Technology is driving the pace of change, and is having a huge effect on both the way customers behave, and the way that we communicate to those customers. As business leaders, changes in customer behaviour are among the biggest challenges we face, and this is amplified by the diversity of customers across Asia Pacific (APAC).
APAC isn’t a single market, but a market of markets where there is an unparalleled diversity and mass of potential customers, and this should shape the way we respond to changing customer behaviour. Over 55 per cent of the global population resides in the APAC region, with this number expected to grow rapidly in the next 10 years. This influx of population over the next decade will enhance the need for more streamlined customer communications.
It’s widely accepted that consumer’s expectations on how they communicated with organisations has changed and, in turn, businesses have had to adapt quickly. In the past customers would have first contact with organisations in person or through traditional means, whereas we are increasingly seeing customers first engaging with businesses through modern platforms, such as through online chatbots and social media. Further illustrating this is the fact that to-date 62 percent of the APAC population – or over 2.5 billion people – used a mobile device when accessing the Internet for the very first time. This number is expected to grow by 600 million+ in the next three years.
To adapt to customer journey changes, there are several universal themes that must be addressed when we set strategies – in other words the ‘Commandments of Customer Experience’. Having worked in APAC for many years, here are the three main themes I feel that will continue to stick around for a long time.
1. Strategies must put the customer first, always, and although customers will decide how they are communicated to, as an organisation, we need to facilitate it seamlessly. From print, PDF and web content to mobile, social and IoT, you need to be able to do it all. We must ensure we have the right programs and processes in place for understanding the customer base and their expectations.
2. While we adopt new channels of communication quickly in this digital era, it doesn’t mean we stop appreciating traditional forms of customer service. Striking a balance between migrating customers to lower cost, modern communication channels and maintaining traditional ones loved by customers is paramount. This is increasingly important as customer’s preferred channels of consuming information continues to evolve and differ.
3. Every business must be thinking now about how to best cut through a very crowded message market, and surpassing customer communication expectations is imperative in delivering incomparable experiences. Businesses need to leverage data and personalisation to provide incomparable interactions with customers, ensuring data and information management is optimised to provide timely, accurate and customised information direct to customers.
With these customer experience commandments in mind, businesses are set to excel in this digital age. But if we for a moment forget to keep the customer central, and that customers are all different, then we run the risk of losing customers to edgier, and more nimble competitors who are able to meet diverse customer expectations.
To learn more about nine other customer communications commandments for APAC, and how you should be leveraging them to deliver superior customer moments, visit: https://de.quadient.com/resources/new-rules-customer-experience-asia-pacific
