Customer Communication: Through These Channels, You Can Reach Your Customers

1. Why is customer communication important?
2. The choice of channels to communicate with your customers also depends on your business and your target group. Customer communication started a very long time ago with face-to-face exchanges. If you run your business in retail, this form of communication is still essential today. In addition, over the years - and centuries - other channels have emerged through which companies can and should reach their customers. These include:
3. More and more companies are using customer communication via chat in their communication mix. Usually, chat functions are integrated into company websites and thus easily findable for customers. While live chats are usually available at fixed times, chatbots do not have to stick to work times and can handle requests at any time of the day or night. This is a big advantage in times of constant availability.
4. To ensure that your customer service is well positioned and can work efficiently, you should rely on suitable software solutions. The right
5. AI chatbots can be used in many different industries and for all kinds of cases in sales, marketing, and customer service. They are particularly well suited for B2C communication, where they can quickly clarify simple and recurring questions. According to the 2021 EOS Chatbot study, around two-thirds of the B2C companies surveyed had already recognized this and integrated chatbots into their customer communication. The AI chatbot from moinAI is also active in a wide range of areas, answering important customer questions or helping select suitable products for companies like VELUX, BRITA, and BLS.
6. We are in the 21st century and customers are more impatient than ever. They expect availability 24/7 and companies to take care of their concerns quickly. Otherwise, they remember a bad customer journey and turn to other brands. To meet your customers' demands, you should be available on as many channels as possible. It's important that you master these channels and take your customer communication seriously.

Customer Journey here, Customer Centricity there – the way people shop and want to shop is constantly changing. What stands out in our digital and networked world is that customers are at the center. Their wishes need to be fulfilled if companies want to keep up with the growing competition. This means they need to offer their customers a successful all-round experience, which includes – or especially – good customer communication. After all, the target group wants to stay informed along the entire customer journey and be connected with their favorite channels.

In this article, we show you how to ensure successful customer communication in times of constant availability and growing expectations. We'll also introduce you to someone who already works in around two out of three B2C companies and would probably also fit well into your business.

Why is customer communication important?

Customer communication has been around since people started doing business. Its relevance has grown significantly in recent years. Whereas in the past we bought a product because we simply needed it, nowadays we choose specific brands because of the experiences and emotions we associate with them in the face of almost infinite possibilities. Good customer communication plays an important role in this brand perception. Because those who communicate cleverly with their customers, stay in their memory and convince not only with their products but also with the service around them.

Regular exchange with customers helps you understand their expectations and individual needs better. That way, you can offer them tailor-made solutions and ensure that your company really offers what your target group desires. All in the spirit of customer centricity. This builds trust and results ina closer customer relationship. Transparent customer communication also provides valuable feedback for your company: Only if you actively listen to your customers and take their suggestions seriously, you can become better and more successful. This explains the existence of review platforms like OMR Reviews.Channels for customer communication: here's where to reach your customers

The choice of channels to communicate with your customers also depends on your business and your target group. Customer communication started a very long time ago with face-to-face exchanges. If you run your business in retail, this form of communication is still essential today. In addition, over the years - and centuries - other channels have emerged through which companies can and should reach their customers. These include:

Phone

• Email
• Websites incl. Chatbot and/or Live Chat
• Messengers like WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram Direct Messages
• Social Media
• Your target group will ultimately decide which channels are particularly important for your customer communication: They want you to meet them where it matters and they don't want to spend a long time looking for available contact options. Multi-channel communication works best here: With the right mix of different communication channels, you are always at the right place for your customers. Each of these channels has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages and disadvantages of telephone customer communication

A short call and the matter is settled: Many people find it easier to explain their concerns over the phone. The real-time exchange allows service staff to respond directly to customer needs and resolve problems quickly and efficiently. However, the employees must be well trained and very familiar with the company and its products. Depending on the concerns and the target group, the time and personnel effort can be very high here.

Advantages and disadvantages of customer communication via social media and messenger

Is your company present on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn? Great! This can increase your visibility and draw potential customers' attention to your business through this channel. However, anyone who contacts you via social media should receive feedback as soon as possible. Because

good community management has a positive effect on your customers' perception of your brand. And they are impatient. This naturally requires personnel resources and requires good collaboration between community managers and customer service.Advantages and disadvantages of customer communication via chatbot and live chat

Real-time issue resolution without a phone call: Millennials (born approx. between 1980 and 1995) in particular often try to avoid calling. This is where chat options come in handy. Via website and messenger you can answer your customers' burning questions in real time and address their problems. While live chat has service staff on the other end, a computer takes care of customer communication in the case of chatbots. This saves your employees a lot of work and is a cost-effective solution around the clock, especially for simple concerns. However, as AI applications are becoming more sophisticated, chatbots are also offering more possibilities. Like service employees, they must be trained properly. Then they are a helpful channel, through which, according to the

EOS Chatbot Study on average 49 percent of all concerns are completely handled.With the right mix of different channels, you ensure that your customer communication runs smoothly. Many channels require the appropriate personnel and know-how, but the effort is worthwhile and offers your customers a charming customer journey. Chatbots can help your employees a lot here by quickly and easily taking care of simple requests.

