Artificial Intelligence is one of the most popular emerging technologies. AI chatbots are transforming the customer experience in unexpected ways. In this article, you will learn how chatbots enhance customer experience and key benefits of using chatbots for your business.

How AI chatbots interact with customers

Artificial Intelligence is one of the most popular emerging technologies. It’s changing the business dynamics in a lot of ways and one such way is by enhancing the customer interactions. We have AI-driven chatbots that are transforming the customer experience and helping us unfold the newer business opportunities. An ideally perfect chatbot delivers a seamless customer experience in which users can’t tell if they are talking to a machine or a real human being. But before we move ahead and discuss the ways in which chatbots are transforming the user experience, let’s first try to understand what a chatbot is.

A chatbot is an AI-based software that communicates with humans through a live chat interface. This interaction can take place through platforms such as Slack, Skype, WhatsApp, a brand’s website or app, Facebook Messenger, and even Alexa.

Simple chatbots are capable of scanning the keywords from a customer’s inquiry and deliver pre-packaged answers. While on the other hand, advanced chatbots that are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) use natural language processing and can create responses and conversations that are more complex. AI chatbots are more flexible than simple chatbots while speaking to the customers and when the human doesn’t give the exact message they have been programmed for. Instead, they keep learning from the conversations they have with the users to help customers with their queries.

AI-powered chatbots can tap into customer information and provide personalized experiences as they are better integrated with the CMS and CRM platforms underpinning a brand’s online presence. But how do they actually enhance the customer experience? Here are some of the most popular ways in which AI-powered chatbots are transforming the customer experience and providing customer satisfaction.

AI chatbots enhance customer experience

1. Seamless live chat:
   Customers can easily engage with chatbots in a similar way as they do with live customer support employees in an online conversation. Most of the chatbots follow natural language processing methods that allow them to analyse the questions asked by the customers and answer to them accordingly, meeting the needs of the client. Chatbots can easily be integrated with a company’s website or mobile application for better results.
2. Analysing customer data and insights: A chatbot can pop up on any product page that offers additional information about your services to boost the sales and purchasing process. They can also provide customers with product recommendations by analysing user behaviour. They keep a track of customers’ shopping history, modes of payment, etc and uses them to offer a better and enhanced customer experience.
3. Chatbots make friends and build relationships: Most of the companies believe that it would have helped in transforming the customer experience if their agents had more time to make outbound and proactive contact with their customers. Well! Chatbots can help in revolutionising the way brands stay in touch with their customers. Be it a simple email or a birthday text, or just taking friendly feedback about your services from the customer, chatbots can jazz it all. And as chatbots don’t have human empathy, they don’t have bad days or get frustrated from regular client queries which helps them provide a smooth customer experience.
4. Personalizing the customer experience: Chatbots are exceptionally well at collecting customer data from support interactions. After all, it’s the computer software powered by AI and machine learning that is doing the work. It helps the live support agents to personalize their interactions with customers by making use of this information. Chatbots work as virtual assistants that can easily feed customer data to the customer support agent in real-time, facilitating the agent to give the customers good information and solutions based on their current needs as well as past interactions with the company.
5. 24/7 customer service:
   Unlike your human workforce designated for live chat support that needs some rest, chatbots can work 24*7. Customers’ needs can arise outside of business hours during which your staff members won’t be available at their service but the customers need a way to seek out answers to their vital questions. A chatbot could be your saviour in those cases as it can answer to customer queries irrespective of the time so that your customers don’t have to wait for a response from a voicemail or email message.
6. Automated operations: Most of the operations such as customer support and in-store experience can be automated with the help of chatbots powered by AI. They can send timely notifications to customers about your product updates or new features. Using chatbots, we can implement smart shelves and they can help in inventory control as well. Automating your customer experience not only reduces the chances of errors caused by human intervention but also reduces the cost. Hence, chatbots are an ideal way to transform customer experience in a cost-effective manner.

Benefits of AI chatbots for businesses

There is a lot of benefits offered by the chatbots driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning. They help businesses transform their identity by enhancing the customer experience.  A chatbot is an ideal choice for you as:

1. It provides you with a global goal and reach along with an actively growing base of customers.
2. It offers support across multiple channels such as website, in-app, on social media, and several other platforms.
3. It facilitates you with a 24*7 customer support team with high efficiency.
4. The usage of AI chatbots helps you reduce your customer service costs and find more efficient ways of scaling your customers.

