In today’s world communication is crucial for any business. No matter what segment or industry the company is working in, it should offer communication channels that suits its audience. It sounds simple, especially since there are tons of tools for building different communication channels available online. However, identifying your customers’ real needs and choosing the right tools to meet them, is not always easy.
What’s wrong with business communication
In the last decade, smartphones have completely re-shaped business communication. Several years ago MIT researchers found that smartphone adoption is outpacing any other kind of technology invented by humanity. According to stats, by 2021 the number of mobile messaging apps users will reach 2.48bn from 1.58 bn back to 2016. Every day, 205.6 billion emails are sent across the globe. 78 percent of people who use text for communication wish they could have a text conversation with a business, while 73% of millennials identify email as their preferred means of business communication.
But there are another research and stats as well. Email and chat apps could also be a time and productivity killers. Experts at Atlassian calculated that the average employee checks their email 36 times in an hour. As a result, annual productivity costs per employee equals $1250 spent on viewing SPAM, $1800 goes to unnecessary emails and poorly written communication amounts in $2100 to $4100 yearly losses per year.
Written communication can still be ineffective, and businesses that start overusing it may suffer. Customers still want to talk to a human, not just texting with a chatbot or sending email and wondering will it ever be read. And there is a bunch of tech startups that are making this type of communication modern and convenient for users and effective for businesses.
Using online calling to increase conversion and save money
According to statistics, people trust businesses more when there is an opportunity to call them directly. Google published numbers proving that cup to 70% of mobile users have used the call button in ads.
One phone call allows the company to build a personal relationship, which is almost impossible to do via email or online chat. There are two types of phone communication online. In the first case, the customer may want to call the business or order a callback when he will be comfortable to talk.
Another communication may occur even when initially the user was not intended to talk, for example, when he or she was browsing a website and decided to leave, and a pop-up with an offer for a quick call appears. If the person is in the process of shopping and has some questions, it might be uncomfortable to send them via email or waiting to be serviced by chat. But if such a person is offered a call, it might work.
Zadarma service provides calling services integrated with a website. With its widgets, businesses can offer their users an opportunity to make or receive calls via the internet in a couple of clicks. And it works: according to the company’s stats, after having a conversation with a manager the visitor is 75% more likely to become your client.
Optimizing communication on the go
When dealing with written communication it is always hard to determine exact emotions behind the text. This may result in the customer being disappointed and communication failed. However, there is an opportunity to avoid such situations in the case of voice calls.
Cogito system is designed to deliver insights that improve customer relations and optimize calls on the go. This tool applies deep-learning algorithms and speech recognition technology to help call agents during their talk with a customer. The software “listens” to the conversation, and fires notifications if an agent starts speaking too quickly, a customer is silent for too long, or interlocutors talk over each other.
Cogito is used by some major customers, like American insurance company MetLife. As MetLife representatives noticed, the deployment of such AI-based recommendation system resulted in increased customer satisfaction and shorter average duration of calls.
Mitigating security risks
Text messages could not only be used by trustworthy customers to find answers to their questions but exploited by cybercriminals as well. Phishing is one most popular way of attacking businesses nowadays. To conduct such attack hackers compose emails and chat messages with links to a malicious website or malware attachments.
According to stats, 76% of businesses reported being a victim of a phishing attack. Also, 30% of phishing messages get opened by targeted users and 12% of those users click on the malicious attachment or link.
Obviously, there are security risks, which are hard to mitigate using traditional anti-virus software when users click, download and run malware on their computers. However, with voice communications, such fraud may be identified.
Tools like Pindrop deliver audio intelligence to help call centers establish security, identity, and trust of every voice interaction. The system scans a caller’s voice, analyze his or her behavior, and comes up with a risk score. As a result of such quick verification, the business can not only reduce fraud but to also save money on communication. The system allows to shave up to 55 seconds off the average call, which in a perspective of a year will result in significant savings.
Final thoughts
Online communication is crucial for businesses now. Written communication tools are popular and convenient for many customers. However, behind the whopping adoption statistics, there are obvious shortcomings including time waste, lack of emotions and security risks. On the contrary, voice communication which may seem somewhat outdated in reality is much more productive and innovative than it is often perceived.
This is why it is always a good idea to use specialized services that will help you make the most of this time-tested tool while simultaneously avoiding possible problems.