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A complex economic scenario, with inflation and a rising dollar, could be an opportunity to invest in appropriate technologies and assertive strategies

With just a few days left until the end of 2024, most companies have already started planning for 2025, paying attention to market trends and developments for the coming year. In order to help business leaders in this process, Vivian Jones, Vice President of LATAM at Twilio, provides some analysis on the current scenario, along with recommendations for investing in technologies such as AI, and strategies to guide companies' actions in order to overcome challenges, reduce costs, increase return on investment and optimize operations.

“It is important to start this planning process by observing the current market situation, paying attention to the main economic indexes presented for 2024 and forecast for the coming years”, explains the executive. The first data he points out is part of the study Global Macroeconomic Scenario and Brazil 2025, carried out by the Center for Intelligence in Medium-Sized Companies of the Dom Cabral Foundation (FDC). He points out that the growth of the Brazilian GDP has been more robust than expected, and growth is estimated at over 2.5% per year for 2024, with growth of over 2% for 2025.

“This is a positive figure, but it is important to draw a more detailed picture, since the Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates in order to deal with inflation targets,” says Jones. “Experts indicate that, due to the interest rate hike, growth based on consumption is expected to slow down next year, which will require companies to adopt new sales strategies if they want to maintain their loyal customers and maintain constant growth.”

According to the latest Focus report from the Central Bank, official inflation is expected to close 2024 at 4.64%, exceeding the target limit established by the CMN (National Monetary Council). The IPCA should reach 4.12% in 2025, which is a value that is above the previously projected value, and will continue to do so in 2026. The market raised the interest rate projection to 12% in 2025.

“In addition to the persistent inflation scenario, 2024 will end with the dollar above R$$6.00, which means an increase in several everyday consumer products,” says the executive. “With higher prices, consumers will be more cautious about spending, so winning new customers will be more challenging and keeping existing customers will be crucial. It is essential to think about how to engage in this scenario, or it could mean financial failure.”

Focus on customization 

For Jones, the core strategy is based on focusing on the segmentation, context and preferences of your audience. This will allow for greater personalization in the relationship, which guarantees a greater financial return. “Customers want a personalized, unique relationship, and to achieve this, you need to understand who you are talking to, in what context and what their preferences are, both in terms of products and services, as well as customer service and relationships with brands.”

Twilio’s Consumer Preferences report showed that 91% of consumers worldwide expect engagement through their preferred channels and are willing to spend 32% (a figure that reaches 45% in Latin America) more with brands that allow them to speak through these channels. “With this data, and thinking about segmentation, context and preferences, it is clear what needs to be done from now on,” explains Jones.

“Segmentation is a way of understanding which customer group a specific customer belongs to, ensuring that they are impacted not by general messages, but by something personalized to what interests them. In addition, it is necessary to consider the context in which they are inserted, be it geographic, economic or social. A brand that offers the right type of product to its right focus group converts more. Regarding preferences, it is simple: respect what your consumer wants. If they want to talk to you on WhatsApp, be there! If they want to talk to you by voice, be there!” explains the executive.

His proposal, therefore, is to be more efficient, directing resources and efforts to the appropriate places, optimizing operations and actions in marketing, sales, customer service, etc. The general idea is to retain more customers and gain new relationships by creating offers specifically targeted to individuals. “People don’t want to waste time and money with brands that don’t understand them or don’t deliver quality service. It’s a time of caution, so there’s no reason to focus on things that don’t speak to their desires, or on brands that don’t care about getting to know them.” To support this strategy, allowing it to be applied on a large scale, however, technology is needed.

Data and AI in personalization at scale 

Gartner has indicated that by 2026, 751% of companies will use artificial intelligence to create synthetic customer data, optimizing demand forecasts and inventory management. Twilio’s 2024 Customer Engagement Report showed that Brazilian companies are pioneers in the use of AI, with 861% of companies already using AI for personalized product and service recommendations.

“Today, AI is the most valuable tool for companies to deal with large volumes of customer data, data that companies often have had for years but are unable to use, unify, process and make useful for relationships, especially at scale,” says Jones.

For the executive, the key is to use AI-powered customer engagement and data platforms as tools to personalize at scale, ensuring unique conversations that value customers and, consequently, make them spend more with your brand and be more loyal to it. “In addition, it is always important not to stop investing in better data, as it enables better personalization. AI is enabling static data to become useful resources that generate returns.”

Furthermore, he points to efficiency gains, which reduce long-term costs and increase profits. “The adoption of AI allows companies to deal with data on a scale never seen before, as well as the automation of repetitive processes, ensuring a co-pilot that makes customer service and sales faster. This gives human agents or marketing and sales strategists time to deal with customers in a humanized way. Customer focus is the most important thing, and it is this that will enable us to navigate the challenges of this new year”, he concludes.

About Twilio  

Today's leading companies rely on Twilio's Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) to build direct, personalized relationships with their customers around the world. Twilio's core communication APIs allow businesses to engage with their customers through voice, conversations, messaging, video and email. Twilio Segment, the leading customer data platform, enables companies to create highly personalized interactions and automated customer profiles based on first-party data from multiple channels. Twilio enables companies to use communications and data to add intelligence to every step of the customer journey, from sales to marketing, growth, customer service and many other engagement use cases, in a flexible and programmatic way. In 180 countries, millions of developers and hundreds of thousands of businesses use Twilio to create magical experiences for their customers.

To learn more, visit https://www.twilio.com/pt-br/

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