 

It is evident from many studies and reports that modern customers want quick, frictionless solutions to their problems and instant answers to their questions. They don’t like to wait at all. Also, in a world where people have only been using phones for customer support, it is hard to adapt to AI chatbots. But there is a growing need and demand for smart and efficient solutions, just like AI chatbots. They come with a lot of advantages and bring new opportunities to transform your business. Hence, to stay in the competition, it is necessary to change and adapt as per the customer behaviour. Drop us email at info@ndngroup.com to learn how our AI-powered chatbot solutions fit your business needs.

Blockchain technology has completed its transition from geek tech to adoption. Blockchain applications in business are transforming the way data is transmitted, accessed and used. In this article, we delve into blockchain applications that help transform enterprises in a wide variety of industries. Enterprises are investing in blockchain technology to make all transactions more authentic, transparent, and trustworthy. 

The reason why business executives are excited about the blockchain is for its following three distinctive features:

·       Decentralization: None of the data in the blockchain is owned by one centralized entity. All the nodes in the blockchain’s network hold the data.

·       Immutability: After data has been entered in the blockchain, it cannot be tampered with. This happens because of cryptographic hash functions.

·       Transparency: All the nodes of the network can see all the data that has been entered into the blockchain.

Specific Types of Blockchain Applications in Businesses

The blockchain gives users the ability to create value and authenticates digital information. Here are some specific types of blockchain applications that are developed for and how that might change your business.

1)Asset Management

The security and resiliency of the transactional data are imperative in asset management. Blockchain technology allows businesses to create a system consisting of the technology and processes of third-party providers and internal systems, thereby revolving around a single source of truth for the asset management activities. As transactions performed on a blockchain are immutable, it creates an accurate, unchangeable record for asset managers to use and verify the transactions. Asset management organizations and financial institutions use these records to analyze their performance and risks as part of their planning cycles. Asset managers can share sensitive data such as asset history, with relevant providers and partners in a secure way.

The blockchain ledger also reduces error by encrypting the records and simplifies the process as well as cancel the need for intermediaries. Blockchain technology simplifies all processes and actions in managing assets, namely portfolio management, trading and transaction of cryptocurrencies.

2) Insurance claims processing

Claims processing can be a frustrating procedure and insurance processors wade through fragmented data sources. The blockchain provides a system for risk-free management and transparency. Through its use of public ledger, blockchain can potentially eliminate suspicious transactions by logging each transaction. Through its decentralized digital repository, it can verify the authenticity of customers, policies and transactions by providing historical records.

Blockchain can also handle the increase in third-party transactions and claims made through personal devices. Blockchain helps slash costs through automated verification of claims data from third parties. Insurance companies can swiftly check past claims transactions registered on blockchain. This has helped fostered higher degrees of trust and loyalty between insurers and customers.

3) Cross-border payments

The global payments sector is error-prone and time-consuming. It takes several days if not longer for money to cross the world. Cross-border payments supported by blockchain provide significant advantages to businesses and consumers. Blockchain-based payments are cost-effective, almost immediate, secure and transparent. Blockchain payments are completed in close to real time – in seconds rather than days. Instead of paying transfer fees to multiple parties, companies using blockchain only need to pay a single nominal fee or nothing at all. Cost savings will be substantial for organizations that make frequent international transactions.

Blockchain also eliminates the risk of discrepancies in record keeping. As a decentralized ledger, it holds an irreversible record of every transaction and distributes it for all authorized users to see. The ledger is maintained and updated communally by a group of connected computers, and all parties have an identical copy of the ledger. All transaction records are secured by cryptography, tied to previous transactions and distributed among participants in a ledger.

4) Smart contracts

Blockchain technology can power smart contracts to fulfill transactions. It is wise to perform due diligence on any company your company is considering doing business with.  A smart contract is an automated, self-fulfilling contract between two parties. Payment is not released from one party to the other until both parties have fulfilled their terms of the contract. Once this is done, payment is released automatically.

Smart contracts get rid of third parties overseeing the creation and completion of contracts. Parties can use pre-drafted contracts that can be modified and shared in one ledger.

5) Supply chain management

Blockchain technology also benefits supply chain management by providing a way to trace goods while being cost-effective. Enterprises can verify with certainty where items and goods are, thereby eliminating guesswork and inefficiencies.

