Real-time interaction management (RTIM), defined by Forrester Research, is enterprise marketing technology that delivers contextually relevant experiences, value, and utility at the appropriate moment in the customer life cycle via preferred customer touchpoints.
And it matters because it gives you the power to win over your customers, build loyalty and ensure your business operates efficiently.
Customers today expect highly personalised digital experiences. Here I explore the RTIM phenomenon and explain how it delivers just that.
RTIM is making waves in marketing technology
RTIM is fast emerging as one of the top trends in marketing technology. Fuelled by ever-heightening customer expectations and advances in data-driven technology, RTIM is now a strategic priority for ambitious enterprises.
This trend is mirrored at Engage Hub, where RTIM is growing at a faster rate than any other area in our business – and customer interactions have increased from 50 million to 800 million in just 5 years.
To succeed, you need a global real-time strategy
Many vendors provide customer engagement solutions, but to engage successfully you need a strategic and global real-time solution, featuring the following key elements:
- Understand your customers’ behaviour – and use it to segment your target audience based on everything from geographic location to psychographics
- Ensure experience aligns with context – whether your customer is browsing on a packed tube or sitting comfortably at home, for example
- Personalise offers – you’ll increase your chances of success when a message or incentive is targeted
- Deliver a unified experience – so if a customer abandons a session on their desktop, bring them back to the same point when they return on their smart phone
- Optimise the experience – Measure the success of every interaction and test every experience throughout the customer journey
Aggregators may claim to send thousands of messages, but it really isn’t about quantity. Many deliver spam – impersonal, irrelevant messaging that has the potential to drive your customers away. Receiving data which triggers a response is not necessarily ‘real time’.
Done right, real-time communication gives you the power to retain your customers, build loyalty and operate more efficiently. It’s a two-way conversation with customers involving intelligent, highly personalised and relevant communications when and where they want them.
Focus on cross-channel optimisation and the customer lifecycle
If you want to give your customers a real-time experience, you need to measure the effectiveness of your targeting, monitoring every interaction to continually optimise the customer experience and drive loyalty.
In other words, tracking every point throughout the customer journey is key. This could be via customer feedback programmes, surveys or renewal notices – but do it right and you’ll soon see results in terms of increased retention.
To deliver effective RTIM, you need to be able to send real-time communications that are non-channel specific. This will enable two-way conversations, delivered to your customers’ preferred channel at any given time.
It’s crucial to focus on the entire customer lifecycle, not just on a one-off campaign – a mistake many marketers make, and one that leads to disparate communications.
The right RTIM solutions provider is instrumental to your success
Customers are demanding more than ever, but not all enterprises have the capability to process customer data and create actionable insights. At Engage Hub, we believe that success is about getting in touch with customers on a personal level. This is our speciality.
We’re a small business, but we’re pioneers when it comes to real-time communications. That’s why enterprises around the globe trust us to deliver real-time messages to their customers, helping them communicate cohesively and build loyalty. Here’s a bit of insight into how we do it.
- Synapse technology – Our defining feature enables high volumes of data to be processed without bespoke programming or costly costing – it automates almost any cross-channel interaction and processes infinite complex scenarios to ensure the right message reaches the right person at the right time
- Touchpoint Tracker – Customers interact with your brand over numerous channels and no journey is the same – our technology shows you the sequence of interactions, empowering you to optimise your communications strategy, boost efficiency and increase satisfaction
We now have just under 1 billion users, and work with some of the world’s biggest enterprises to engage with their customers in real-time. For example, we work with Telefónica Germany in delivering real-time, contextually relevant advertising to brands and agencies via mobile messaging with our Synapse technology. And our mobile engagement hub has helped Weve achieve a 98% increase in mobile advertising revenue.
Ultimately then, if you’ll build brand and customer loyalty with the right real-time interaction management strategy. Get in touch to find out more about how our real-time solutions will benefit your business.
