Presented by Twilio
With the surge in generative AI advancements, consumers increasingly expect personalized interactions with brands. This demand for customization has prompted many companies to adopt AI, aiming to enhance the uniqueness, engagement, and satisfaction of customer experiences.
According to Twilio’s 2024 State of Customer Engagement Report, which surveyed 4,750 business leaders and 6,300 consumers globally, 76% of businesses view delivering personalized customer engagements as a "high" or "critical" priority this year. Most see AI as essential to achieving this goal. However, only 16% of companies believe they possess the necessary data to fully understand their customers' needs.
For businesses looking to leverage AI effectively and enhance customer interactions, the message is clear: before implementing AI, prioritize establishing a robust customer data foundation.
Know Your Customers
While many companies assert they understand their customers, a significant gap exists between actual customer expectations and company perceptions. The report revealed that 81% of businesses claim to deeply understand their customers, yet only 46% of customers agree.
To foster loyalty, businesses must cultivate direct digital relationships with their customers, free from third-party mediation. This approach is vital for bridging the expectation-reality gap.
Our research identifies "Engagement Leaders"—brands that exemplify effective customer relationship building. These companies excel at understanding and responding to customer needs through omnichannel engagement, personalized experiences, and reliance on first-party data instead of third-party cookies. By leveraging AI, these brands move beyond one-to-many personalization to craft unique interactions for each customer.
The results speak for themselves: these brands experience an average revenue increase of 123% and superior customer retention rates. Investing in customer understanding leads to improved conversion rates, better retention, and higher returns on AI and personalization investments.
Create a Unified Customer View
Twilio’s 2024 State of Customer Engagement Report reveals that 64% of companies utilize AI to create a unified view of each customer by consolidating data from various sources, standardizing formats, filling gaps, reconciling inconsistencies, and eliminating duplicates.
A unified customer profile provides immense benefits, granting businesses real-time insights into customer behavior, intent, and interests. This comprehensive view allows companies to swiftly adapt to evolving customer needs and deliver the right message at the optimal time.
For instance, Universidad Uk, offering 100% online education across Latin America, employs Twilio’s Unified Profiles and Agent Copilot solutions, integrating generative AI and real-time data into the Twilio Flex platform to enhance customer experiences.
Iván Cantú, COO of Universidad Uk, stated, "In just two months, we’ve seen significant improvements in our support operations and student interaction. We've reduced average handling time for academic inquiries by 30% and deflected 70% of support cases with an AI bot informed by Unified Profiles in real-time."
Activate Your Customer Data
Siloed data is a common challenge for businesses, often leading to disjointed and generic customer experiences. In the era of generative AI, this segregation is particularly detrimental, depriving companies of the real-time data necessary for informed, AI-powered engagement. This disconnect hampers companies from adapting to evolving customer preferences, leading to static relationships. Furthermore, reliance on poor-quality data can hinder AI models, resulting in misleading outputs that damage customer trust and loyalty.
Fortunately, accessing “stuck” data—whether in spreadsheets, data warehouses, or original software systems—does not require a complete IT overhaul. Many businesses are now utilizing customer data platforms (CDPs) and customer engagement platforms (CEPs). The next logical step is integrating AI capabilities to foster interoperability. Our research indicates that 47% of brands plan to introduce AI features to their CDPs or CEPs by 2025.
An example of effective data activation is CraftJack, which connects homeowners with reliable contractors. By integrating its customer engagement channels with Twilio Segment’s CDP, CraftJack uses accurate, up-to-date data to drive personalized campaigns.
Moreover, businesses can leverage Twilio’s Agent Copilot and Unified Profiles, employing generative AI and real-time data to ensure consistent customer experiences.
Building a cohesive approach to customer data activation is foundational for delivering customized experiences and maximizing returns on AI investments.
Recent advancements in generative AI present a transformative opportunity for businesses to enhance personalization and effectively engage customers. Now is the time for organizations to establish a solid customer data foundation, surpassing expectations and unleashing AI's potential.
To discover how businesses are optimizing their data and utilizing AI for enhanced engagement, explore Twilio's latest research [here].
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