Blockchain technology have an impact on the supply chain process. It has recorded the quantity and transfer of products as they change hands between supply chain nodes. It has helped track change orders, buy orders, shipment notifications, trade documents and receipts from the blockchain ledger. The blockchain also allows sharing information about processing or manufacturing process, delivery, assembly and maintenance of products with vendors and suppliers transparently.

6) Digital Identity

The traditional identity systems of today are fragmented, insecure, and exclusive. Blockchain enables more secure management and storage of digital identities by providing unified and tamper-proof infrastructure with key benefits to enterprises, users, and Internet of Things (IoT) management systems

The importance of digital identity is prominent than ever for some reasons. Without a proper ID, getting access to education, banking, or health is difficult for users. There is still no global cooperation with IDs, so digital identity can enable a digital-based identification. Blockchain technology can help in tracking and managing digital identities. It eliminates the need for physical identification and replaces it with digital IDs. It offers solutions for many digital identity issues where identity can be uniquely authenticated in an immutable, irrefutable, and secure manner.

7) Blockchain’s Internet of Things applications (IoT)

Gartner predicts that 20.4 billion IoT-connected devices will be active by the end of 2020, with some estimates showing the IoT market will reach US$3 trillion annually by 2026. Blockchain-enabled IoT devices would operate faster and more securely for businesses. As the blockchain is decentralized, it can do what IoT exactly requires. Using blockchain in IoT can help businesses track billions of connected devices in the network.

Integrating the blockchain in IoT devices can also reduce the costs of installing and managing servers for an IoT network. Blockchain uses cryptographic algorithms which ensures the confidentiality and security of the data on the IoT network.

Meanwhile, smart IoT-enabled devices play a crucial role in our day-to-day lives. IoT blockchain enables the home security system to be managed remotely from the smartphone. The traditional centralized approach to exchange information generated by IoT devices lacks the security standards and ownership of information. Blockchain could elevate the smart home to the next level by solving security issues and removing centralized infrastructure. Sensitive user data such as biometrics, voice recognition, and facial recognition are stored on the blockchain for improved security. Once the data is saved on the blockchain, it cannot be modified, and access is only provided to the right person.

Blockchain technology becomes tidal wave of innovation

With deep expertise across various industries, NDN Group has leveraged the Proof-of-Capacity algorithm to build a decentralized open source platform – a scalable, environmentally friendly and adaptable blockchain solution. Practical blockchain applications are becoming more mainstream. As blockchain adoption spreads, it can become a driving force for solving business problems and transforming how we live and work every day.

Explore the blockchain world with us. Drop us a line at info@ndngroup.com to learn more about how our blockchain solutions fit your business needs.

Is your business looking to drive direct customer engagement with Chinese audiences? Whether you want to enter the China market or reach out to Chinese consumers, one of the most effective WeChat marketing strategy is to adopt the region’s most popular multi-purpose app: WeChat. You will learn more about how WeChat’s features can help enterprises market businesses in this article.

WeChat enables companies and individuals to create “WeChat Official Accounts” to promote their company and brand. Anybody can follow them and will then receive push notifications from them. When accessing one of these accounts, business usually click a bottom-menu linking to a HTML5 (H5) website which might sell products or services.

WeChat marketing leverage on the powerfulness of gaining followers to company account, luring them actively engaged with it and eventually converting them to customers to purchase items.

Here are few reasons why businesses should consider using WeChat marketing and WeChat Pay.

Reach out to active users

With more than 1 billion monthly active users, businesses cannot ignore the massive reach of this platform. Being enormously popular in China, WeChat has also penetrated the US, UK and other markets and is growing at rapid pace.

Build up lifestyle platform

Calling WeChat China’s WhatsApp or Facebook would be inaccurate. WeChat is more than that and it is a unique lifestyle platform that has several apps rolled into one.

From shopping online and paying bills to playing games and making video calls, WeChat happens to be the go-to app for almost everything. Aside from favorite social media network Sina Weibo, WeChat allows marketers to gain insights from valuable consumer data, understand which life stage consumers are at, and target them with personalized communication.

Distinctive features

WeChat is innovating and presenting exciting new features to connect brands and customers. One such feature is the Shake function, which lets offline businesses interact with mobile users who are nearby.

Users have to physically shake their phone when they see the screen. The app connects them with other people who shook their phone at the same moment. Marketers can also make use of such a feature on WeChat. WeChat offers other interactive features such as the use of QR codes and mini-programs.

