Client: Nuance (via Spear) DRAFT

6 Billion Text Messages A Day – How To Make Them Work for You

Over the past 25 years since the first text message was sent (it was “Merry

Christmas”) texting has become ubiquitous and much more sophisticated. Over

6 billion text messages are now sent in the US daily, according to Forrester

Research. As the devices used to send them evolve, so too have customer

expectations grown.

Customers expect to hear from their trusted vendors and service providers, and

not just when they’re being sold something. The challenge now is to understand

what customers want in terms of communications (spoiler alert – they want it

wherever and whenever they want it), and setting up scalable systems to

manage that demand.

The opportunity is significant, but the impact on the organization cannot be

minimized. Dimension Data’s 2017 CX Report notes, “re-arranging the entire

organization [is necessary] to become more agile and responsive to customer

needs. Innovation is key, and organizations need to build an internal competency

that enables them to continuously adapt and thrive through explorative

innovation and prototyping.”

1. Right message, right channel, right time

According to Dimension Data, “before implementing a digital strategy,

organizations need to understand the patterns of their customer’s journeys, and

design and personalize them accordingly.”

The simple truth is that customers don’t care about ‘channels’, they just want to

hear from you, or connect with you, whenever and wherever they want to, and

they expect such interactions to be seamless – if they get a text from you about

an appointment and choose to phone you to adjust it, your system had better be

integrated enough to handle it.

As Dimension Data notes, “Organizations are struggling to track customer

journeys that now frequently start on one channel, hit a few more and end

elsewhere. Choice is crucial, but so is the functionality and consistency of

experience.”

2. Why Text?

Ubiquitous

102% of the US population now has a mobile phone, and most of those devices

have text capability. Rarely has a device – outside of a kitchen appliance become

such a normal, mundane part of everybody’s lives.

Understood

When a population of 300+ million shares 6 billion of something every day, it’s

fair to say that thing is integrated into daily lives. Most people, in fact, share

over 175% more texts than make phone calls, and with millennials that disparity

is even higher.

Permanent

Phone calls almost always interrupt. Often with mobile phones they interrupt at

inconvenient times – during a commute, while at an event, in the gym. Text

messaging, on the other hand, is asynchronous – doesn’t require an immediate

response (although of course it encourages one) and allows your customer to

consider how to react and to respond thoughtfully. Additionally, unlike a phone

call, texting creates a digital paper trail and is typically permanent.

Begins Proactive Engagement

Text messaging provides an opportunity to reach customers 1:1 who typically

don’t respond to more traditional methods of communication, such as voice.

This channel makes it easy for customers to communicate with you, elicits a

faster response and increased the likelihood they will self-serve.

3. Rise of two-way communication

Conversational

A newer way to make text messaging even more effective is to incorporate

natural language understanding (NLU) into the texting solution. NLU translates

the language customers naturally use so that automated systems are able to

understand requests and correctly take action. Traditional two-way text

messaging solutions are only able to understand simple responses like “yes”,

“no” or “stop”. NLU enables a system to do things like understand synonyms, so

that instead of just yes, the system understands terms like “yeah” and “yo” and

is able to take the correct next step.

Following Context

It also permits the system to jump to a different context. For example, if a

lender texts a customer “You are past due and owe $100, can you pay yes/no?”,

it’s not unusual to get a reply like “I can pay next week.” The new context is a

future payment, not a yes/no answer. In combination with dialog management

software, natural language understanding enables the system to respond

appropriately and move to another dialog – for example asking the customers

“Can you pay within 7 days?”

This allows text messaging to become more conversational, letting customers

communicate naturally, in everyday language, and giving them a much better

experience. This in turn reduces error rates and increases self-service

containment, lowering costs.

Gets higher response

The statistics are persuasive. 90% of consumers are more likely to do business

with companies that send them reminders. Nuance’s Proactive Engagement

solutions saw a 34% increase in SMS message and email message volume in

2016. Personal outreach simply makes your message harder to ignore or delete.

Interaction, in Action

Patient engagement

The NHS in the UK estimated a cost of around £1 billion for missed

appointments, where the patient just doesn’t show up. No-shows can happen,

of course, for many reasons, but one could simply be that the patient forgot, or

wasn’t prompted to reconfirm. With a concise, two-way, NLU texting system this

can be avoided. Another medical use is a reminder to reorder or pick up a

prescription. The system can also be used to generate business, by reminding

former patients that it is time for their annual appointment.

