Mobile: Redefining the Rules for Marketers and Customer Service Professionals

According to a report titled, 'Mobile Internet in India 2014', released by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, majority (63%) of the India's mobile Internet users spend between Rs 101 and Rs 500 monthly and about one-fourth spend between Rs 501 to Rs 1000.

Mobile has transformed the way we live nowadays. With rapid improvements in technology, they have already replaced laptops and PCs for many users. In fact, they have become the 'First Screen' for internet for many users living in remote and inaccessible regions. This instrument holds great potential and can be leveraged to a large extent in Marketing and Customer Service.

Marketers have realised the potential of this medium and are quickly adapting their communication strategies accordingly. Mobile has also made it to the media plans of many big brands. It is perceived as an important medium to reach out to their target audience and convey information about a brand using QR codes, mobile games/applications and other mobile media avenues.

One smart way of leveraging the benefits of mobile is to integrate it with customer service. The consumer is connected and online almost anytime, anyplace and anywhere. The mobile has become an essential tool. The consumer is not just shopping on the move, but is conducting a number of transactions on his phone. She contacts customer service, move money between bank accounts, check flight details, book restaurant tables and what not.

If the mobile revolution is leading to a drastic change in e-commerce, online marketers are playing catch-up. Very few businesses are unaware of the importance of mobile and many have already developed apps to ensure their sites are rendered properly across a broad range of devices. In an increasingly competitive online marketplace, simply enabling e-commerce transactions is not enough. For many, mobile is the primary route to online services. Mobile users rightly expect a high quality customer experience, just as they would in a store or sitting in front of a big screen.

Going mobile is not just about replicating existing services but is about providing enhanced service and assisted sales support that plays to the strength of the medium. For example, when an airline sells a ticket online, that's just the beginning of a relationship that continues as the customer prepares to leave home to catch the flight, arrives at the airport, negotiates security and waits for the gate number to show on screen. Throughout that relationship, the smartphone provides an ideal medium to provide additional information. Similarly, a retailer can provide product information as customers walk around a store.

To be exact, mobile offers consumers access to information before making a purchase or avail after sale services.

Chat based apps provide a cost-effective way to deliver additional layers of service. Since the customers are already familiar to live chats, the same chat based engagement can be delivered easily via apps and mobile websites.

Customers always want to be able to contact brands at a time of their choosing and with a chat based app, it becomes a cost-effective channel as a single agent can handle multiple interactions simultaneously, in sharp contrast to the voice channel on which agents are locked into a conversation with just one person for the length of the engagement.

One of the most successful chat based app company, Akosha has recently been re-branded to Helpchat. Helpchat is a unique platform for brands to interact directly with their customers and create long lasting relations. From any travel-related help to household services like cleaning, painting, laundry or beauty services, the Helpchat app caters to a wide variety of needs of the customers. Some of the other things it can be used for are recharge, food delivery, holidays and information about local business.