Set up business profile on WeChat

Businesses can set up subscription accounts, service accounts and enterprise accounts on WeChat. Subscription accounts permit a business to send only one broadcast message a day.

Service accounts allows delivery of four messages per month and offer a wide range of services such as WeChat Stores, WeChat Pay, instant customer service, and GPS among others.

Business can open the WeChat Official Accounts Platform page and register to set up a profile.

 

Choose the appropriate account type for business and you will be prompted to enter details about your company such as country, business name, email address, account administrator and others. Under Official Account Info, select an account name and write a short introduction for your business.

Finally, business is required to submit a list of supporting documents such as a business license, signed and stamped official application letter, national ID copies and more for verification.

WeChat is an integral part of customer service strategy

When customers have questions or complaints for businesses, they are no longer likely to call or write an email. Instead, they expect prompt response and prefer social media channels over traditional ones. Businesses are expected to be where their customers are and with WeChat being an all-in-one platform, it can also be an integral part of your customer service strategy.

 

HTML5 campaigns to increase customer engagement

With custom HTML5 (H5) campaigns, brands can host unique experiences from their Official WeChat Accounts. Depending on your WeChat marketing objectives, you could create a survey or quiz to customer leads, or an interactive experience that unlocks promo codes of special information.

NDN Group has helped KURZ Group, a worldwide leader in hot stamping technologies from Germany, to launch a CNY engagement campaign via H5 pages – the most prevalent WeChat interactive platform for campaigns dedicated to branding, events or specific products

KURZ Group is not new to the Chinese Market nor WeChat; it owns an official page and an e-store on the social media platform to drive online sales. Our partner had their eyes on a seasonal campaign, with clear objectives on increasing exposure and engagement with fans during CNY.

A mobile shaking trigger was incorporated to add flavors to the game, meaning that a mobile shake was needed to open the red packet and receive the gift. To enter the giveaway, users were also required to fill in basic contact information for us, providing access to meaningful user data for sales leads.

Meanwhile, NDN Group has also introduced WeChat Pay for global bungee jump business AJ Hackett’s online ticket reservations to streamline sales transactions for mainland tourists.

 

WeChat Pay handles multiple payment methods including Quick Pay, QR code, In-App Web-Based or Native In-App payments. WeChat Pay supports cross-border settlements in all major foreign currencies and is available in over 20 countries. It allows foreign businesses to engage with customers in- and outside of China via their all-in-one services, reaching out to mass audiences.

Leverage WeChat Mini Programs

NDN Group takes pride in enhanced features ranging from e-commerce, games and news within the social networking app. NDN has expanded payment gateways for AJ Hackett with all-in-one platform

The WeChat Mini Programs can serve various purposes including e-commerce, utility, mini-games and news. More advanced features are available such as geolocation, task management, coupon redemption and others.

Banner Ad Campaigns

WeChat offers banner ads appear at the bottom of articles published by other WeChat official accounts. You can target users by gender, age, and location, and specify the types of accounts where the banner ads are displayed.

Business can prompt audiences to follow its WeChat account, buy a product, visit landing pages, download an app, or claim a coupon code.

Pricing is based on either CPC (cost per click), which starts at a minimum bidding price of 0.5 RMB for each click, or CPM, where fees vary depending on the geographic audience.

Standard banner ads consist of the brand logo, official account name, and call to action.

 

Business partner with influencers or KOLs

Businesses need to find the right influencers for their brand — someone who has a similar target audience and is willing to talk about your business. The cost to set up the partnership depends on the popularity of the KOLs.

KOLs are the equivalent of social media influencers. KOL banners require you to work with another official WeChat business account. Both you and the other WeChat official account owner have to come to a deal on the cost per view and the number of times the ad will be shown.

WeChat is a promising marketing tool for business and has great potential to deliver branded content and engage with Chinese consumers. With its growing penetration rate, it works for many international brands and businesses outside of China looking to reach out to consumers in the mainland .

We believe that these are some WeChat marketing approaches to help you get started to support your marketing plan in China and improve your chances of success. If you would like to learn more about WeChat marketing, do contact us at info@ndngroup.com today for a consultation.

1. AJ Hackett Macau Tower

Following our brand-building effort on WeChat and Weibo previously, we’ve helped the bungee and adventure sports operator to launch an account on popular live-streaming app TikTok, achieving up to 1.9 million exposures. Besides ad promotions, we’ve been managing the daily postings of the TikTok account, including video editing and KOL collaborations.

