Customer communications in 2022
Andrea Candy is the Customer Relationship Manager at Zipform Digital, one of Australia’s largest customer communications management providers.
We spoke with her to understand more about how COVID-19 has changed the way in which businesses communicate with their customers.
There has been a rapid expansion in the communication channels available to businesses to reach their customers. Andrea explains that the usual channels such as email, print and SMS which have formed the backbone of customer communication touchpoints throughout their journey in recent years, has blown out, offering many more options.
“The use of integrated communications between platforms and in app push notifications is now featuring in the communication toolbox that our clients use to address their customer’s acute needs, especially as face-to-face touchpoints they previously relied upon are no longer possible in many cases.”
More sophisticated customer journeys
“Zipform Digital has been working with many of our clients in developing a greater level of integration in the past two years,” Andrea says.
“Customer journeys are a lot more sophisticated. Digital technology enables communications to be tracked and future communications and messaging tailored depending on customer behaviour. This isn’t anything new, but there are now more tools available to streamline these processes such as real-time or trigger comms rather than the typical batch processing which was popular pre-COVID.”
Investment in customer experience
With changing priorities following the financial impact of COVID-19 on many businesses, Andrea explained that a number of Zipform Digital clients across Australia switched their budgets to focus on digital communications and integrated campaigns, subsequently improving customer experience and engagement.
“An increasing need to be agile in responding to their customer needs has driven more of our clients to invest in the digital migration of their business. This has the added benefit of reducing cost to serve, whilst enabling a customer to self-serve, which we know increases overall customer satisfaction.”
She sums up,
“From the many discussions we have held with our clients, I can say with confidence that the way in which businesses have stepped up during this time and become something that offers customers support when they need it most, is going to leave a lasting memory in their customers mind.”
Andrea Candy is one of Perth’s most respected and experienced customer communications professionals with over 20 years’ experience in this field.
As Head of Growth & Customer Relationships for Zipform Digital, Andrea specialises in understanding the rapidly changing direct mail landscape in Australia. She genuinely strives to understand her client’s business, challenges and the demands they have in not only delivering value to their customers but generating positive return on investment.
Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn.