Paving the road for meaningful customer engagement in Asia Pacific

Much has been said about the potential that Asia Pacific holds for businesses, especially in the mobile-first era. Smartphone apps – from ecommerce to ride-hailing and everything in between – have changed the landscape, leading to shifts in how people work, play, and live.

However, doing business in this mobile-first world has come with a price. Consumers are constantly bombarded with information from different brands across different mediums and over different platforms. For businesses, making a meaningful connection with their customers is more important than ever – but it’s also harder than ever.

To that end, Tech in Asia and integrated cloud communications platform 8×8 organized the webinar “Don’t add to the noise: How to engage your APAC customers meaningfully,” with the goal of helping companies unpack and address the challenges they face with customer engagement in the region.

The event was moderated by Cindy Deng, managing director of Asia Pacific at analytics platform App Annie, and featured insights from representatives from 8×8, mobile media platform Adtima, and digital bank Tonik Bank.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the event.

It’s a diverse region

One of the biggest reasons why the Asia-Pacific region presents unique challenges for businesses when it comes to customer engagement is because it has evolved so quickly over the past few years.

“[The region has] a maturing audience base with high expectations,” explained Melvin Maahen, product specialist at 8×8. “They’ve had the privilege of living in a time where most apps are sprouting out of the region – they want quick solutions fast, have shifting brand loyalties, and have growing expectations for companies.”

Melvin Maahen, product specialist at 8×8 / Photo credit: 8×8

Additionally, Asia Pacific as a region is also an incredibly diverse one.

For Arivuvel Ramu, group chief technology officer of Tonik Bank, it is especially important for brands to be aware of the differences between consumers, and he stresses that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to engaging with customers. The needs and wants of a student living in Manila, for example, would differ greatly from that of a fisherman in rural Indonesia.

“When we look at different people, they need differentiated experiences, contexts, and touchpoints,” he said.

Customers also want to be contacted on the platforms and mediums that they are comfortable with – which means that brands need to be present across all the different channels available, be it social media or messaging apps.

“Consumers are moving away from a single platform. They’ve moved to a multi-channel approach, and there are a lot more expectations,” shared Mai Luong, head of strategic planning at Adtima. The mobile media platform runs Zalo, Vietnam’s largest messaging app, which has over 52 million monthly average users.

Strategy is key

Engaging customers across all the different touchpoints available is no easy feat. It’s a tall order to connect with users at every step, which is why it’s important for businesses to focus on the moments in the customer journey that matter.

For Maahen, this would involve a good communications approach that has three key elements – being strategic, singular, and pre-emptive. From his perspective, companies need to think carefully about their engagement strategies and ensure that there is a single, comprehensive approach to how they are connecting with customers across different platforms.

It’s also important for businesses to examine the customer journey, look at historical data of where roadblocks have typically occurred, and pre-empt any areas of conflict that may arise along the way, such as by directing users to the relevant support articles on the company’s website. This helps keep customers engaged with the platform and its services, demonstrates that the company understands its users’ pain points, and frees up businesses to focus on customer engagement at a holistic level.

“When you do that, you won’t be so focused on solving a problem,” Maahen said. “Instead, you’re proactively creating a smooth road, and paving the way for your customers.”

Mai Luong, head of strategic planning at Adtima / Photo credit: Adtima

All three panelists agreed that real-time and easily-integrated technology solutions play a huge part in helping businesses connect with their customers. There’s no lack of customer engagement and communications platforms available in the market, but for business owners, it’s important to pick the right tool that meets their needs – and those of their customers – effectively.

“Customers are not the same, and in different parts of the region, they have different demands and requirements,” Maahen added. “Make sure that your partners have multiple solutions, across different means of communication, and that they can scale with you as you grow.”

For Luong, localization is another key consideration, both in selecting a vendor and in planning one’s communication strategy. Zalo works with multiple regional and global brands in order to help connect them to Vietnamese consumers on the channels that matter to them, be it through offering push notifications via its app or creating unique content that can be accessed in the platform.

Arivuvel Ramu, group chief technology officer of Tonik Bank / Photo credit: Tonik Bank

Tonik Bank also highlighted the importance of localization in its own strategy. Ramu shared that the bank adopted localized communication approaches in the Philippines, such as through incorporating local slang into its messaging and offering Filipino as a language option across its different platforms, which has gone a long way in keeping customers engaged.

Be open to change

As businesses seek to engage their customers in the mobile age, what is crucial is that companies have to be willing to take the first step to try out new strategies. They also have to be agile enough to change and adapt when existing communication strategies aren’t working out.

“The best companies are really the ones who are willing to test and try, who are very hands-on in finding platforms, maybe even local platforms, and trying them out,” says Maahen. “They’re the ones who try out these communication channels and ask questions: Is this meeting the needs of my customer? What is not being met? How can I switch my channel strategy? That has been a key success strategy for a lot of companies.”

Additionally, it’s important to remember that while working with a great tech partner can make a difference in how businesses manage and scale their customer experience, tools are just one part of what it takes to engage users effectively. What’s more crucial is the process that underpins it, which means prioritizing the customer journey and ensuring that companies are connecting with their users at the moments that matter.

At the end of the day, cutting through the noise boils down to one simple thing – meeting customers where they’re at and ensuring that they feel heard and seen, even across multiple mediums and multiple platforms.

8×8’s embeddable communications and APIs help businesses create more engaging customer experiences at scale with SMS, voice, video, and chat apps.

To get more tips and insights about how you can engage your customers meaningfully, access the full webinar here.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.