The Asia Pacific (APAC) region is gearing up for a year of exploration and growth, with artificial intelligence (AI) at the center of it all. Vonage’s 2024 Global Customer Engagement Report highlights current trends and future directions for customer interactions with businesses. One of the most important findings of the report is the importance of AI in improving customer engagement strategies.
The study indicates that users are looking for faster problem resolution through technology, rather than waiting to speak with a live person. This ability is essential to gaining and retaining satisfied customers.
The study confirms that AI in CX is highly appreciated by consumers, especially from Indonesia, North India, South India and China. Positive sentiment ranges from 71% in Indonesia to 89% in South India. Positive sentiment is highly correlated with consumer experiences using AI, from 90% in China to 94% in North India. These positive experiences lead to greater customer satisfaction, greater brand loyalty and positive reviews.
Business Market Insights also reports that spending on customer experience (CX) services in Asia Pacific is expected to reach a staggering US$7.5 billion, with a CAGR of 18.8% through 2028. This trajectory growth highlights the growing importance of customer experience in the region’s business strategies. . With the rapid evolution of AI tools, businesses have found a powerful ally in their quest to improve customer satisfaction, revolutionizing traditional business-customer interactions.
From chatbots that provide instant, personalized assistance to predictive analytics that can anticipate customer needs, AI is playing an important role in transforming the way businesses interact with their customers.
Emerging Consumer Communication Preferences
The study found that in APAC, mobile phone calls (73%) are the preferred daily way of communicating with businesses, followed by phone calls via messaging apps (60%), messaging via apps not SMS (64%), emails (50%). %) and posts on social networks (47%). India and Indonesia have the highest daily usage of most business communication methods, while Japan and South Korea have the lowest usage.
Top consumer frustrations include long wait times (63%), inability to speak to customer service by voice/phone (59%), lack of 24/7 support availability (48 %) and lack of self-service support (46%). %).
The report reveals that 80% of consumers are likely to do business elsewhere due to poor experiences. The study also found that 61% will not tolerate bad experiences and will leave after just one or two bad encounters.
The report also classifies communication methods into two groups: established methods with wider adoption and emerging methods with lower levels of usage but high growth potential.
The results showed that consumers are adopting AI to improve their experience. Chatbot usage is expected to more than double from 10% to 23% over the next six to 12 months, and video chat usage is also expected to increase from 13% to 26% over the same period.
AI tools such as chatbots and AI-based virtual agents are set to play a key role in providing quick resolutions, reducing frustration, and ultimately delivering a more targeted and personalized customer experience.
Video chat plays an equally important role as an essential communication channel. Businesses can leverage video APIs to integrate live video chat into their websites and apps. This integration provides customers with the ability to securely interact with human agents in a more personalized setting.
Additionally, AI-based sentiment analysis can be used to detect customer frustration. This technology automatically generates relevant information, allowing human agents to resolve any issues quickly and efficiently.
The role of artificial intelligence in customer experience (CX)
The use of AI tools to improve the customer experience has garnered largely positive responses from consumers. Most display positive and neutral sentiments, with only about 1 in 10 expressing negative opinions. Positive sentiments towards companies using AI tools are particularly high in Indonesia (71%), North India (86%), South India (89%) and China (77%). This positive sentiment is highly correlated with consumer experiences using AI-powered tools: Indonesia (92%), North India (94%), South India (92%), and China (90%).
Implications of Positive Customer Experiences on Brand Loyalty and Reviews
Positive experiences facilitated by AI improve customer satisfaction and have a significant impact on brand loyalty and reviews. 56% of consumers are likely to give positive feedback after a great work experience, and 55% share their experience with friends and family. More than half (52%) show increased brand loyalty and 36% make additional purchases after the encounter.
To ensure a positive customer experience, businesses must strive to avoid major frustrations. One approach is to implement an omnichannel communications strategy that allows customers to seamlessly contact them through their preferred channels. Those who do so will benefit from the ability to leverage the powerful capabilities of AI across various communication channels, such as voice, video, messaging and chat.
This helps improve live customer support. It also significantly helps ensure real-time, personal customer engagement at every touchpoint.
Conclusion
Businesses recognize that delivering an exceptional customer experience is essential to driving growth and retention. AI is at the heart of this transformation, solving increasingly complex problems in customer communications. It is ready to answer more complex queries and handle tasks that directly improve engagement and productivity, ushering in a new era of customer-business interactions in the APAC region.
This article was written by Sunny Rao, Senior Vice President of Global API Sales, Vonage
