Forrester reports that while customers expect outbound notifications, only 29% of enterprises are planning to invest in proactive communications in the next 12 months.
The customer experience landscape is changing. Customers are always connected — anytime, anywhere. In fact, a recent study conducted by International Data Corporation reported that 79% of smartphone users have their phone with them for all but two hours of their waking day. And a full quarter of respondents couldn’t recall a time when their phone wasn’t in the same room with them.
It’s critical for organizations to meet the needs of today’s demanding customers in order to maintain market share while also growing their business. Outbound IVR and multi-channel proactive communications provide the convenience and sophistication customers prefer. Forrester revealed in “Top Trends for Customer Service in 2014,” that customers expect outbound notifications. Forrester also reported that only 29% of enterprises are planning to invest in proactive communications in the next 12 months.
Get ahead of the curve and explore the following three automated outbound IVR and multi-channel engagement strategies. Arm yourself with the understanding of how to provide superior service to your customers and reduce your contact center costs by minimizing agent call time.
Surveys
Customers who feel they have been heard remain loyal. Use surveys to engage customers via outbound IVR or through the channel of their choice to discern sentiment, identify promoters and detractors, and influence future interactions with your customers.
Things to consider
A robust survey application should:
- Personalize content, adapting to each customer’s individual needs and concerns as well as their responses to previous questions
- Support open-ended feedback capture through audio recordings
- Allow customers the real-time option of speaking to customer support
- Manage opt-outs to ensure compliance
Collections
Proactively engage with customers through outbound messages regarding upcoming payments and past due accounts. Through an automated
bi-directional communication channel, customers can submit payment immediately which increases collection rates and improves business efficiency.
Things to consider
Collection tools should:
- Use a locally relevant telephone number to encourage connection
- Support compliant and secure collection of payment details over the phone
- Facilitate the use of best practices in collections for all types of financial products and industries
- Provide a consistent message across all channels including Outbound IVR, email and SMS
Custom Applications
Create your own proactive engagement applications that allow you to contact your customers with outbound communications specifically tailored to your business needs. Use outbound notifications for order status messages, appointment and prescription reminders as well as service outage notifications.
Things to consider
Proactive engagement solutions should:
- Allow you get started quickly — pre-configured templates for common applications can have you up and running in hours instead of weeks
- Operate safely and securely through SaaS deployment in the cloud
- Provide easy-to-use reporting on results and KPIs
- Include a campaign manager and scheduler to drive outbound campaigns
When designed properly, outbound campaigns provide customers with the information they need, when they need it. This means not only remaining flexible enough to go beyond voice and allowing customers to respond in the channel of their choice, but also giving them the power to switch between channels as a part of one seamless conversation. Tools like Aspect® Proactive Engagement Suite help with the heavy lifting. 
To learn more visit: www.aspect.com/proactive