to build loyalty and recommendation.
Of course once a strategy has been written then the development and testing of communications, and the implementation of CRM and management processes must begin to optimse the strategy over time.