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Udit Agarwal, VP and global head of marketing, Exotel, talks about the companys role in helping manage customer engagement, key trends to look for and more

by Ruchika Jha Published - Mar 28, 2023 1:16 PM | 8 min read

The marketing industry has been witnessing novel trends, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence and now ChatGPT; the industry is priming to adapt to these new changes. With AI taking centre stage, chatbots will become an important tool in the customer engagement space, says Udit Agarwal, VP and global head of marketing, Exotel.

In a conversation with exchange4media, heshares his views on the companys role in helping manage its clients customer engagement, key customer engagement trends to look for and more.

Excerpts:

What are the key customer engagement trends to look out for?

In the midst of one of the worst economic downturns in the last ten years, businesses must create engaging (or connected customer journeys) customer journeys that provide seamless and individualised experiences across all touchpoints if they are to stay one step ahead of their customers.

There are trends that can help in improving customer experience and business outcomes. One such trend is demolishing data silos of customer information.Though relatively new, this helps enterprises to be context-rich so that customer engagement by any department in the organisation is more empathetic and personalised, even as customers scale rapidly. This will help enterprises gain a more complete understanding of their customers, personalise interactions, improve efficiency, enhance data accuracy, improve collaboration and ensure better data security and compliance.

The other trend is omnichannel presence, which requires businesses to have a strong presence in multiple spaces, including physical and virtual. With advancements in telephony, AI-enabled chatbots can supplement voice-only calls in sales and marketing practices. This helps offer seamless customer interactions, and bots will become an essential part of the customer journey going forward.

Exotel believes that chatbots will become an important tool in the customer engagement space. However, we do not consider them to be a replacement for human interaction. Bots will work alongside human agents to improve customer service. The future of customer engagement is in multichannel communication, including SMS, messaging apps, voice and video. The first customer contact will be a bot, and if required, the customer can transition to human agents. This will guarantee seamless cross-channel communication between the client and the business. With the help of these trends, businesses can remain relevant and satisfy changing customer demands.

With fears of an economic recession, how are brands rechanneling their marketing strategy to stay competitive?

As the global economy braces for an impending recession, marketers are looking for ways to rethink their marketing strategies, pivot their efforts, and focus on building lasting customer connections. Given the weaker-than-expected performance in H1 FY 2022-23, Deloitte's recent report on India's economic outlook revised its growth projections for the Indian economy. According to the report, India will grow at a rate of 5.8 per cent 6.3 per cent in fiscal year 2023-24.

Businesses are facing greater pressure to maintain cost- and competitive consciousness as long as the recession threat exists. Despite these challenges, AI is emerging as a key driver of transformation in customer interactions, assisting businesses in retail, healthcare, and hospitality to improve customer experience and build stronger connections with customers. Investing in customer experience improvements can ultimately yield a positive return on investment in a digital market where customers have too many choices.

To differentiate themselves from competitors and provide more value to customers, brands need a unified approach for conducting and tracking customer engagement and gaining valuable insights into customer behaviour and preferences. Investing in enhancing the customer experience can result in a favorable return on investment in the digital marketplace. Exotel's full-stack engagement platform can help organisations build valuable customer relationships, which is the most valuable currency in today's business world.

The larger role that the customer experience is playing in marketing strategy for companies across sectors.

In recent years, the customer experience has become a critical element of marketing strategy for companies across a range of sectors. Customers now have more choices than ever before, and they are increasingly demanding high-quality experiences from the companies they interact with.

One reason for this shift is the rise of digital technologies, which have made it easier for customers to interact with companies in a variety of ways, including through websites, mobile apps and social media platforms. This has created new opportunities for companies to engage with customers and provide personalised experiences.

In today's competitive market, customers are becoming more selective in their purchasing decisions and expect brands to go beyond just delivering quality products or services. To drive growth and remain competitive, companies need to offer exceptional customer experiences that exceed customer expectations.

AI-powered tools such as chatbots, virtual assistants, and voice assistants can automate customer interactions and personalise communication at scale, allowing companies to interact with customers quickly and efficiently while providing a personalised touch. Additionally, AI-powered analytics tools can help companies collect, analyse, and utilise customer data to enhance the customer experience by tailoring their offerings, predicting customer needs, and personalising communication.

Customer engagement is an essential marketing tool. What are the pitfalls that brands should therefore avoid?

When it comes to customer engagement, 'notification fatigue' is a major issue. Customers who are already pressed for time and attention due to information overload are irritated by too many messages, emails, and pop-up notifications. However, the old adage "out of sight, out of mind" also applies here. It is critical to strike the right balance between being visible and not being intrusive.