We also helped AJ Hackett launch a mini-program, a sub-application on WeChat to drive a higher conversion rate. Users can now purchase tickets using WeChat Pay on mobile, play games and learn more about bungee jumping within WeChat without having to be directed elsewhere.

2. Cigna

The insurance brand redefined its lead generation strategy by using Facebook ads to direct traffic to both its official site and the Cigna Smart Health lifestyle blog. Another approach involved using Facebook retargeting to display ads to consumers who have previously visited Cigna’s websites. The team also tapped into Facebook’s lookalike audience function to reach new audience using existing audience data.

Besides social media, our omnichannel marketing approach for Cigna includes the monthly e-newsletters to distribute content from the Smart Health blog.

3. uSMART Securities

In September, online securities brokerage uSMART banks on a holistic online strategy for its full-scale brand launch campaign targeting young adults. Facebook blog posts are used to educate its audience about investment, its brand and product offering. Facebook retargeting has also been implemented at later stages to boost conversion for website visitors.

For search, we’ve been improving uSMART’s SEO organic ranking on search engine results. A/B testing is also carried out for SEM in tandem to optimize ad results.

4. SQM

Real estate agents SQM Global Properties targeted prospective property buyers who are looking for information on digital channels as opposed to traditional print ads and trade shows. The online strategy encompassed SEO, media placement and geo-targeting. SQM also utilized social media and messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp for Business functions to engage with buyers.

5. Meraas

Targeting Chinese audience, we helped Dubai-based conglomerate Meraas launch a series of splash ads across 60 online platforms including Tik Tok, Baidu, WPS and SelfieCity for a giveaway contest, promoting UAE as a travel destination and a great place to live and work. The campaign has garnered fantastic results, generating over 10 million impressions and 2 million click-through rates.

6. KATE

Going beyond social media content creation, the Japanese makeup brand rolled out a geo-targeting campaign to promote a special event in March. Location-based ads are more personalized, relevant and thereby leading to a higher conversion rate.

Moreover, we collaborated with one of the most popular online magazines for young women in Hong Kong for a product launch campaign with a professional model shoot.

7. KURZ

German hot stamping technology brand KURZ launched a Chinese New Year red packet giveaway campaign on WeChat that incorporated the hong bao (red packet) and shaking trigger functions of the platform. We developed a festive-themed H5 page for Kurz using interactive graphics and videos for users to share on WeChat moments. The H5 feature allows data tracking and includes several performance indicators such as views and frequency of interactions.

8. McCafé

McCafé launched a geo-targeting campaign across key business districts in Hong Kong to push ads to mobile users, closing the gap between online and offline channels. The consumer data collected provides insights on shopping behavior and the best time to push the ads.

The second phase of the campaign involved Facebook push notifications on sales to the IDs captured from geo-targeting. A/B testing was conducted to boost click-through rates and ROI through better user experience (UX).

9. Galaxy Macau

We’ve worked with the world-class casino resort in developing a powerful loyalty app with superior UX, serving a range of target groups across all stages in the customer journey. Since 2017, our UX team has been coordinating the project from initial user research, design, prototyping, app launch to ongoing maintenance and feature updates until today. The next phase of the project will kick start in early 2020.

10. Pilot

Pilot intends to create some brand differentiation for itself to foster top of the mind awareness. We carried out a series of rebranding exercise for Pilot’s product lines across its owned media through Facebook. The campaign generated significant brand mentions and share of voice across earned media to help Pilot build its digital presence.

Frustrated customers who don’t get quick answers may leave website and never return. Chatbots can eliminate that scenario and help you keep your customers.

Increase Customer Base

There is another benefit of using chatbots in business. They may help enterprises reach more people which can increase your customer base.

Since chatbots can be used in many applications, enterprises can take advantage of that to help businesses grow. Chatbots can answer multiple questions at the same time as well.

Streamline Procedures and Automation

Other benefits of using chatbots in business are that they help businesses streamline procedures and automation. When used on website they can provide fast, automated answers to most questions. Their use prevents customers from waiting a day or longer to receive responses as they would have in the past. This enables business to serve greater numbers of people while saving costs.

