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Brands evolving their CX using messaging
More grown-up conversations
In previous reports we tracked the development of conversational experience and how this trend was changing both the style of communication and the mix of channels that brands use to interact with their customers.
Messaging channels that natively support two-way interactions that blend emotional empathy with intelligent technology like WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber and RCS are becoming far more widely used and accepted for business communication.
The trends started with customer support, spread to marketing, and we are now seeing signs that people are expecting the same approach for transactional use cases too.
Global conversational channel growth over past two years (2023 and 2024)
*This is growth in 2024 alone as 2023 figures were skewed by the temporary removal of support for RCS in India
Muting conversations is NOT how you master CX
We are all familiar with the scenario where we receive a message from a business, usually a notification or transactional update, which then triggers a query that we would love to get a quick reply for, but it is it clear that we are unable to on that channel.
What if you have a question? Why can’t you reply right there in the moment?
This doesn’t make for good customer experience and is the reason why brands are evolving their conversational messaging strategies to include notifications, reminders, and transactional updates.
Even if customers can’t reply directly to a notification SMS – at least they can be routed to a channel where they can get quick, contextually literate help.
This is where brands with high CX maturity can differentiate themselves from the rest.
Customers today are not only expecting omnichannel experiences, but they are also looking at omni-conversational experiences, but yet at the same time highly relevant and personalized.
How Lih Ren
Head of Commercial Strategy and TelcoTech Partnership, True Corporation Plc
High CX maturity means cohesive conversations across channels and use cases
In 2024 we conducted in-depth research into the CX maturity of 206 global enterprise businesses from the retail, finance, telco, and healthcare sectors.
On average, we concluded that these brands are just above a mid-level of CX maturity. The research showed that of the enterprise brands that use multiple channels, only 33% have them strategically integrated and in-sync. This means that two thirds of brands struggle to offer consistent, seamless, and high-quality customer experiences.
Interestingly, despite the low level of channel integration, 80% of brands claim to have an omnichannel strategy. However, without proper channel integration, it’s not possible to have a stable omnichannel strategy.
This tells us that most brands are actually taking a multichannel approach and missing the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of true omnichannel communication that puts them well on the path to CX maturity.
The 7 communication habits of highly effective brands
How brands with high CX maturity communicate
Effective channel usage plays a major role in a brand’s maturity. An effective omnichannel strategy means that customers always feel informed, have their channel preferences respected, and can get queries and issues resolved quickly and easily.
Brands with high CX maturity have a strategic mix of traditional channels like email and SMS and digital channels like Instagram, RCS, and WhatsApp and are able to match the best channel to each use case and even take individual customer preferences into account.
Brands that value customer experience know that people now expect more than ‘Dear [First.name]’ and ‘We hope you enjoyed receiving your [LastProductBought]’.
Our research into the communication preferences of different generations clearly show that new generations of consumers expect brands to truly know them and adapt their messaging accordingly, taking into account the offer, the message, and the channel. Businesses with a high CX maturity can do this consistently, cohesively, and effectively.
We all know that it is crucial for businesses to use data effectively. It is a necessity to drive the personalization that customers expect and to achieve the operational efficiencies required to stay competitive in their markets.
Brands with high CX maturity have evolved so their data is an asset in all areas of the business. They have removed internal data silos, and this means that all their messaging channels are in sync – with the result that the customer experience is consistent and effective.
Going a step further, removing data silos means that the conversational approach to customer interactions can be applied to more use cases and throughout the customer journey. After the research and consideration phase when a person becomes a customer by making a purchase, they don’t have the feeling of dropping into a ‘post purchase workflow’ where the business stops interacting with them.
Brands currently at the higher end of the CX maturity scale can support cohesive conversations across channels and use cases and throughout the customer journey.
Messaging volumes do not stay constant throughout the year. In every industry there are predictable peaks and troughs, but there may also be spikes that couldn’t be anticipated – for example geo-political events, announcements from competitor brands or industry influencers, or the release of groundbreaking new technology.
Mature brands can effortlessly scale messaging volumes with no impact on deliverability rates or latency. Through integrations and trusted technology partnerships they are also able to adopt new channels quickly and are always looking to improve and refine their messaging.
In an effective omnichannel setup that matches the right message with the best channel, the one constant is customer privacy and data security. By using a combination of the latest authentication techniques and channels with two-way encryption, brands with high CX maturity are able to mitigate the risks posed by fraud and hackers.
Brands with high CX maturity have learned how to use AI effectively so that it improves the lives of their customers, often without them noticing. Through the use of intelligent chatbots, automating back-office operations to speed up tasks, or agentic AI that can make instant decisions backed by data that can vastly increase the velocity of processes like credit applications or even optimizing entire supply chains.
Crucially customers should never feel like they are being palmed off to AI that cannot help them. They should always be able to interact with a person when they need to.
Omnichannel adoption trends
Of the businesses using multiple communication channels on our platform, the number using more than two channels has grown from 15% in 2024 to over 25% in 2025. Considering that 10,000+ businesses send messages via our platform, an increase of 10% in one year is significant.
The industries most likely to use and strategically sync three or more channels are:
What channels are brands with high CX maturity in your industry using?
The differences in the popularity of a particular channel can be significant between regions, and even between countries in the same region. Savvy businesses will lean on the expertise of their local staff and their platform provider to ensure they are using the channels with the highest penetration in the region. This ensures the highest delivery rates and engagement for key messages.
Across almost all industries, the most used combination of channels is SMS + the most popular chat app in the region.
Looking to expand into new territories?
We can help with our in-depth global knowledge of channel usage and global network of partners. From Viber in the Philippines to Line in Japan, we can help you find the right channel mix for any market.
APAC channel penetration
Top channel combinations per industry
The only industry which bucks this trend is Travel and Hospitality where the most used channel combination is SMS and Email. This can be attributed to the requirement to attach travel documents like tickets and itineraries, which has traditionally been done via email, although chat apps and in app messaging are being used increasingly.
Brands rush to add RCS to their omnichannel arsenal
Although it hasn’t made it into any of the top three channel combinations, RCS has made huge ground in 2024. In every industry that we track, RCS is now in the top 10 list of omnichannel combinations, having been outside the list for every vertical in last year’s analysis. It is most popular in the Marketing & Advertising Services sector where SMS & RCS is the 4th most used channel combination.
Leveraging the strengths of both channels gives brands full coverage of transactional and promotional use cases.
- SMS for short-form text notifications
- RCS for rich media promotional messages, authentication, and two-way conversational support
Considering that in most markets, the majority of RCS messaging growth was in the final quarter of 2024 – we predict a real shake up to the omnichannel combination stats in next year’s report.
500% increase
Year on year in the use of RCS as part of an omnichannel messaging strategy.
This shows that many brands have gone beyond experimenting with RCS as an additional channel and have fully incorporated it into their communication strategies.
WhatsApp takes the lead
Overall, we have seen a 30% increase in the number of brands orchestrating conversational marketing interactions with their customers on our platform.
Their channel of choice? WhatsApp! 2024 was a pivotal year for the app as with a 41% increase in traffic it leapfrogged SMS and Email to become the top channel for conversational marketing use cases.
This makes WhatsApp the top channel on our platform for Conversational marketing, Conversational AI, and Conversational support.
Club Med: Discovering the full value that WhatsApp offers for tailoring luxury travel
The French luxury travel brand Club Med has discovered the full value of WhatsApp for customer engagement. After experimenting with various promotional channels, Club Med found WhatsApp delivered significantly higher conversion rates. Through WhatsApp, potential travelers can directly connect with agents to answer questions about their dream vacations.
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