Additionally, privacy concerns must be taken into consideration, not only in light of data protection laws but also in light of rising customer awareness and demand for open and honest business practices.

To navigate these challenges, professional expertise and guidance on how to use the latest technology and tools are essential. With the right approach, businesses can effectively engage customers while maintaining their privacy and avoiding notification fatigue.

Please share some interesting cases of brands such as Ola, Swiggy and the role that Exotel has played in helping manage their customer engagement.

Exotel is a platform that specialises in customer engagement and offers various tools to help businesses of different sizes achieve their goals. The primary objective behind the creation of Exotel was to ensure that companies don't lose customers due to ineffective communication strategies or unanswered calls/messages. By using Exotel's cloud-telephony solutions, businesses such as Swiggy, Ola and BluSmart have been able to customise their engagement with their customers, improving response times and customer satisfaction.

For instance, Exotel provided Swiggy with automated calls to restaurants, number masking to protect the privacy of customers and restaurants/delivery agents, and verification of Cash on Delivery orders to minimise the risk of fraudulent orders. Exotel also offered Ola a smart IVR solution that enabled the tracking of drivers' awareness about new features and training videos.

With BluSmart, our partnership has been instrumental in supporting the company with reliable 80 per cent - 90 per cent call connectivity rates to its riders and drivers, giving way to a significant increase in customer satisfaction. Our custom cloud-based architecture has also been able to scale BluSmarts customer engagement activities while they were experiencing a period of 25 per cent MoM growth.

Exotel aims to help businesses throughout the entire customer engagement cycle, from lead generation to sales conversion and customer retention. Its tools help companies build high brand equity and interact with their customers effectively. Overall, Exotel offers a valuable platform for businesses seeking to enhance their customer engagement efforts.

ChatGPT is the new buzzword. How do you feel it will benefit the CX solutions? How is Exotel leveraging it?

With ChatGPTs open source model and advanced language processing, it has significant potential to disrupt the customer engagement space, strengthening companies conversational AI products. The opportunities GPT and further iterations present will work towards boosting the self-service capabilities of chatbots, resulting in decreased costs for businesses over time.

However, this does not signify a complete automation of the customer engagement process. As part of the customer journey, we envision chatbots being the first point of contact between a customer and a brand, addressing common queries and raising more complex matters with human agents. The goal of these advanced improvements in AI is meant to enhance human agents workflow rather than replace them altogether. The self-service functions can be explored across a variety of use cases like ordering food from a restaurant via WhatsApp, monitoring customer sentiment, translating customer queries into the appropriate language, and giving more tailored responses to customers.

How do you envision Exotel's marketing strategies in the coming years?

Within the coming years, we are looking to further expand our full-stack suite of offerings into markets within Southeast Asia and the Middle East. So far, the full-stack platform has been rolled out in Indonesia and the UAE, and we are currently increasing local operations within those countries.

Regarding our customer base, it has been a trend that internet-first tech startups are more recipient towards incorporating cloud-based software solutions into their practices, as they tend to be early adopters of emerging technologies. However, we have noticed that more traditional sectors in emerging markets like banking, real estate and manufacturing are increasingly migrating their operations to the cloud. Our approach will be to draw more focus towards reaching out to these segments, acting as reliable partners in their journeys towards digital transformation.

The content in this section is curated by the PR and Communications team. For any feedback kindly write to karan.bhatia@exchange4media.com.

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AI is emerging as a key driver of transformation in customer ... - Exchange4Media

The summit will be held on Friday, 24th March, 2023, in Mumbai

by exchange4media Staff Published - Mar 22, 2023 8:38 AM | 3 min read

exchange4media Group is back with the on-ground Mumbai edition of its flagship property - Pitch CMO Summit after three years. The upcoming edition of the conference will be held on Friday, 24th of March, 2023, from 10am onwards. Fancode WebEngage and ABP News are the Co-Powered by Partners for the summit while the Co-Gold Partners are DoubleVerify, Pepper Content and Torc ai.

Pitch CMO Summit Mumbai 2023 brings India's most reputed brands and top management to interact and share insights on their game-changing success stories under one roof.

The theme of this edition of the conference is The Agile Marketer.

Apart from the keynote sessions and two panel discussions, many spotlight sessions are also part of the summit agenda.

