Global cloud communications platform Infobip has launched a new report featuring research insights by leading analyst firm IDC.
The Infobip eBook titled “Driving Meaningful Customer Engagement with Conversational AI” highlights the growing importance of unified conversational solutions powered by conversational AI, especially within the Asia Pacific region.
Customer expectations have changed in today’s digital information era. They expect authenticity and more personalised attention from brands.
Yet many organisations have little to no capabilities to deliver unique experiences. The IDC Future of Customer Experience Survey 2023 revealed that 37% of organisations in China cannot maintain customer context across the customer journey and channels.
This figure is higher in Malaysia (40%), Indonesia (60%) and India (60%).
The same survey also reports that more brands are prioritising interacting with their customers to establish superior customer experiences through increased allocations for corporate budgets towards improving customer experience (CX).
Customer satisfaction and trust are the top investment areas for businesses in Malaysia (87%) and China (58%), while customer service and support are the main priorities for Indonesia (97%) and India (83%) businesses.
Everyday conversations powered by AI
The industry shift towards better CX is not unexpected. In the past, customers would have to wait for an available service agent to respond to their queries.
Today, APAC businesses are empowering customers to find answers, request services, and complete transactions independently through the help of omnichannel communication solutions powered by conversational AI.
By providing instant replies to common customer queries via conversational AI chatbots, businesses can accelerate time to first resolution and make customers feel more appreciated.
Conversational AI chatbots’ functionalities now go beyond automatic simple replies – they provide a variety of useful features including automated data collection, promotional activities, and even purchase process guidance.
“Generative AI has reshaped conversational experiences. Having a single source of truth across interactions and channels powers context,” said Lavanya Jindal, Senior Research Analyst, Asia/Pacific Customer Experience and Value Streams, IDC Asia/Pacific.
“This customer context allows for more relevant and intelligent conversations and raises the bar for personalisation.”
Messaging apps on the rise
Messaging apps have become increasingly popular across Asia, as customers prefer to communicate and purchase through digital channels.
Recognising this trend, brands in retail, digital commerce, financial services, and telcos are swiftly establishing their brand presence on popular platforms like WhatsApp and Viber, ensuring their services are readily available where their customers are most active.
According to Infobip’s latest messaging trends report, there was a 509% increase in WhatsApp messages in Indonesia, a 226% increase in chat apps in Vietnam, and a 34% increase in Viber messages in the Philippines.
WhatsApp continues to dominate globally with more than 2.8 billion active users. However cultural preferences, local language, and integration have seen other messaging platforms gaining popularity in certain regions, such as LINE in Taiwan and Thailand, KakaoTalk in South Korea, and Zalo in Vietnam.
In some countries, a messaging platform can claim market dominance due to its significant user bases, such as WeChat boasting 1.3 billion active users – almost all based in China.
“In today’s AI-driven landscape, CPaaS empowers businesses to easily orchestrate customer engagement across the entire journey, driving efficiency and maximising value. It’s about doing more with less, reducing costs, and enhancing operational effectiveness, all while prioritizing long-term customer relationships”, said Velid Begovic, VP Revenue at Infobip.
APAC is investing in conversational AI
The IDC Business Value Engineering 2023 Survey revealed that about 39% of businesses in the APAC region consider conversational AI to be a critically important investment priority in the next two years.
The primary business motivators for investing in AI-powered apps for improving CX are mainly to improve customer success, loyalty, and advocacy, as well as products/services that reflect customer’s needs.
Chatbots are one of the top 2 areas that APAC businesses are planning to integrate GenAI, according to IDC’s Future Enterprise Resiliency & Spending Survey Wave.
Conversational AI chatbots today are capable of quickly pulling contextual data relevant to customers and using it to offer not only delivery updates and product recommendations but also simple personalised greetings to make customers feel more welcome.
“Conversational AI has gained significant momentum in recent years. To truly excel, it must be properly integrated across the technology stack alongside the human elements throughout the customer journey. Infobip stands ready to support businesses on this transformative journey,” commented Begovic.