NDN Group and Mobinology’s chatbot service and solution

NDN Group and Mobinology, world-class business software developer, has forged global partnership to deliver enterprise-grade chatbot solution to empower enterprises to accelerate business growth. Powered by leading artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies, the industry-leading and end-to-end chatbot solution enables global and regional enterprises with secure, scalable and agile operations, combined with machine learning and data analytics capabilities. The all-in-one chatbot solution defines new pathways for enterprises to deliver seamless and personalized customer experience.

NDN Group and Mobinology’s intelligent chatbot offers distinctive capabilities at scale. We design immersive dialogue flow to chart out extraordinary dialogue and conversational flow to create high-impact and personalised customer experience. We also curate tone of voice and manner to reflect enterprises’ branding for creating maximum customer engagement and loyalty, and bot personality and persona to interact with users and immerse them in conversational journey.

The self-intelligent bot learns from the inputs it experiences and garners deep understanding on the intent behind customer requests as well as provide smart answers. Also, the bot augments the importance of Big Data through their automated data collection that enables enterprises to conduct in-depth analysis on the conversational journey and understand end-user behaviour. The Natural Language Processing (NLP) powers all forms of language recognition including Cantonese and switch languages to enable enterprises extend global reach.

The bot uses their wealth of knowledge to provide comprehensive answers to queries. It is also specially designed to parse documents, crawl website content and convert into rule-defined structure data. It is empowered to use real-time information for accelerating revenue opportunities automatically after conversation with customers.

Types of chatbots

Depending on how the specific bots were programmed, we can divide them into two large groups: working according to pre-prepared commands – simple chatbot and AI-powered chatbot.

 

Simple chatbots work based on pre-written keywords that they understand. Each of these commands must be written by the developer separately using regular expressions or other forms of string analysis.

Smart chatbots rely on artificial intelligence when they communicate with users. Instead of pre-prepared answers, the robot responds with adequate suggestions on the topic. In addition, all the words said by the customers are recorded for later processing.

Many business owners are beginning to understand what benefits chatbots can bring to them. This technology is still in an early stage, its capabilities continue increasing and the best chatbots have yet to be created. Invest in building a chatbot for your business and be at the forefront of innovation.

Enquires on NDN Group and Mobinology’s chatbot solution:

NDN Group email: info@ndngroup.com 

Mobinology email: info@mobinology.com 

What is geo-targeting

Location-based technology – namely location data, geo-targeting and geofilters – is opening up a world of possibilities for marketers. Yet it is also complicated as new capabilities and use cases seem to emerge every day. With the goal of breaking down some of the most important “geo” concepts to provide a better understanding of the basics and a jumping off point for exploring how far the power of location may take us.

What does geo-targeting mean?

Geo-targeting is the practice of delivering content to users based on their geographic locations. This can be done on the city via IP address or device ID or even through GPS signals and geo-fencing.

Marketers geotarget users on their mobile devices, making it easier to deliver relevant and engaging ad content. The idea is that the more relevant an ad or offer is, the more likely it is to drive sales up sharply for businesses.

How does geo-targeting apply?

The central idea behind geo-targeting is that understanding consumer real-time. Location helps marketers achieve an ultimate goal of delivering the right message to precisely the right people at exactly the right time.

Geo-targeting doesn’t have to be solely based on a consumer’s real-time location. Locations or businesses a customer has visited recently can maker marketers accurately predict their interests and intent and therefore adding targeting based on their location can be essential to delivering a captivating message.

For NDN Group, we have worked with McCafé – owned by Mcdonald’s – that piloted coffee delivery service in Hong Kong, exclusively available on the McCafé App. We have helped McCafé to launch a large-scale advertising campaign on social media with geo-targeting, an advertising effort combining online and offline technology based on geographic location.

We have activated seamless touch points in specific areas in Hong Kong to identify target audience in three core business districts – Central, Causeway Bay, and Quarry Bay. Seamless touch points were placed at all the McCafé branches in the above locations, plus some of the nearby commercial buildings and competitor stores, gaining more data on insightful analysis over competitors and mapping out ads campaigns. Whenever someone carrying a mobile device passes by one of the touchpoints, anonymized data of that device will be captured instantly. We’ve captured over 500,000 device ID. Then we pushed McCafé offer “Buy 4 coffee, get 2 free” via Facebook to target audience. We have also conducted A/B testing to maximize ROI and to refine our creative designs and improve user experience.

Meanwhile, we have worked with fast food franchise Subway on the promotion of Everyday Value, a combo launched to compete with fellow fast food chain’s meal set deals. With some 20 stores in Hong Kong, Subway was set for an effective online campaign that reached out to the right customers in the right place with the help of geo-targeting. 