In todays world led by the likes of ChatGPT and Google Bard, brands that are shying away from using AI for advertising are at a continuous competitive disadvantage. Most advertisers are already using AI to identify and segment audiences, build ad creatives, test ads, improve ad performance, and optimize spend all automatically, in real-time, at scale. To take us through the enormous opportunities that can emerge by marrying Human creativity and AI, Pawan Rochwani, Head of Brand & Partnerships, Pepper Content will speak about Content ROI With & Beyond Generative AI.

AI has revolutionized the advertising industry by enabling marketers to deliver personalized, targeted, and relevant ads to consumers. AI-powered advertising solutions use machine learning algorithms to analyze vast amounts of data on consumer behaviour, preferences, and demographics to predict and target ads to the right audience at the right time and place. To share some case studies of Many Industry Firsts With VI Ads, ROHIT VERMA, Chief Executive Officer, TorcAI will speak at the summit.

Conversational commerce is transforming the way consumers interact with businesses, allowing them to shop, order, and pay for products and services through messaging and chatbot technologies. No more clunky websites, no more frustrating phone calls - just natural language conversations with brands they love. Sharing more on End of Broadcasting, Beginning of Conversations will be Tamanna Dhamija, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Convosight.

Gone are the days of Mad Men-style marketing, where creative ideas were enough to win over customers. Today, marketing is as much about technology as it is about creativity. The rise of MarTech (Marketing Technology) has given birth to a new generation of marketers who are just as comfortable with code as they are with the copy. To share more insights on Rise of the MarTech EXPLORERS & Insights From the State of MarTech In India joining the summit will be Mihir Karkare, EVP, Mirum India.

The conference will be followed by the award felicitation ceremony of The Pitch Best CMO Awards 2023.

For more details, please check out the microsite:

https://e4mevents.com/pitch-cmo-summit-2023/

To attend the summit and awards, get in touch with

Chandrakant@exchange4media.com or kapil.ramudamu@exchange4media.com

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Explore the era of agility at Pitch CMO Summit Mumbai 2023 - Exchange4Media

(Reuters) - (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)

Class action and mass tort critics have been griping for years about television advertising by plaintiffs' lawyers who spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on TV ads exhorting purported victims to sign up and file lawsuits.

I havent seen similarly intense criticism from groups like the American Tort Reform Association and the U.S. Chambers Institute for Legal Reform to a newer and, arguably, more sophisticated form of trial lawyer advertising: internet sites that aggregate information about class actions and mass torts, allowing plaintiffs' lawyers to reach out to prospective plaintiffs via webpages describing investigations of potential claims.

Thats why I was so intrigued by a filing from the plaintiffs' firm Berger Montague on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan. Berger Montague is trying to quash Robinhood Financial LLCs subpoena demanding information from the parent company of the website ClassAction.org.

The website, as the quash brief makes clear, facilitated Berger Montagues selection of lead plaintiffs for a Seattle federal court class action accusing Robinhood of breaching Washington state consumer law by sending unsolicited text messages to contacts of the trading platforms customers.

Both of the lead plaintiffs in the class action have said in declarations that they heard about the case from a webpage announcement at ClassAction.org. The online notice, which said that Robinhood text recipients in Washington state could be eligible for $500 or more, invited consumers to fill out an online form.

The information they supplied, the ad said, would be forwarded to Berger Montague, who has sponsored this investigation. Both lead plaintiffs said they signed retainer agreements with the firm after making contact through the ClassAction.org ad.

Robinhood is now demanding to know, via a subpoena to ClassAction.org parent Season 4 LLC, who else responded to the online ad. The subpoena also calls for Season 4 to disclose its communications about the ad with Berger Montague.

Robinhood lawyers Kenneth Payson and Lauren Rainwater of Davis Wright Tremaine did not respond to my email query on the subpoena but they are presumably looking for information related to class certification in the spam text case. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein of Seattle denied the companys dismissal motion last August. Berger Montagues class certification brief is due in September.

Berger Montagues Michelle Drake also didnt respond to my query. The firm argues in its motion to quash that Robinhoods subpoena demands information shielded by attorney-client or work-product privilege, citing a promise on the ClassAction.org page that consumers responses would remain confidential.

The two lead plaintiffs filed a separate motion to quash, also asserting that Robinhoods subpoena seeks privileged information. Berger Montague, which is handling both quash bids, has asked for the cases to be consolidated before U.S. District Judge John Cronan of Manhattan, who called for Robinhood to respond to the law firms motion by April 7.

If Robinhood prevails, I suspect lots of other defendants will try to squeeze information from the website. (Im assuming, because I havent seen quash motions from other plaintiffs' firms, that Robinhood is blazing this particular trail.)

