Imagine you’re throwing a gala party. Every guest is your customer. The onus is upon you to treat the guests with utmost hospitality, for which you have to talk to them the right way, provide them with all the comforts that you can and make them feel right at home. Because proper communication is what leads to the better customer experience.
Thanks to mobile apps, the lounge of customer service are now well-decked and well-equipped than ever before. Now it is easier to talk to your customers. All it takes is a few taps, flow gestures or voice commands to keep in touch and grow the relationship.
Today, six out of the top 10 downloaded mobile apps are messaging apps. Almost every smartphone user has at least two to four messaging apps installed for regular usage.
It is no surprise that these apps have become a connecting thread between customers and businesses. They empower businesses to deliver an engaging customer experience, while for a customer the reward takes the form of instantly available support.
In my opinion, the phrase that mobile apps are changing customer interactions is an understatement. Mobile apps are transforming customer interactions is a better way of putting it.
Let’s take a deep dive on how the transformation is happening.
The power of NOW
Mobile apps have brought to businesses the power of real-time communication. From responding to regular enquiries to offering real-time emergency support, developing mobile apps enable businesses to interact with a customer at the moment.
In fact, mobile apps have empowered businesses to step into the omnichannel customer support bandwagon. If you are someone who uses on-demand services on a regular basis, you would have noticed that most apps do have an option to chat with customer support.
In fact, Uber has taken the game ahead by interacting with customers through its customer support at the push of a button. They have made a repository of frequently asked queries stored within the app that customers can reach out when required.
Source: Uber
More than texting
Siri. Google Assistant. Cortana. Amazon Alexa. Bixby. A whole new generation of virtual assistants are coming to your nearest mobile device. Chances are, you have already used these virtual assistants on your smartphone to find information.
Source: How to Geek
From the nearest sushi place in town to playing your favorite playlist on Spotify, virtual assistants have opened a whole new way of communicating with customers. What’s more interesting is that voice is expected to be a $40 billion channel by 2022 (OC&C Strategy Consultants Study.)
Source: Wordstream
In fact, this form of communicating with customers through messaging and shopping mobile apps have led to a new form of eCommerce itself – conversational commerce. Uber’s Chris Messina wrote about conversational commerce in her Medium post.
Conversational commerce is about delivering convenience, personalization, and decision support while people are on the go, with only partial attention to spare.
Facebook Messenger Bot, WhatsApp for business, Amazon Echo, Google Nest are all torchbearers of conversational commerce.
The connecting power of mobile apps doesn’t end there.
Reaching customers where they are
GPS technology was launched in the year 1974 for military purposes. Today, civilians are using this technology to order food online or hail a cab from their real-time location. Location-tracking and location-sharing is enabling businesses to reach customers where they are.
The whole universe of on-demand services has stemmed from the host of mobile apps that are enabled with GPS technology. As a matter of fact, a host of industries have taken form on their own with on-demand as their base.
Transportation, food delivery, dining reservations, grocery delivery, home service are some industries that did not exist in the previous decade that have become habitual to present-day generation.
Predicting what customers want
The dawn of AI is upon us and it is doing wonders to how businesses communicate with customers. A classic example of this is Facebook’s Messenger Bot which uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to predict customer wants.
Source: 1-800-Flower
1-800-Flower.com’s customer service leverages Messenger bots. It even manages to deliver a humane customer experience where the customers do not feel that they are interacting with a bot. The bot-based messenger would be capable of handling communication like a real human that customers would feel no difference while placing orders.
In a nutshell
From clay tablets to some-inches-wide HD tablets, mankind has come a long way in developing means of communication. Mobile apps mark a milestone in the major inventions and innovations. They help businesses to communicate better with their customers through instant messaging, provide on-demand services through location sharing and even provide extended support through file sharing, video conferencing and much more.
Mobile apps have kickstarted the conversational commerce trend which is now pegged to be worth many billions. If you are a business and wants to stay in touch with customers in a better way, a mobile app should definitely be in your toolkit.