In order for any organisation to succeed, customer experience (CX) has to be a major priority. After all, the better someone feels about their interaction with an organisation, the more likely they are to keep coming back.
By Ross Sibbald, commercial director of Striata
Providing that kind of experience means building lasting relationships. And, in a world where people have their devices with them every second of the day, it’s best done using digital communication.
But if an organisation is to create truly seamless CX, it can’t just decide to adopt digital communication and hope for the best.
The organisation has to constantly review and adapt any messaging it sends out, with automated and triggered messages being particularly important.
The importance of automated messaging
The messaging sent out by any business can be roughly divided into two types. The first are marketing messages that are closely tied to brand voice and digital identity. Then there are the operational messages, which are usually automatically triggered by an action or request and are an essential part of that business’s service. Think of monthly bills, welcome emails, one-time passwords, and purchase or payment confirmations.
Done well, these automated messages can complement marketing initiatives and drive engagement from customers.
Operational messages typically have much higher open rates and click rates than those sent out for marketing purposes. If leveraged correctly, they can make a significant contribution to a consistent and positive digital customer experience.
These messages offer prime marketing real estate and have incredibly attractive qualities. They are efficient, regular, targeted, and expected, meaning that customers are much more likely to engage with them.
If they aren’t aligned properly, however, the organisation can end up with a fractured digital experience that damages the brand.
Falling into neglect
Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for automated messages to fall out of sync with their marketing equivalents.
This is largely down to the fact that they’re often part of an IT or web-related project, meaning they’re set up to be functional, with an emphasis on automation, performance and reporting. In other words, the likelihood of someone brand minded playing an ongoing role in the project tends to be quite small.
Worse still, if automated messaging is treated as a one-off project, it can easily fall into neglect.
For the customer, automated and triggered messages which don’t match the marketing messages they’re getting, can result in a fractured experience.
Review frequently
It’s pivotal, therefore, that organisations regularly review their automated and triggered messaging to ensure that they’re helping create the best possible customer experience.
That means that they shouldn’t only be aligned with the organisation’s brand goals, but should also make use of relevant data, and speak to the customer at a personal level.
Importantly, the people undertaking these reviews should come from across the organisation. And, when a marketing or brand change takes place, a conscious effort must be made to mirror that change in the automated messaging.
Automated and triggered messaging represent a massive opportunity to organisations which use these messages correctly. And that includes regularly reviewing them and making whatever changes might be necessary.
Those that fail to do so are not only missing out on this opportunity but are potentially giving their customers the kind of fractured experience that could impact their brand loyalty.