We have activated seamless touch points at 18 of Subway stores and some of its nearby competitor brick and mortar stores, collecting anonymised data from the mobile phones of visitors every day. This system effectively identifies potential customers and classifies them into different segments, allowing us to re-target ads on Google Display Network, Facebook, Line and Weibo accordingly. 

Why geo-targeting is the key to greater ROI

Geo-targeting is key to greater ROI as it offers a personalized customer experience, delivering ads, offers and shopping information to an overwhelming number of high-potential customers. The technology monetizes online social networks and offline location data to drive brand engagement and actual sales at the same time.

Throughout geo-targeting, businesses lure consumers in a highly targeted area rather than wasting money on people outside region. Consumers generally want ads customized to their specific location.

When consumers want to know more about a business, they expect to find them on the major social networks – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. This boosts credibility and trust. Make choosing you easier by being visible and attainable.

With a location-based marketing platform, businesses have the power to build these custom audiences to achieve their goal to deliver the right message to precisely the right people at exactly the right time. A great geo-targeting campaign requires excellent creative and messaging. Without a relevant and engaging message, audience targeting may produce less impactful results.

Digital transformation is forcing enterprises to change their business strategies and adapt to the new market models. Digital technology has transformed customers’ habits. Mobile devices, chatbot, apps, machine learning, automation allow customers to get what they want almost exactly at the moment they need it. Customers expect relevant content in relation to what they’re doing and on the device of their choosing. Enterprises must embrace technology to deliver a good customer experience.

In this era of disruptive technological change, products and services that are cutting edge one day are outdated the next. In this context, the unmatched customer experience a company offers is increasingly its differentiator. Advanced digital technologies have caused a shift in customer expectations, leading to the sharp rise of new kind of modern buyers. Due to the opportunities that rise from using modern technology, consumers rank businesses based on digital customer experience. Digital first requires entrepreneurs to rethink how they better interact with their customers and offer good customer support.

Mr. Andy Ann, Founder and CEO of NDN Group, said, “It is of utmost priority for entrepreneurs and business leaders to fully understand the customers’ unique needs and enhance their customer experience through the adoption of digital marketing and technologies. Businesses have to deploy right technologies to understand and get a whole picture of why a customer made a certain decision as well as garner consumer insight.”

Leverage right technology to power up digital strategies

Having the right technology to power up digital strategies is fundamental in business world. By easily connecting SaaS applications such as customer databases, Big Data analytics, web and mobile apps, companies can digitally record all touch-points to create a holistic view of customers and deliver customer experience strategy.

At NDN Group, one such campaign we have successfully launched is for Blue, a digital insurer partnership by Aviva, Hillhouse Capital and Tencent. We have deployed 360-degree touchpoints covering social media, video production, web/mobile production, SEO/SEM, as well as innovative technologies namely cognitive ads, an AI chatbot capable of suggesting interest-based offers to engage users individually and generate sales leads. Cognitive Ad helps us understand consumers’ needs and interests by deploying the latest AI-enabled interactive advertising on websites and WeChat.

With our Cognitive Ad technology, we use massive consumer data and a powerful AI-engine to build industry specific ads that are easy to implement and customize. Our ready-to-go and pre-configured dialogues allow your campaigns to run smarter, engage customers faster and improve conversions over 300%.

Seamless omni-channel customer experience

Technology has empowered customers to get what they want, whenever they want, and how they want it. Omni-channel customer experience involves using multiple channels to engage customers. When businesses use social media, blogs, the web, videos and other channels to engage customers, they must ensure delivery of a seamless message across all touchpoints to maximize customer experience.

In fact, content types are versatile and diverse content can be specially curated to fit into different channels. Sites like YouTube will provide a better video sharing experience, Pinterest offers a brilliant experience to users interested in product photographs and other kinds of images, and you can find other website aimed at other types of contents. A blog is a very versatile tool, as it allows you to publish all kinds of contents, from text contents to embedded videos, audio images.

Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It is the process of using digital technologies to create new business processes, models, culture, and customer experiences to meet ever-changing market demands.

Digital transformation is imperative for all businesses, from the startups to the giant enterprises. Thinking, planning and building digitally sets your business up to be agile, flexible, and ready to grow. What’s not clear to many enterprises is what digital transformation means.

