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Customer communication: companies are turning their back on faxes and letters
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E-mail and internet – the communication channels of the future
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Customer dialog – still the most important form of customer communication
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Hamburg, Germany, June 26th, 2005 –
Fewer and fewer companies are opting to communicate with customers via fax and postal channels. This year, one in three businesses is looking to invest in fax communications. Moreover, one in five specialist and executive company representatives aim to write fewer letters in future. These are the results of the recent Customer Communication Trends market survey carried out by IT services provider novomind and survey and complaints management software specialists at Inworks. The internet is by far the preferred electronic customer communication channel: half of all companies plan to invest more in this channel and one in five is even planning to increase their web investment by up to 20 percent. While the postal channel is flagging, electronic mail is gaining ground rapidly: 46 percent of participating companies plan to invest in e-mail communication.
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Apart from electronic communication methods, personal customer dialogs continue to top the list of preferred customer contact channels. 54 percent of companies want to invest in customer hotlines, coming in a fraction ahead of the internet channel. However, if the trend continues, novomind AG estimates that this balance could be reversed in the years to come.
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No money for faxes and letters, huge investments in internet and e-mail channels.
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Text messaging is a new medium which has so far failed to take off. The market is treading a fine line between optimism and pessimism: Whereas 22 percent of participating companies are looking to up their investment, 21 percent are planning to reduce funding for text messaging technology.
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The number of incoming e-mails is constantly on the increase, making efficient e-mail organization an absolute must. Companies are aware of the problem and are reacting by implementing software that enables e-mails to be processed semi or fully automatically.
36 percent plan to implement an auto-responder or extend the functionality of existing tools to generate automatic confirmations each time an e-mail is received. But more sophisticated solutions - known as e-mail management systems - are also highly popular. 58 percent of participating companies have already invested in an e-mail management software solution, enabling e-mail content to be analyzed, sorted into categories and even distributed to customer care staff along with a suggested response text during the analysis process. 20 percent are planning to adopt a similar solution in future.
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Automated responses to stem the tide of incoming e-mails.
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novomind AG is the leading provider of digital customer communication solutions enabling optimized processes and lower costs. The product department’s portfolio includes e-mail management systems, as well as virtual customer services assistants and systems for interactive communication in real time. The novomind services department develops complex e-business applications, including scalable online shop solutions. novomind’s products and solutions focus on future-oriented service, efficient and personalized communication, and higher-performance administration. A rapid ROI is guaranteed and ongoing, long-term customer loyalty ensured. Leading companies from across the market sectors - including Bertelsmann Der Club, Otto, Sparkasse Erlangen, BKK Gesundheit, Travelocity and Hannoversche Leben, as well as public sector representatives such as the German Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security (BMGS) - have already successfully implemented novomind systems to boost customer loyalty, turnover and public relations.
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