Customer Experience and Predictive Analytics
It's no secret that using traditional ways to distinguish yourself in the marketplace is becoming more and more difficult. As a result, businesses are recognizing the importance of improving the customer experience in order to win and retain customers and drive the bottom line. Key to delivering on this is knowing your customer—who they are, what they have already purchased from you, their address, etc...But we already knew all of that.
"Knowing your customer" today means you have to know not only what they own and all of the above, but to take this intelligence a step further to determine what are they most likely to do next? What are they most likely to be interested in now? And if you can do this right, your customers will remember you, they will be more loyal to you and they will rave about you to their friends, family and coworkers. And there is no better salesperson than a happy customer that talks about these experiences.
When we look at how service is provided over email, the ability to combine predictive analytics and the customer experience will separate competitors from the pack. Specifically, organizations that can meaningfully analyze data for trends, show customers they know them and intelligently suggest relevant products/services will emerge as customer service leaders in their respective markets.
Analyze Your Data for Trends
Email is a great opportunity to focus on what matters to customers and plug a hole where the IVR system or other technologies may fall short. Searching within a customer's historical interactions will tell you a great deal about who they are and what they are likely to do in the future. "Behavioral analytics" is an emerging field that allows you to make sense of the data and use it to enrich the customer experience and subsequently generate more revenue.
If you can spot a trend that shows increasing email inquiries for a high-speed Internet and home phone package in a certain geography of your customer base, this is a key indicator that a competitive offering may be available. Customers may not be willing to pick up the phone and navigate an IVR system to see if you have such a package, but it is something they will send you an email about. Utilize this data to reach out to customers and notify the stakeholders in your organization of the trend.
Your email management tool can be a very effective relationship-building tool—when you receive an email from a customer asking about specifications on a printer cartridge, your email management system should do several things:
1. Answer their question;
2. Recognize that they bought a printer from you last year; and
3. In the paragraph before the answer, ask them how the printer is performing and if they have any questions about it.
Showing the customer that you remember them helps to build the relationship like you wouldn't imagine. And then they will tell their friends, coworkers, family, etc...
Suggest a Relevant Product/Service
Your data contains a vast repository of information, and—if utilized effectively—can enable you to offer a personalized experience to customers while growing revenue.
For example, when a customer goes online and opens a 529 account with a financial institution, your email management system should utilize a recommendation engine to kick off a set of activities—check to see if they have a home equity loan, check their customer profile for marital status and if they have children. If all of these criteria are met, then behavior analytics intelligence should indicate to you that this is a perfect customer to send an email with details for a Roth IRA account.
An email response management system is a powerful tool; utilizing the data it holds allows you to enrich the customer experience and not only generate goodwill, but also increase the value of your customer base.
KANA (
www.kana.com) Response is a leading email response management system. Large corporations and SMBs use KANA Response to get the most out of their email interactions with customers. KANA Response provides a strong analytical engine that allows you to anticipate customer needs and give them the information they want when they want it, showing them that you KNOW them.
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