Role of AI Chatbots and Live Chats in Customer Communication

More and more companies are using customer communication via chat in their communication mix. Usually, chat functions are integrated into company websites and thus easily findable for customers. While live chats are usually available at fixed times, chatbots do not have to stick to work times and can handle requests at any time of the day or night. This is a big advantage in times of constant availability.

The EOS Chatbot study shows that chatbots usually handle the initial contact and are taken over by service staff in more complex cases. As we know since AI took off in 2022, chatbots can do much more – and AI applications have the potential to take some of the pressure off customer service.

To do this, they need to be properly implemented for customer communication and know all the important information about the company. Normally, this is faster and easier than training service employees, for whom the bots are a helpful addition in everyday business. Once the chatbot is trained and knows, for example, the most common and important concerns of your customers, it can get to work. By clarifying simple questions quickly and reliably or by passing them on to service employees at the right moment, it increases customer satisfaction. If your company does not also offer customer communication via live chat, for example because of a lack of resources, your chatbot should point to alternative contact options (e.g., phone or email) in good time.

These Tools Make Your Customer Communication Successful

To ensure that your customer service is well positioned and can work efficiently, you should rely on suitable software solutions. The right

tools for customer service and communication allow your employees to process requests specifically and keep an overview of all processes. In addition to traditional telephone and email communication, chatbot tools and live chat tools are becoming increasingly relevant here. Many tools combine these two functions or can be combined with other chat software. These include, for example:Using the example of

moinAI

Superchat

Tidio

Lime Connect (ehemals Userlike)

charles

moinAI we show you the possibilities that chatbots and live chat offer in customer communication – especially when they use clever AI like moinAI:The chatbot made in Hamburg is available 24/7 for your customers and is a relieving addition to your customer service. To do this, you can link moinAI with live chat systems such as

Userlike or Zendesk to ensure that your employees can take care of complex cases in time. And this is possible directly in moinAI: If the chatbot doesn't know what to do, your customer service can chat with customers in real time without an interface to other live chat systems and process complicated inquiries. If there is no one around, the chatbot from moinAI can also refer to alternative forms of contact – and in almost 100 languages.moinAI offers you an AI chatbot and a live chat function for your customer communication

moinAI can be implemented quickly and is ready for use within a few weeks. Even without coding skills, you can adapt the software to your corporate identity and set up the AI chatbot linguistically so that it sounds like your company. Various industry templates also help you here, so you don't have to start from scratch when implementing. Another advantage is the learning ability of the AI: Training with typical inquiries for your company, moinAI learns more and more on its own. This self-learning is based on so-called

Natural Language Processing (NLP) and specially developed features that help the AI to explore new topics on its own and get to know your customers and their concerns better. In addition to interfaces with live chat systems such as Userlike and Zendesk, you can also combine moinAI with Facebook Messenger and numerous other tools such as Salesforce CRM, HubSpot CRM or Zoho CRM. This allows for handling of a wide variety of issues.How moinAI's AI Chatbot Helps Companies with Customer Communication

AI chatbots can be used in many different industries and for all kinds of cases in sales, marketing, and customer service. They are particularly well suited for B2C communication, where they can quickly clarify simple and recurring questions. According to the 2021 EOS Chatbot study, around two-thirds of the B2C companies surveyed had already recognized this and integrated chatbots into their customer communication. The AI chatbot from moinAI is also active in a wide range of areas, answering important customer questions or helping select suitable products for companies like VELUX, BRITA, and BLS.

More time for complex inquiries at VELUX

When you buy a VELUX product, you usually need a little more advice. This regularly leads to a high volume of inquiries at the Danish roof window and accessory manufacturer. Seasonally, there were so many inquiries that the live chat of the VELUX OSO (Online Sales Organization), which handles B2C online sales, was temporarily overwhelmed. In order to keep up with the high number of recurring questions, the VELUX OSO set up a moinAI chatbot. It was trained with the 34 most important topics and questions about VELUX products and has since freed up the customer service for complex topics. Thus, the company was able to reduce the manual chat volume per 100 orders from 16 to two to three.

The AI chatbot communicates with customers in English, German, and Dutch and answers about 50 percent of all requests completely. When it doesn't know how to proceed at one point, it forwards the chat via an interface to Zendesk to service staff. This allows the company to keep the live chat open even during peak phases.

