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Today’s hyper competitive business environment requires brands to elevate customer experience (CX) while at the same time improving operational efficiency. Getting CX right by providing experiences that exceed customer expectations and creating operational efficiencies that maximize resources and streamline processes are integral to business success.
Branded communication is a technology designed to allow companies to deliver exceptional CX and increase operational efficiency. Branded calling allows companies to display their name, logo and reason for calling on the call recipient’s mobile device. Enterprises implementing this technology are accruing benefits which include increases in engagement, answer rates, productivity, revenue and customer satisfaction.
A new report by Acumen Research & Consulting found that branded communication is a key market driver for business communication as it opens new avenues for businesses to engage with customers in efficient and interactive ways.
This and other studies show that branded communication yields significant business value for enterprises when it comes to delivering exceptional CX and increasing operational efficiencies.
Delivering exceptional CX
Customer experience is defined as the sum of interactions a consumer has with a brand. Optimizing CX today is no longer a nice to have but a business imperative. Why? Because CX is a vital differentiator for companies and a key influencer of customer choices. Companies that get CX right realize reduced customer churn, higher customer lifetime value (CLV), enhanced brand equity, and better customer engagement.
According to data from McKinsey, CX is a top priority for enterprises as a lever for driving a 10-20% improvement in customer satisfaction, a 10-15% increase in sales conversion rates and a 20-50% lower cost to serve.
To realize these benefits, companies are adopting branded communication technology as a key part of strategies aimed at delivering exceptional customer experiences.
The power to let customers know who is calling and why is essential to delivering superior CX. Branded calling technology allows enterprises to take control of their display name when making outbound calls to customers. The technology is a critical CX enabler at a time when scammers and spammers have conditioned consumers to ignore calls from unknown numbers. In the first half of 2022 alone, U.S. mobile subscribers received over 100 billion scam calls. As a result of this relentless barrage of nuisance calls, 87% of customers rarely or never answer calls from unknown numbers.
Missed calls negatively impact the customer experience which, in turn, negatively impacts brand reputation. A First Orion 2021 Brand Impact Report revealed that 3 in 5 people said that if they miss a call from a business — particularly when it relates to an order or customer service — it could create a negative perception of that business.
When companies don’t brand their calls, customer trust (a significant driver of CX) erodes. The previously referenced Brand Impact Report found that 85% of people believe an unknown number makes a business appear illegitimate.
Recognizing that a critical part of driving an exceptional customer experience is a good phone call, companies today use branded calling to elevate CX. For example, one call center leveraged the more responsive, more personal customer experience enabled by this technology to lift engagement rates by 10%. That lift in engagement rate translated to a 48% increase in conversion rates for the call center.
Increasing operational efficiencies
According to a McKinsey survey, in today’s uncertain business climate, companies are refocusing attention on efficiency measures, with more than one-third of survey respondents listing efficiency as a top three organizational priority.
Operational efficiency is essential to business success. Operationally efficient companies are laser focused on streamlining processes and improving productivity. Companies that succeed in doing this deliver better customer service which drives business growth, improves profit margins, and enhances competitive advantage.
Businesses across sectors are embracing branded communication technology to maximize operational efficiency. The technology increases operational efficiency by reducing the productivity killer of making multiple phone calls to reach customers. Branded calling allows businesses to optimize and control how they are displayed on phone screens and provide customers with complete clarity on who is calling. The result, positive enterprise-wide impact through increased employee productivity, customer engagement and answer rates.
One example of how this is happening in enterprises is a healthcare system which saw a 45% boost in conversion rates after deploying branded communication. Agents were able to complete more phone calls with a successful resolution. This is vital when considering missed healthcare appointments cost $150 billion per year for healthcare systems, but a branded call for an appointment reminder can help reduce this number. Likewise, a top mortgage lender saw a 25% increase in answer rates because more customers picked up the first time after recognizing the branding. That kind of operational efficiency can increase productivity and reduce costs for companies in all sectors.
In today’s hyper competitive business environment companies need solutions that will help them deliver exceptional customer experiences while increasing operational efficiency. Branded calling creates the enriching customer experiences that increase market share and the enhanced productivity that drives better business performance. With these benefits, it’s not surprising that more and more companies across all industries are turning to branded calling to improve the customer experience and increase operational efficiencies.