Technology plays a crucial role in an organization’s’ ability to evolve with the market and continually increase value to customers. Organizations are in different places on the road to digital transformation. One of the hardest questions in digital transformation is how to get over the initial humps from vision to execution.

What is digital transformation?
As digital transformation will look different for every company, it can be difficult to pinpoint a definition that applies to all. Digital transformation can be defined as the integration of digital technology into all areas of business operations and delivering good customer experiences. The Agile Elephant emphasizes the ways businesses need to adjust their practices: “Digital transformation involves a change in leadership, mindset, business models, and digital assets to improve the experience of the organization’s employees, customers, suppliers, partners and stakeholders.”Andy Ann, Founder and CEO of NDN Group, said, “Every digital transformation is going to begin and end with the customer experiences. Businesses don’t transform by choice because it is expensive and risky. Businesses go through transformation when they have to innovate and evolve. Seamless customer experience is one of the most important discriminating factors for how a business will perform and succeed.”

Why does digital transformation matter?
A business may take on digital transformation for various reasons. But by far, the most likely reason is that they have to: It’s a survival issue for many. Digital transformation does not simply mean changing how you do business or creating new types of businesses. It’s about keeping the core competence, and using faster and better ways to instantly access customer data and not trapped somewhere in an archive.

Think of customer service, whether in retail or a call centre. Digitalization changed service forever by making customer records easily and quickly retrievable via automation. Customer service has not changed, but the process of searching customer data and offering a resolution became much more efficient with automation.

For example, deploying an automated customer Chatbot will allow businesses to automate customer service live chat conversations. According to IBM, up to 80% of routine customer service questions could be answered by a simple AI Chatbot. Chatbots can be trained to respond to customer service questions and provide fast solutions, 24/7.

Enterprise leaders have largely gotten the message and are prioritizing accordingly. At NDN, we have deployed and used AI technologies including machine learning and natural language processing for a local bank (Hang Seng Bank), creating a virtual assistant that is able to simulate human-like contextual conversations and interact with the bank’s customers. The Chatbot can communicate in Chinese and English, and can also understand Cantonese as well as the mixing of English and Chinese. Through interacting with customers, the Chatbot will continuously improve their ability to address customer inquiries.

It is widely expected that worldwide spending on technologies services that enable digital transformation will reach US$1.97 trillion in 2022, per the (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Digital Transformation Spending Guide. IDC predicts that digital transformation spending will grow steadily, achieving a five-year compound annual growth rate of 16.7 percent between 2017 and 2022.

IDC predicts that, by 2020, 30 percent of Global 2000 companies will have allocated capital budget equal to at least 10 percent of revenue to fuel their digital strategies. Advanced analytics is the number-one digital investment – with enterprises planning to increase related deployments by 75 percent during the next 12 to 18 months.

Organizations are at different places in the digital transformation journey. Business leaders face pressure to show that digital transformation initiatives and strategies continue to translate to increased agility and speed for the entire organization. Fostering seamless customer experience has become a crucial goal and thus a crucial part of digital transformation.

What does digital transformation framework look like?

Digital transformation changes widely based on an organization’s challenges and demands. Yet, there are a few constants and common themes among published frameworks that all business leaders should consider when initiating digital transformation.

These digital transformation elements are cited in a wide array of aspects over customer experience, operational agility, culture, leadership, workforce enablement and digital integration. Below are a few examples of digital transformation frameworks include:

· MIT Sloan: The Nine Elements of Digital Transformation

· Cognizant: A Framework for Digital Business Transformation

· Ionology: A Step-By-Step Guide to Digital Transformation

· IDEO: The Human-Centered Design Toolkit

While each guide has its own recommendations and varying considerations, leaders should look for those important themes when mapping out their own digital strategy.

Adapt business to leverage digital transformation

Digital transformations have reshaped how companies approach customer service and enhance user experience. The rise of social media has changed service much like it’s changed advertising, marketing, and even sales and customer service. Forward-thinking companies embrace technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data, and social media to extend their service offerings to customers on their platforms.

What happens when Digital Transformation creates Exponential Growth?

It is not that we don’t know exponential growth is coming due to digital transformation. What we misunderstand is the speed at which it comes. At Singularity University, Peter Diamandis talks about the Moore’s Law and the speed of technology accelerating our entire economy. In conclusion, we advise leaders to dive deep into the process of creating powerful tools for scaling the business and stay competitive among competitions.