ClassAction.org, after all, has webpages promoting dozens of class actions and mass tort cases, some already settled, some in litigation and some in preliminary investigative stages, like the Robinhood text case when Berger Montague ran its ad.

Berger Montague described the site as providing technical expertise and infrastructure that connects law firms with potential plaintiffs who have "experienced potential corporate misconduct and are seeking legal advice. Berger Montague has sponsored at least 10 ClassAction.org webpages calling on prospective plaintiffs to send contact information to the firm, based on my search of the sites pages for different cases.

But it's not the only firm making use of the site to connect with prospective clients. Among the other shops listed as sponsors of ClassAction.org webpages describing various ongoing and prospective cases are Simmons Hanly Conroy; Cohen, Placitella & Roth; and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman.

The main ClassAction.org website says that the site's professionals, who are not themselves lawyers, have relationships with plaintiffs' lawyers across the country. Parent company Season 4 said on its separate website that the companys founders spun off their marketing and tech business from plaintiffs megafirm Morgan & Morgan in 2015.

Season 4 founders Tara Voss and Patrick Hanan, who are also listed as ClassAction.org leaders, did not respond to my email.

I did notice one other recent hint that defendants are beginning to realize the important role of sites like ClassAction.org. It came in last months report from the U.S. Chambers Institute for Legal Reform on the rise of mass arbitration.

The report described how plaintiffs firms now use websites, including ClassAction.org, to come up with long rosters of clients, in addition to the traditional methods of television and radio advertising. As you might expect, the report expresses concerns about whether prospective clients actually know that law firms are sponsoring these recruitment webpages. (For what its worth, I didnt have any trouble finding sponsorship information on the ClassAction.org pages I checked but I was specifically looking for it.)

Ill be interested to see how Robinhood justifies its demand for information from the site when it responds next month to Berger Montagues quash motion.

Read more:

U.S. Chamber blames judges, arbitrators and lawyers for mass arbitration 'abuses'

Mass tort TV ads fell in 2020 amid drop in Roundup advertising

Reporting By Alison Frankel; editing by Leigh Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Thomson Reuters

Alison Frankel has covered high-stakes commercial litigation as a columnist for Reuters since 2011. A Dartmouth college graduate, she has worked as a journalist in New York covering the legal industry and the law for more than three decades. Before joining Reuters, she was a writer and editor at The American Lawyer. Frankel is the author of Double Eagle: The Epic Story of the Worlds Most Valuable Coin.

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Robinhood hits class-action marketing firm with subpoena in spam ... - Reuters

By Calum Muirhead For The Daily Mail 22:32 22 Mar 2023, updated 10:34 23 Mar 2023

Advertising giant WPP has snapped up a marketing firm whose co-founder had criticised its strategy as not fit for purpose.

The FTSE 100 firm bought Goat, a social media-focused agency based in Londons Millbank Tower, for an undisclosed sum to merge with its influencer marketing arm INCA.

The deal could be worth as much as 400million, handing founders Arron Shepherd, Nick Cooke and Harry Hugo a handsome payday.

Influencer marketing is when companies and brands partner with popular online personalities to promote products to their audiences on sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

WPP said the acquisition will create the sectors first truly global influencer marketing agency with chief executive Mark Read saying the area was a key growth priority for the industry and for WPP.

Goat co-founder and boss Shepherd said they couldnt be happier to be joining the ad giant.

The comments are a major shift from Shepherds previous attitude to WPP. He previously said the firm hadnt quite worked out digital yet.

In an interview with The Influencer Marketing Lab podcast last March, Shepherd used the agency as an example of a group that was not doing that well.

The size of WPP, there might be 30 per cent to 40 per cent of their business that is literally not fit for purpose in the next three or four years, he added.

Shepherd also said at the time that Goat was considering a listing on the stock market and it hoped to become a similar entity to S4 Capital.

S4 is a marketing agency that was set up in 2016 by WPPs ex-boss Martin Sorrell after he resigned from the company amid misconduct allegations which he denies.

WPP shares rose 0.5 per cent, or 4.4p, to 953.6p after news of the deal.

While the takeovers worth was not disclosed, a source close to the matter indicated Goats value was not a million miles from past reported price tags.

These included reports from April last year that the firm was mulling a sale for a potential value of up to 400million.

Goat has worked with several major firms to sell products through online personalities.

It counts computer maker Dell, taxi app Uber and supermarket Tesco among its clients.

The company was founded in 2015 by Shepherd and his two partners Cooke and Hugo who, according to Goats website, met while working for a social media group in 2012.

