Bridge Gaps in Hybrid Experiences with Communication APIs

It's true—consumers have never been more comfortable with using digital channels to engage with brands and service providers. Whether people are shopping, working, banking, or seeing the doctor, digital services are in high demand. Regardless of whether this arose out of necessity during the pandemic, or is simply a sign of the times, the modern consumer’s preference for convenience, on-demand communication, and digital-first customer journeys is undoubtedly the new norm.

But digital-first does not have to mean digital-only

As much as online shopping, telecommuting, and telemedicine offer multiple advantages, people still crave in-person interactions. In fact, 74% of modern consumers prefer a hybrid customer journey, such as:

  • Ordering a product online and having it shipped to you, then choosing to return or replace it at a physical store
  • Seeing the doctor for a first-time, in-person consultation, then receiving follow-up treatments and medications remotely
  • Browsing a product in-store, then completing the purchase online
  • Placing a food order via a mobile app, then choosing to pick it up in person at the restaurant

People don’t want pure digital or physical experiences, they want the best of both worlds. Customers expect to jump freely and easily between online and offline platforms while receiving the same quality of service and engagement from their retail and service providers.

As for brands, adopting a hybrid, omnichannel business model has become a survival necessity as 50% of customers say they will only shop with retailers that offer omnichannel options for ordering, fulfillment, and returns. As a result, the ability to create unified, consistent, and personalized hybrid customer experiences (from anywhere) is the latest business must-have.

Communication APIs are key to a successful hybrid future

At 8x8, we believe that the digital and physical need not—and should not—be two distinct spaces. With communication APIs, retail brands and service providers can unlock a whole new level of customer engagement that is seamless, automated, and scalable. Having multiple channels to choose from, including SMS, chat apps, voice, and video, makes it easier than ever to engage with customers on their preferred channels.

More importantly, the benefits of communication APIs aren’t just limited to external customer communications. They also offer powerful opportunities for business leaders to optimize internal workflows, allowing for more effective and efficient operations.

Here are some examples of how you can leverage communication APIs to deliver truly integrated hybrid experiences that will help you stand out from the competition.

1) Collect customer feedback via their preferred channels

There’s no better way to gather information on customers' satisfaction levels and overall experience than collecting feedback. This can happen after customers have made in-store purchases, visited the doctor, finished their meal, or completed transactions at a bank branch. The immediacy of feedback and customer proximity to their most recent experience with your business can also ensure that you’re getting the most authentic feedback possible.

This process can be easily automated using communication APIs, and surveys can be sent via SMS, chat apps, or voice messaging, depending on whichever channels the customer prefers. This method of feedback collection also allows customers to submit their responses at their own time and leisure, rather than on the spot, which enables better-quality answers.

2) Personalise experiences with integrated data

Seventy-three percent of shoppers prefer personalised experiences. According to Adobe, 79% of people want brands to demonstrate that they understand and care about them as individuals before they’re willing to make a purchase.

In the hybrid world, this can be achieved with the right use of data and analytics. Insights from online and offline interactions, combined with customer feedback and complaints, are key to finding behavioural and preference patterns that will help you develop more personalised, customised, and memorable experiences.

This is possible with communication APIs as they give businesses the flexibility to deliver hyper-targeted communications by using data points collected from different internal systems and triggers. Communication APIs, therefore, make it possible to send messages not only in timely manner, but also through the most appropriate channels.

3) Reduce communication friction from offline to online

Creating consistent experiences is essential to winning customer trust and loyalty. Consumers expect a company to provide the same quality of service, whether they’re engaging with them online or offline.

Give your brand credibility a significant boost by delivering native, real-time communications on your owned platforms. Embed communication APIs directly into your web or mobile apps for one-click calls, rather than have your customers toggle between apps or manually enter phone numbers to reach you.

Deliver seamless hybrid experiences with 8x8 Communication APIs

Truly hybrid experiences allow consumers to pick up conversations wherever they left off, even if they switch channels from offline to online. They could have spoken to someone in person at the branch or retail store, but followed up via a WhatsApp message. They could have made an appointment via SMS, but rescheduled using an app. In order to create positive customer experiences at every touchpoint, your employees need instant access to the latest conversations across all channels.

That’s where 8x8 Communication APIs can help. They’re easily integrated into existing customer relationship management (CRM) platforms to facilitate engagement on multiple channels. For instance, the 8x8 Chat Apps API integrates seamlessly into Salesforce and Zendesk to allow agents to engage with customers on all the most popular messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, KakaoTalk, Zalo, and WeChat.

Additionally, 8x8 Connect is a unified, multi-channel communications management platform that gives a consolidated overview of all customer engagement channels. And because of their cloud-based nature, communication APIs are especially useful in today’s world of remote work, allowing employees to instantly access the latest customer conversations, whether they’re in the office or working from home.

In short, 8x8’s communication APIs were developed to be easy to deploy and simple to use, while still offering the data and insights needed for personalised engagement at scale.

Get in touch with us at hello-cpaas@8x8.com to learn more about how 8x8 Communication APIs can be customized to help your business meet the demands of a hybrid future.