Brands to increase AI adoption in their interactions with customers, report shows

More brands will cautiously adopt the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in their interactions with customers as the demand for conversational customer experience grows, a new report shows.

AI is being integrated into messaging apps as brands seek to complement human-to-human interactions while capitalising on the need to build trust and reliability, according to the 2024 Messaging Trends report by Infobip, a global communications platform for businesses and developers.

The increased use of messaging channels between customers and brands has been found to foster closer relationships between brand marketers/owners and their customers through targeted two-way interactions.

However, as business messaging continues to evolve, it has become evident that customers are happy for brands to incorporate AI into their messaging strategies if it results in improved targeting, 24/7 availability, and efficient access to information.

The report, however, notes that although people are aware they are interacting with AI, they still want to retain the sense of speaking with a human.

"Robotic and inflexible interactions are not appreciated. This highlights the need for the development of conversational AI that is flexible, has a personality, and knows when it is time to hand over to a human agent," the report states.

The use of marketing and commerce apps for conversational AI gained traction last year and is expected to increase, with brands that provide consistent customer support throughout the purchase process likely to be rewarded with loyalty and high customer satisfaction scores.

Some of the apps that the brands rely on to enhance their customers' experience include mobile chat apps, web chat, social media platforms such as WhatsApp Business, Instagram, Telegram, Google Business Messenger, Line, Viber Business, as well as SMS and email.

In India and Brazil, customers can complete their purchases through a WhatsApp chat, offering a more convenient experience for customers and boosting sales and revenue for the brand.

"WhatsApp remains the primary channel that brands use to provide conversational experiences, but there has been a notable increase in the use of other channels," the report observes.

In 2022, the report reveals, 99 per cent of support messages were sent via WhatsApp, a figure that dropped last year as more chat apps such as Telegram, Messenger, Apple Messages for Business, Line, and Viber came into play.

"This trend demonstrates how brands are diversifying their channel mix for support use cases and leveraging the regional popularity and conversational qualities of other chat apps to provide service on their customers' preferred channels," the report shows.

The adoption of AI for customer support last year led to a rise in generative AI, intelligent routing, proactive support, and social media chatbots.

At the same time, the dynamic nature of technology is rendering some channels less suitable on their own due to limitations.

For example, the higher costs of SMS, its 160-character limit, and lack of rich media support mean it is now often used alongside other apps.

"This allows customers to be reached via the cellular network when they don't have access to the internet. SMS and WhatsApp are the most commonly used channel combination across all industries, with 24.8 per cent of customers with omnichannel usage opting for this combination," the report notes.

It adds that there was increased uptake of RCS messaging across many regions last year, as brands extended their use of the channel, primarily to take advantage of its media-sharing capability and suitability for conversational interactions.

Apple has also announced plans to support RCS on its devices this year, with research firms predicting RCS growth could reach 2.1 billion globally by 2025.

"With the news from Apple, we are seeing many more brands looking to adopt RCS, which will have a significant impact on the volume of RCS traffic we see in 2024. Since customer opt-ins for SMS also cover RCS messaging, the process of moving traffic from SMS to RCS is simplified," the report notes.

Countries where RCS has gained traction include South Africa, Nigeria, Italy, the United States, Paraguay, and the Philippines.

These dynamics are likely to have a significant impact in Africa, where brands are competing for the attention of a burgeoning youthful population.

The region is heavily reliant on social media, particularly WhatsApp and Viber, for promoting retail and e-commerce, followed by transportation and logistics, and marketing and advertising.