Learning more based on a few topics at BRITA

People love to chat. Water filter manufacturer BRITA recognized this and has been using live chat via Userlike since 2019. This new form of customer communication was so well received by the target group that the channel had to be temporarily shut down due to the many inquiries. A chatbot was supposed to relieve the service staff and take care of recurring questions in particular.

For this, BRITA initially defined the 15 most important topics and typical concerns of customers. After a three-month test phase and a few adjustments, the AI chatbot from moinAI was able to go live. By asking intelligent follow-up questions (reassuring), the bot can continue to learn even after the initial training phase and bring companies up to speed on topics it needs to know more about, for example. The interface to live chat via Userlike also allows for a quick “human takeover”, if necessary. In this way, the AI chatbot was able to provide quick relief for customer service by automating about 50 percent of cases after just a short time.

BLS AG considers moinAI as a new employee

Travel planning often raises questions, as the Swiss railway and regional transport company BLS knows. Therefore, many employees take care of customer communication on several channels. However, advancing digitalization and the wide range of offers from BLS AG regularly lead to a high volume of inquiries. To meet the expectations of its customers and handle their concerns as quickly as possible, the company therefore also relies on the AI chatbot from moinAI.

With it, it can automate many communication topics and is thus available in time for customers with more complex concerns.

For this purpose, the company has linked the AI chatbot with Zendesk. The service employees use the tool to create support tickets and communicate with customers via live chat. This ensures the necessary closeness to the target group and BLS AG keeps an overview of what moves its customers and where it needs to adapt or improve its offerings.

However, several steps were necessary before moinAI could go live at the Swiss company: As with VELUX, the most important and frequent customer topics were determined and passed on to the tool. The entire implementation process and test phases took place in close cooperation with customer service, as it has the deepest insight into the needs of the customers. Zendesk's ticket data provided an overview of relevant topics and use cases.

And even after the bot goes live, it is regularly optimized and topics and answers are constantly adjusted. The BLS SG employees check the performance data in the backend of moinAI and deal with conversations that did not go optimally. This allowed the AI chatbot to quickly achieve an automation rate of 86 percent.

At BLS SG, the moinAI chatbot is called Ludmilla. It recently started being able to inform customers about current waiting times, as BLS Application & Knowledge Manager Michael Rieder announced on LinkedIn.

Customer communication via live chat and AI chatbot opens up new possibilities for interacting with your customers. Insights into conversations and satisfaction values provide important data for your business. BLS AG was able, for example, to identify additional recurring topics for its FAQs and thus provide even more customers with direct information on the website. In addition, a chatbot can quickly communicate important news to your customers and provide temporary information such as changed operating hours.

Want to know more about how moinAI supports the three companies in their daily business? In their webinars, BRITA and BLS AG tell in detail how they use the AI chatbot. Here's the BRITA webinar and here's the BLS webinar. How moinAI helps VELUX OSO, you can read more detailed in the case study.Chatbot and live chat for a smooth customer journey

We are in the 21st century and customers are more impatient than ever. They expect availability 24/7 and companies to take care of their concerns quickly. Otherwise, they remember a bad customer journey and turn to other brands. To meet your customers' demands, you should be available on as many channels as possible. It's important that you master these channels and take your customer communication seriously.

Telephone was the main channel for customer communication not too long ago, but few people use it nowadays. This was found, among other things, in the

Selligent Global Consumer Index. Instead, they expect to be able to reach you via e-mail, chat, or social media.You can best meet these high expectations with live chat and AI chatbot. Particularly when used together, these two channels are a real game changer for your customer communication. While the AI chatbot works on a large portion of the inquiries directly, your customer service has more time for complex topics. On top, practical integrations with various tools ensure that AI chatbots from providers like moinAI can be perfectly integrated into your software stack. Therefore, a chatbot is the ideal addition if you already have a live chat in operation and helps your customers forward even without a live interface in many cases. You can place it on various pages of your website to offer guidance at several stations.

Once implemented, artificial intelligence, for example at

moinAI continues to learn thanks to specially developed AI features and helps you improve. Some preparation is required for this, but once completed, AI chatbots are loyal, eager to learn colleagues for your service team. And even when the bot is live: Optimizations are always possible and especially correct. Learning by doing, so to speak. dank eigens entwickelter KI-Features ständig weiter und hilft dir dabei, besser zu werden. Dafür ist zwar etwas Vorbereitung nötig, hast du die aber erstmal abgeschlossen, sind KI-Chatbots treue, lernwillige Kollegen für dein Service-Team. Und auch, wenn der Bot live ist: Optimierungen sind immer möglich und vor allem richtig. Learning by doing eben.