Support AI Skill

Customer Communication Preferences

Track, manage, and honor customer communication preferences across all support interactions including channel preference, language, tone, frequency, and contact timing. Use when setting up preference tracking, implementing preference-based personalization,...

Customer Communication Preferences & History

Track and respect individual customer communication preferences across all support touchpoints to improve satisfaction and reduce opt-outs.

Workflow

1. Preference Collection and Profile Management

  1. Preference data sources:
  1. Preference categories tracked:
   COMMUNICATION PREFERENCE TAXONOMY
   ===================================
   
   CHANNEL PREFERENCES:
     Primary contact method: Email / Chat / Phone / SMS / In-app / Social
     Secondary fallback: What channel to use if primary unavailable
     Channel restrictions: "No phone calls", "SMS only for urgent"
     
   TIMING PREFERENCES:
     Preferred contact hours: Start time - End time (local timezone)
     Do-not-contact windows: Specific hours/days to never contact
     Urgency override: Allow contact outside normal hours for P0/P1 issues
     
   CONTENT PREFERENCES:
     Response format: Detailed (step-by-step) vs Concise (bottom line first)
     Technical depth: Beginner-friendly vs Technical terminology acceptable
     Personalization level: First name, formal, or no personalization
     Attachment preferences: Inline images vs links vs text-only
     
   FREQUENCY PREFERENCES:
     Max messages per day: 1-5 from support
     Newsletter/subscriptions: What marketing emails they receive
     Digest preference: Individual notifications vs daily/weekly digest
     Follow-up cadence: How often for check-ins after resolution
     
   LANGUAGE AND LOCALE:
     Preferred language: English / Spanish / Japanese / etc.
     Formality level: Formal / Casual / Professional
     Regional conventions: Date format, currency, measurements
     
   RELATIONSHIP PREFERENCES:
     Dedicated agent: Prefer same agent each time (for VIPs)
     Executive contact: Direct line to account executive for strategic issues
     Notification level: Every update vs summary only vs only if action needed
  1. Profile creation and merging:

2. Preference Enforcement in Support Operations

  1. Agent workspace integration:
  1. Automated preference enforcement:
  1. Preference violation detection:

3. Communication History and Timeline

  1. Unified communication timeline:
  1. Interaction outcome tracking:
  1. Account-level communication summary:

4. Privacy, Compliance, and Opt-Out Management

  1. Regulatory compliance integration:
  1. Opt-out processing:
  1. Data retention and deletion:

Templates & Frameworks

Customer Communication Profile

CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION PROFILE — Acme Corp / John Smith
=========================================================

ACCOUNT INFO:
  Company: Acme Corp
  Contact: John Smith, VP Engineering
  Plan: Enterprise ($5,400 MRR)
  Tenure: 18 months
  Account health: Green (82/100)

COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES:
  Primary channel:     Email (explicit, set in profile)
  Fallback channel:    In-app messaging
  Do-not-use:          Phone calls (explicit: "Please no calls, I'm often in meetings")
  Contact hours:       8:00 AM - 6:00 PM EST (explicit)
  Urgency override:    Yes — allow for P0 system outages only
  Language:            English (US)
  Response style:      Concise, bottom-line first (behavior-confirmed)
  Technical depth:     High — comfortable with API references, code snippets
  Max messages/day:    3
  Digest preference:   Individual notifications (no digest)

PREFERENCE CONFIDENCE:
  Channel: HIGH (explicit profile setting)
  Hours: HIGH (explicit + behavior confirmed)
  Language: HIGH (explicit)
  Response style: MEDIUM (behavior-confirmed from 23 interactions)
  Technical depth: MEDIUM (behavior-confirmed from CSAT on detailed vs concise)
  Frequency cap: LOW (agent-set based on one conversation)

COMMUNICATION HISTORY (Last 90 Days):
  Total interactions: 14
  Channel breakdown:  Email 86% | Chat 7% | In-app 7%
  Average response time: 2.4 hours
  CSAT scores: 4.6/5.0 avg (range: 4.0 - 5.0)
  Escalations: 1 (billing dispute, resolved in 48 hours)
  Topics: API integration (5), Billing (3), Feature request (3), Account setup (2), Other (1)
  
  RECENT INTERACTIONS:
  2025-08-15 | Email | API rate limit issue | Resolved | CSAT: 5.0 | Agent: Maria S.
  2025-08-10 | Email | Invoice discrepancy | Resolved | CSAT: 4.0 | Agent: James K.
  2025-08-03 | Chat  | How to add team members | Resolved | CSAT: 5.0 | Agent: Priya R.
  2025-07-28 | Email | Webhook configuration | Resolved | CSAT: 4.5 | Agent: Maria S.
  2025-07-22 | Email | Feature request: bulk export | Logged | CSAT: N/A | Agent: Tom B.

