Complex enterprises have sophisticated communication requirements. There's no doubt, Marketing Automation Platforms (MAP's) and Customer Relationship Management Platforms (CRM's) are an important tool for nurturing the customer through the buying phase of their journey – when communications are simple and straightforward.
But once the prospect becomes a customer, that’s when things get a little more complicated. And that’s where customer communications management (CCM) software shines.
In this article, we take a look at the top 5 superpowers of customer communications management software.
If you're just beginning to learn about CCM and where it fits within the enterprise tech stack, be sure to sign up for our free email course, CCM 101: The Critical Piece that's Missing from your Tech Stack.
Superpower #1: handles complex variable data with ease
Industries like banking, insurance and healthcare are data rich. From personal records and information to account activity and transaction history, the data is stored across a number of disparate core systems.
The job of CCM software is to pull complex data from everywhere, and organize it into highly personalized, easy-to-navigate communications.
Picture this: as a banking customer, you’ve requested that your account statement be delivered each month via text message. You click on the link and your account statement opens up in the mobile app, complete with interactive charts that show you how much you spent on food and entertainment, and how much you saved this month.
Superpower #2: controls regulatory language
Compliance standards are changing every day and vary widely across regions. Many organizations struggle to keep up with changing regulatory requirements to avoid the growing financial penalties of noncompliance.
How do you ensure the correct regulatory language is included in every communication that goes out?
The key is to involve the compliance function in the design and development of customer communications from the very beginning.
This is only done through a CCM solution that enables:
Collaboration: legal and compliance teams take ownership over regulatory content blocks that will be leveraged across the communications portfolio. Content blocks are locked down to safeguard regulatory language.
A holistic view: compliance teams require a full view of the entire communications package in every form in which it will appear (mobile, web etc.).
Greater control: compliance teams require the ability to manage, track, audit and approve regulatory language quickly and easily.
According to Gartner, "CCM solutions are primarily used in industries like insurance, banking, healthcare and utilities to generate documents such as invoices, statements, correspondence, alerts/notifications and marketing communications. These communications are often highly regulated and contain personally identifiable information (PII) such as account numbers, financial data or health information. As a result, these systems provide a level of governance, auditing and data security that is not always necessary in marketing-based communication platforms.”
Superpower #3: transforms static communications into interactive experiences
By integrating with existing core systems, leading CCM solutions help companies transform their existing account statements, reports, contracts, and bills into personalized, responsive experiences that include interactive tables, charts and upsell/cross-sell messages.
Superpower #4: takes customer onboarding to the next level
CCM makes onboarding for new products and services easy by providing digital application flows with forms that are pre-populated with customer data. Then, customers are able to quickly sign contracts using any device with integrated e-signature capabilities.
Superpower #5: no communication is too complex
From investment portfolio packages, to welcome kits, contracts, EOB’s and policies, many organizations struggle with complex document assembly and delivery. CCM solutions make it simple to create, assemble, manage and track complex documents from one centralized hub, and deliver them across all channels.
They allow full control over the complex relationships between different types of content, document order, compliance messaging and more.
The result? Your customer receives a personalized, interactive, easy-to-read information package via their channel of choice complete with sortable tabs, interactive charts and graphs, and built-in e-signature capabilities.
Today's leading CCM solutions:
- Have highly advanced design capabilities
- Handle complex variable data with ease
- Make keeping up with ever-changing regulations simple
- Give business users the power to send personalized messages at any time of the day or night, on the customer’s preferred channel
- Enable two-way interactions
- Break down organizational and digital silos
- Power complex business processes such as digital onboarding
Can your marketing automation platform do that?
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