It now has more than 150 staff across offices in London, New York and Singapore.

According to latest accounts filed with Companies House, the firm had a profit of 6.5million in 2021, more than triple the 1.8million reported the previous year.

The acquisition comes as WPP tries to shift away from traditional advertising models and towards new methods of reaching consumers amid the growing importance of social media and internet marketing.

WPP is also targeting the use of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) in the industry, with Read saying last month AI was fundamental to the future of the business.

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

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Influencer agency that criticised WPP sells out to WPP - This is Money

US Congressman Paul Tonko introduced the "Betting on Our Future Act" in an effort to protect vulnerable people from problem gambling. If passed, the bill would make all electronic and internet sports betting marketing illegal. When presenting the bill, Tonko expressed his desire to help push for federal action capable of effectively bringing under control the increase in predatory marketing of sports betting by gambling firms in the United States.

Tonko noticed an increase in advertisements which exacerbated the problem of gambling among Americans. He believed that the advertisements, particularly the 'risk-free' bets, increased the risk of gambling addiction by hooking people on products that were deceptively presented as harmless.

The Congressman believes that the federal government must step in and save the day if gambling companies fail to do more for the welfare of their customers. His presentation stood out as one of the few occasions when a federal bill on sports betting was introduced in the United States. As a result, the bill has shaken sports betting stakeholders, inexplicably uniting them in thought and deliberation.

The Motivation Behind "Betting on Our Future" Bill

The bill was strategically presented by the New York Congressman ahead of Super Bowl LVIII to help demonstrate his concern. He stated, "Millions of families across the United States will tune in to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday. Between the games, the halftime show, and the excitement, tens of millions of people will be bombarded with advertisements from DraftKings, FanDuel, and others promising so-called 'risk-free' or 'no sweat' bets in their ruthless pursuit of new customers hooked on their products."

Tonko's legislation comes at a time when the gambling industry is at an all-time high. Since the legalization of sports betting in 2018, advertising has skyrocketed. "US Online Casinos and Sportsbooks" have expanded their reach, investing billions of dollars to ensure full coverage across the United States.

Legalization and advertising have resulted in an alarming increase in gambling tendencies among Americans. Americans legally bet at least $73 billion on sports in the first ten months of 2022. Given the increase in sports gambling-related promotions on radio, television, and the internet, this figure is expected to skyrocket by 2023. Tonko's bill aims to combat the proliferation of uncensored sports betting advertisements and reduce the risk of adolescents and other vulnerable groups succumbing to gambling addiction.

The "Bet on Our Future Act" heavily borrows from the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, which prohibits tobacco advertisements. Since its passage in 1970, tobacco legislation has been in effect.

However, while the tobacco legislation is a success, there are concerns about Tonko's bill passing. Almost every stakeholder in the gambling industry has expressed an opinion on the bill. Some believe that prohibiting an industry from advertising is inappropriate, given that its operators must seek customers.

However, the issue is more serious than it appears. According to Chris Cylke, Senior Vice President of the American Gaming Association, the legislation is completely unacceptable for a variety of reasons.

The senior executive told SBC Americas that the American Gaming Association (AGA) and its members do not support any legislation that would prohibit or limit casino gaming promotion. He stated, "Any such effort only serves to reduce consumer and community awareness of legal options, benefiting illegal, offshore operators while harming consumers and communities. The proposed legislation would violate long-established free speech rights while undermining the expertise of over 5,000 state and tribal gaming regulators across the country."

Tonko's bill appears to be more concerned with responsibility than the American Gaming Association and its associates. The Congressman views gambling companies with suspicion. AGA, on the other hand, believes the legal gaming industry is deeply rooted in responsibility, according to Cylke. According to the AGA Senior Vice President, the industry's stakeholders have focused enough attention and resources on responsible gaming and problem gambling.

Cylke proposes that Congress refocus its efforts on combating the ravenous offshore illegal sports betting companies that prey on vulnerable consumers while devoting no resources to problem gambling.

The remarks of the AGA Senior Vice President echo those of several other stakeholders. Because gambling is an industry like any other, a significant percentage of them believe it is illegal and inappropriate to limit gambling companies' marketing.

The "Betting on Our Future Act" introduced by New York Congressman Paul Tonko expresses genuine concern for adolescents, young adults, and other people who are vulnerable to gambling addiction. However, it faces stiff opposition and may need to be tweaked to address the concerns of all stakeholders in the gambling industry.

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A Bill to Prohibit US Sportsbook Advertisements has been ... - The Citizen