Who Uses Customer Communications Management Software?
Organizations are often required to interact with customers via various channels. CCM solutions are primarily used by industries like insurance, banking, healthcare, and utilities to generate communications such as invoices, statements, correspondence, or alerts/notifications.
Challenges with Customer Communications Management Software?
Access control: Since the software can be used by multiple teams, chances are high that teams reach out to one customer and overburden them with information. Companies need to put an access restriction for CCM software and also keep a check on all the outbound messages, especially the recurring ones.
Inbound communications: Capturing data from electronic forms, email, and SMS communications are some of the response management capabilities offered for inbound communications.
How to Buy Customer Communications Management Software?
When choosing the customer communications management software that is right for a business, companies need to consider their specific needs to find the right fit. First, buyers should evaluate the need for customer communication software and determine what functionality will be most useful for the business.
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Customer Communications Management Software
Several questions can arise regarding the discussion of choosing the right tool, some initial ones which should be asked include:
- How can a CCM software help the business?
- What is the volume of current requests or queries generated through the channel?
- What are its data analytics capabilities?
- Will this uplift present customer care service?
- How customizable is it as per business needs?
- How is the offering priced?
Compare Customer Communications Management Software Products
Create a long list
Evaluating vendors should start with a long list, which will help determine whether or not a given solution is a good fit. With a long list, businesses can create a broad list of tools that align with their goals. So there is a level playing field, it is important to ask the same set of questions to each seller.
Create a short list
Next, a whittling down should take place. Through pointed questions, demos, and trials, buyers can go from a long list to a short one. Although this will differ for each business and use case, three to five products are typically a good choice. With this list in hand, businesses can produce a matrix to compare the features and pricing of the various solutions.
Conduct demos
To ensure the comparison is thoroughgoing, the user should demo each solution on the short list with the same use case and datasets. This will allow the business to evaluate like for like and see how each vendor stacks up against the competition.
Selection of Customer Communications Management Software
Choose a selection team
Before getting started, it's crucial to create a winning team that will work together throughout the entire process, from identifying pain points to implementation.
Negotiation
When negotiating during the purchasing stage, it is advisable to start small in terms of licenses and functionality. As stated previously, a lot of users end up paying for additional licenses or features in a CRM that they don’t need. During this negotiation, vendors will try to convince buyers that they can offer discounts on more functionality or licenses if they buy in bulk, but most businesses don’t need this. If businesses end up needing a few more licenses down the road, they can always add as need be.
In addition to this, the selection team should always strive to have implementation and ongoing support fees included in the cost. This way if any ongoing support is needed then businesses can always contact their customer success or support representative.
Final decision
After the negotiation stage is conducted, the final decision requires buy-in from everyone on the selection team. It’s important to ensure that all requirements are met and the final decision is supported by everyone involved.
Customer Communications Management Software Trends
A few trends are significantly changing how CCM software works and will likely change how organizations use the software in the future. The most prominent trends are the following:
Cloud-based CCM: Most CCM solutions have been on-premises only, but some have evolved into a hybrid of on-premises and cloud-based configurations. Cloud-based CCM solutions are capable of aggregating data into an all-in-one solution, breaking down data silos and allowing greater transparency across teams to access their communication templates.
Artificial intelligence (AI): AI-based solutions have been increasingly adopted to both cater to and observe customers' online behaviors. Some are already using AI as an aid. AI helps consolidate the vast range of communication materials such as confirmation letters, claim statements, etc., to efficiently reproduce them and ensure consistent messaging and brand compliance.
