The volume of data is increasing exponentially, making it more difficult to make use of it all. But this ever-increasing abundance of information creates a huge opportunity for businesses to better understand their customers and build better products, services, and applications.
The number of available APIs is also increasing exponentially. This increase in available APIs enables developers to create new products and services that bring together data, content, and services from across an organization or external sources. These API integrations can help improve the customer experience.
Using APIs creates a seamless customer experience
APIs are the solution for connecting the dots between applications and information silos. If you're unfamiliar with APIs, they allow systems to exchange information in a standardized format.
Using APIs allows services to appear seamless even though they're provided by separate vendors. For example, an insurer can utilize a KYC solution, an eSignature tool and a document management system in their onboarding journey. All the information will be stored in one place and available. Using self-serve portals powered by API-enabled tools allows the customer to manage the entire onboarding process utilizing various tools and technologies in a seamless digital journey.
APIs help organizations ensure that a sequence of events or interactions with their business appear to be a single interaction. For example, an online retailer might use APIs in combination with server-to-server authentication to provide customers with an experience where they seem to bypass the shopping cart when they shop in multiple sessions.
By using API integrations to connect applications and data, companies can improve the customer experience.
To begin understanding how API integrations enable better customer experience workflows, let's look at an example of a digital insurance claim submission. A customer who wants to report an accident comes to the website and triggers the claim submission workflow. The system automatically pulls in relevant information from other systems that store policy, driver, and car data.
This allows for the seamless experience and data accuracy when submitting claims; capturing images or files (e.g., police report) is simplified through API integrations with document sharing platforms, and the system is able to quickly assess which party in the claim is at fault.
This automated workflow generates a number of benefits:
- Improves customer experience by allowing for faster processing times, resulting in faster payouts.
- Reduces costs by streamlining data entry and minimizing the time required to research information that is incomplete or inaccurate.
- Delivers a better customer experience by connecting the dots between systems and data to provide greater visibility into the entire claim lifecycle.
APIs reduce the need for duplication of information
APIs also help to reduce duplication of information. They can pull in related data from other systems within an organization and eliminate the need for a customer to enter it by hand. For example, credit card companies often allow customers to store billing and shipping addresses as part of their online account profile. Banks can use those addresses when you check your balance, make a transfer or view your account summary.
Customer-facing applications can also access APIs to pull in information from other systems. An API integration could pull in an address from a customer's online profile and automatically populate the billing address the next time they place an order. This reduces errors, saves time, and improves the overall customer experience.
APIs decrease the need for multiple handoffs across departments
When information is shared via APIs, it can reduce the number of times the customer has to interact with a business. This reduces errors and makes customer interactions more efficient through automation.
By pulling in data from other systems via APIs, businesses can access more complete and up-to-date customer information. For example, insurers can use APIs to seamlessly access a customer's most recent vehicle and driver information. This ensures that customers receive accurate quotes and better claim accuracy for their policies.
API integrations help to future-proof business processes
APIs help businesses keep pace with emerging technologies, such as wearables and connected devices. New use cases and scenarios will emerge as these devices become more prevalent. API integrations can be designed to handle specific data types while still maintaining the overall architecture, providing the ability to plug in new devices or applications as they come to market without having to change existing systems.
APIs enable organizations to quickly integrate new channels and expand into new markets. For example, a financial services organization can use APIs to improve the customer experience by rapidly integrating their mobile app with any third-party service they choose-allowing customers to manage accounts, make payments, or do other tasks in one place.
APIs make it easier for businesses to customize the customer experience
APIs enable organizations to deliver a more customized experience for their customers. For example, online retailers can use APIs to check what a customer has bought before. If this matches their past purchase history, the retailer can automatically suggest products related to these purchases. This boosts engagement by providing customers with recommendations based on their individual preferences.
Using APIs increases interoperability between systems and data
API integration allows businesses to pull in data from other systems, increasing the interoperability of these data. For example, an airline might use APIs to integrate key information about customers into their customer profiles, such as itineraries and reward points. This will allow more accurate reporting and improved customer service.
Using APIs helps businesses make better decisions
API integration allows organizations to pull data from other systems into their existing reporting tools. This makes it easier for managers to take the right business actions based on this information. For example, a hotel chain might use APIs to integrate orders made via its Facebook page into its existing reporting system. This means that managers can see how many customers made bookings from Facebook and how much revenue they brought in.
API governance and management
API integrations enable advanced customer workflows that increase efficiency, improve data accuracy, and provide customers with an enhanced experience.
When selecting a tool for your tech stack, you must consider its API accessibility.
- Can the application be fully integrated with other applications your business uses?
- Is there a documented process for developers to implement API integrations?
- Do they have experience working with APIs and understand how they work?
By answering these questions, companies can make sure their solution provides a unified view of customer data across systems. Integrating solutions provide the ability to provide information across business units with the goal of improving customer experience. By doing so, companies can improve operational efficiency in pursuit of delivering an exceptional customer experience.
The benefits are exponential
APIs are changing the way businesses interact with their customers. As more systems become interconnected with APIs, customer workflows will continue to evolve and reshape how businesses interact with their customers. The ability to collect data and use it in novel ways is key for businesses to be successful in the digital world.
A number of factors can help determine whether it makes sense for an organization to explore API integrations, including:
- The volume of data exchanged - The degree of integration required or desired
- The number of people using the systems
- The degree of automation required or desired
- Integration requirements (e.g., security, reliability, latency, etc.)
Digital journeys compose multiple touchpoints that often require integration between systems to deliver a smooth experience. APIs are the foundation for this interoperable data sharing. Organizations need to ensure their API integrations are robust and efficient, so they can help guide customers through their journeys.
EasySend makes it easy for businesses to develop engaging digital journeys with simple to integrate APIs, ensuring that customer data can be shared across systems so that you can easily track user engagement and measure performance.
EasySend's API integrations make data more available across applications and departments in an organization. This creates a cohesive customer experience in digital workflows, improves operational efficiency, reduces duplication, and decreases the need for multiple handoffs.
API integrated digital journeys boost time to market , reduce operating costs, and improve service. For example VGM, a North American insurer, were able to reach their 5 year digital transformation goals in only 3 months, in part thanks to the ease of integration with their internal systems.
APIs make data more available across applications and departments in an organization. This creates a cohesive customer experience in digital workflows, improves operational efficiency, reduces duplication, and decreases the need for multiple handoffs.