Combating Fraud

One of the nation’s largest banks worked with Nuance to initiate a two-way

program to improve the customer experience related to credit card fraud

notifications. When possible fraud is detected, the card is immediately blocked

and an interactive text message is sent requesting customer authorization and

confirmation of previous transactions.

“Yes” response, affirming recent purchases, remove the block and allow the

purchase to proceed. “No” responses trigger a message informing the customer

that fraudulent activity has blocked future use of the care and providing

instructions for having a new card issued.

By using two-way text messaging for its fraud alerts this institution has realized a

30% improvement in its overall contact rate and a 72% reduction in resolution

time that significantly improved the customer experience.

Collections

The practice of collecting overdue payments is expensive, time consuming and

fraught with legal requirements and guidelines. A robust text messaging solution

can assist greatly in the process of reminding customers of their obligations in a

timely manner. Text messaging is most effective, in this as in other applications,

if used in conjunction with other channels, including interactive voice messages,

email and push notifications.

Too often companies send the same message via multiple channels at once. This

increases communications costs and annoys customers. Better outcomes result

from sequencing outreach based on past behavior and known outcomes, or by

orchestrating the use of multiple channels – sending a text, for example, then an

outbound call goes direct to voicemail or is unanswered.

Airline notifications

If ever there was a case for sophisticated mobile text messaging it is the

notification that your plane is delayed or has changed gate.

The level of frustration and the stressed interactions with ground staff can be

significantly reduced by this simple information flow. If the delay is prolonged,

an interactive dialog could kick in, offering to book an overnight hotel or

providing a coupon for snacks. Given not only the bad publicity, but potential

fines and fees resulting from a delay, creating an interactive conversation with

the passenger becomes a much lower-cost alternative.

4. Rules of Engagement – Complying without Compromise

To use text messaging for communicating with customers in the US, you are

subject to local, state and federal laws. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act

of 1991 dictates that companies cannot use an automated dialing system to send

text messages to mobile phones without the prior express consent of the

recipient. That consent must be in writing is the message is a marketing

solicitation. Interestingly, less than a third of consumer say they have provided

such consent.

Program approval and message flow

Wireless carriers and aggregators must pre-approve your text message programs

and message programs and messages before you can start texting your

customers. The Mobile Marketing Association best practice guidelines provide

specific requirements for the content of text messages sent to customers. A

good interactive communications service provider will manage this process for

you.

Opt-in/opt-out requirements

MMA Guidelines stipulate that as part of your program’s open-in terms and

conditions, and in the ‘Welcome’ or ‘Confirmation’ text messages for a program,

you must include instructions to your customer on how to opt-out of the

program and how to get support.

When a customer replies with ‘STOP’ or ‘HELP’, your program must recognize

this as an actionable response from the customer. When they reply ‘HELP’, you

need to reply via text with your company’s toll-free phone number or a web

address where they can find information about the program or service you are

offering, as well as a way to opt out of future messages.

Keeping data secure

Personally identifiable information is not allowed in a text message. This

includes account numbers, credit card numbers, billing addresses, expiration

dates, Social Security Numbers or any combination of these. However typical

authorization practices such as the last four digits of SSN, bank account names or

full SSN may be allowed at the discretion of the carrier or aggregator.

5. What’s Next?

Text-enabled Toll Free Number

Research shows that many consumers, faced with a toll-free number as the only

point of entry to an organization, attempt texting to it. On the other side many

of those organizations either don’t know about it or assume they can’t support it

– thus missing an important interaction with consumers who cared enough to

reach out to them. Nuance solutions can accommodate such interactions, with a

conversational response to start the dialog.

Rich Communication Services (RCS)

This is a technology that is still under development, with several pilot

deployments in operation. RCS delivers a mobile app experience to a text

message. It can, for example, create a check in pass for airline passengers. This

avoids the need for the passenger to download yet another app on their phone

for an infrequent use. Delivering such a solution in a text message brings all the

high-response, interactive and permanent benefits of texting at almost zero

effort to the consumer.

The latest Mobile Marketing Association report on the state of the North

American mobile market says, “Across markets, mobile is growing. The rapid

penetration of smartphones globally over the past few years means that

marketers have had to embrace the channel and focus on the importance of

seamless, user-friendly experiences on mobile.” This, then, is the challenge.

Your customers are ready, and often willing, to interact via messaging and other

mobile platforms. Are you ready to respond?