Presented by Twilio
In their infancy, digital brand communications, such as business-to-consumer text messages, were groundbreaking. Consumers gained direct access to deals and updates from their favorite brands, while companies found an economical way to engage with them. However, as communication channels have proliferated, the landscape has become chaotic. Today, I juggle text messages, calls, emails, WhatsApp, LinkedIn Messenger, and various apps to connect with brands.
This chaotic experience is not only frustrating for consumers but also for businesses striving to connect meaningfully. Marketers, salespeople, and customer service teams often grapple with fragmented information trapped within outdated tech stacks.
The good news is that we are in an era defined by AI advancements. This technology enables us to prioritize customer experience in our innovations, filtering through the noise for clearer, more effective communication.
Organizations can leverage AI to achieve three essential goals: understanding the customer, enhancing communication strategies, and building consumer trust.
Understand Your Customer with Unified Profiles
Effective communication begins with a deep understanding of your audience, which requires a direct relationship with them. A comprehensive data profile allows businesses to view customers as complex individuals with changing needs. Key data points may include:
- Connection type: Wi-Fi vs. cellular
- Active hours on preferred channels
- Preferred communication channels
- Sentiment from past interactions
It's crucial for businesses to utilize first-party data—information gathered directly from customer interactions—over third-party data collected from external sources. This approach provides an accurate, real-time understanding of the audience.
Research indicates that 92% of businesses are already using AI for personalized strategies, which is promising. However, the effectiveness of AI depends on the quality of your data. Each customer interaction refines your data models, simplifies their experience, and shapes future engagements.
Creating a unified view of customers, despite various data silos, is possible with Customer Data Platforms. These systems integrate disparate data sources into cohesive profiles that update in real time, enabling a clear understanding of customer history and preferences.
Smarter Communication Through Omni-Personalization
Rather than casting a wide net, businesses should focus on crafting memorable customer experiences that drive conversions and loyalty. This can be achieved by merging customer profiles with insights gathered from real-time interactions. AI enhances this process, facilitating timely communication across channels and predicting customer needs.
For example, if a customer who usually avoids phone interaction calls to return a product and expresses dissatisfaction, that feedback can be logged in their profile. A customer support specialist can later follow up via a messaging app, recapping the conversation and offering a promotion for higher-rated products. This strategy fosters deeper understanding, future loyalty, and increased sales.
Context from every interaction informs the next outreach, leading to optimized future engagement. This continuous cycle of personalization, which I term “omni-personalization,” enhances customer experiences.
Prioritize Trust
While enhancing communication, it's vital to focus on trust. Much of the digital noise consumers encounter is spam or fraud, undermining trust in legitimate communications. The industry must prioritize trusted, opted-in communications to rebuild consumer confidence.
Generative AI introduces complexities, including new security and fraud risks, but it can also be a strong ally in counteracting spam. For instance, Bluesky, a social media platform, utilized Twilio’s Verify API and AI-powered Fraud Guard to secure its onboarding process, blocking fraudsters and gaining customer trust.
Additionally, Apple's support of RCS—the next-generation messaging standard—further establishes trust in communications. By enabling branded messaging and rich media, RCS boosts consumer confidence in the legitimacy of messages, allowing businesses that prioritize trust to gain a competitive edge.
Envision a future where companies understand customers intimately, anticipating their needs and delivering tailored solutions through preferred channels. Integrating AI enhances this experience, benefiting both consumers and businesses.
In this future, marketers, sales teams, and customer support benefit from comprehensive customer contexts, dramatically boosting engagement and productivity. Instead of bombarding consumers with generic messages, brands can analyze the impact of every interaction to optimize their strategies continuously.
This is the future we should strive for.
Inbal Shani is the Chief Product Officer for Communications at Twilio, overseeing R&D, product innovation, and trust within the Communications sector. As a pioneering technologist, she has applied AI to tackle complex business challenges.
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