Gartner defines the CRM customer engagement center (CEC) as a cohesive set of software built around core case management tools, dedicated to providing customer service and support by engaging with customers, and intelligently orchestrating the processes, data, systems, and resources of an organization.
Conversational marketing is a customer-centric approach that leverages real-time, personalized interactions between companies and customers and mimics human dialogue for the vendor at scale. These technologies employ AI chatbots and automation to design session-based, cross-channel exchanges in the form of natural language dialogue, using a blend of text and audio. Unlike traditional marketing methods that often rely on one-way communication, conversational marketing employs session-based two-way dialogues which foster meaningful relationships and enhance the customer journey and experience. Conversations occur across various channels — primarily live chat, SMS, email and voice. Integrations across the revenue tech stack facilitate personalized interactions. Conversational marketing strategy is used by digital marketers as well as sales and customer service teams to improve engagement, increase conversion and increase seller capacity.
The social customer service market comprises applications that support social media as a component of an overall customer service strategy. Gartner classifies an application provider as a social customer service vendor if it supports customer service in one or two specific types of function: External communities: Often referred to as peer-to-peer communities, this software enables customers and partners to blog, post, rate products/services and construct ideas, as well as support peer interactions and offer incentives for loyalty. Social media engagement: Going beyond just monitoring social media for brand mentions, these applications are capable of responding to constituents on popular social networks and have case management.