PREFERENCE VIOLATIONS (Last 90 Days):
  2025-07-15: SMS sent at 8:45 PM EST (outside contact hours) — Agent override (P1 urgency)
  2025-06-28: Phone call attempted — Blocked by system, redirected to email

COMPLIANCE STATUS:
  GDPR consent: Active (last renewed 2025-03-15)
  TCPA consent: Active for SMS (consented 2024-09-01)
  CAN-SPAM: Active (subscribed to support emails)
  Opt-out status: None
  Data retention: Standard (7-year retention)
  Last preference review: 2025-07-01 (next review: 2025-10-01)

Preference Violation Report

COMMUNICATION PREFERENCE VIOLATION REPORT — August 2025
=========================================================

SUMMARY:
  Total violations detected: 23
  Hard blocks (message stopped): 8
  Soft warnings (agent override): 12
  Info notices (awareness only): 3

VIOLATION BREAKDOWN BY TYPE:
  Type                       | Count | Severity | Trend
  ---------------------------|-------|----------|------
  Wrong timezone send        | 7     | High     | ↓ 40%
  Frequency cap exceeded     | 5     | Medium   | → stable
  Wrong channel (phone DND)  | 4     | High     | ↓ 50%
  Outside contact hours      | 3     | Medium   | ↓ 25%
  Language mismatch          | 2     | Low      | → stable
  Marketing content to opted-out | 1 | Critical | New ⚠
  Wrong formality level      | 1     | Low      | → stable

AGENTS WITH MOST VIOLATIONS:
  Agent       | Violations | Primary Issue           | Coaching Needed?
  ----------- |------------|-------------------------|-----------------
  Tom B.      | 6          | Timezone sends          | Yes — training
  Sarah L.    | 5          | Channel preference      | Yes — awareness
  James K.    | 4          | Frequency caps          | Monitor
  Priya R.    | 3          | Contact hours           | No — all urgent
  Maria S.    | 2          | Language (Japanese)     | No — edge cases

VIOLATION IMPACT:
  Customer complaints about preferences: 3 (down from 8 in July)
  Opt-out requests citing preference violations: 1
  CSAT impact on violated interactions: 3.1/5.0 (vs 4.4/5.0 non-violated)
  Estimated revenue risk: $8,100 (1 enterprise customer threatened to downsize)

IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS:
  1. Launch timezone awareness training for Tom B. and 2 others — Week 2
  2. Add "channel preference" banner to top of ticket header — Week 3
  3. Implement hard block for phone calls to "no calls" customers — Week 1
  4. Weekly violation report shared with managers — Starting Week 2
  5. Preference violation coaching added to quarterly performance reviews — Q4

Preference Collection Survey

CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION PREFERENCE SURVEY
=========================================

Help us support you better. Please tell us how you prefer to communicate.

CHANNEL PREFERENCES:
  Primary contact method: [ ] Email [ ] Live Chat [ ] Phone [ ] SMS [ ] In-App
  If your preferred channel is unavailable, we can use: [Dropdown]
  Channels we should NEVER use to contact you: [ ] Phone [ ] SMS [ ] Social Media
  
TIMING:
  Best hours to reach you (your local time):
    Start: [Dropdown: 6 AM - 12 PM]  End: [Dropdown: 12 PM - 10 PM]
  Days to avoid: [ ] Weekends [ ] Holidays [ ] Specific days: _______
  
CONTENT PREFERENCES:
  When you have a support issue, you prefer:
    [ ] Quick resolution with minimal explanation
    [ ] Detailed step-by-step guidance
    [ ] Explanation of why something happened
    [ ] A callback or video walkthrough
  
  Technical detail level:
    [ ] Keep it simple, no technical terms
    [ ] Standard business language
    [ ] Technical details welcome (I understand APIs, code, etc.)
    
FREQUENCY:
  Maximum support messages per day: [1] [2] [3] [No limit]
  Would you prefer a daily digest of updates? [Yes] [No]
  
LANGUAGE:
  Preferred language: [Dropdown: English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Portuguese, Chinese]
  Formality: [Formal] [Professional] [Casual and friendly]
  
COMPLIANCE:
  [ ] I consent to receive support communications via my selected channels
  [ ] I consent to communication data being stored for preference management
  [ ] I understand I can update these preferences anytime via my account settings
  
All preferences can be updated at: [Link to self-service preference center]
Survey estimated completion time: 2 minutes

Integration Points

Edge Cases

Output

Preference Adherence Monthly Report

PREFERENCE ADHERENCE REPORT — August 2025
==========================================

OVERALL METRICS:
  Preference adherence rate: 96.2% (target: >95%) ✓
  Messages sent per preference: 10,480 of 10,900 (96.2%)
  Preference violations: 23 (0.21% of total interactions)
  Customer satisfaction with preferred communication: 4.6/5.0
  Customer satisfaction with non-preferred communication: 3.8/5.0

CHANNEL PREFERENCE ADHERENCE:
  Email preferred → Email sent: 98.7% ✓
  Chat preferred → Chat used: 97.2% ✓
  Phone restricted → No calls made: 100% ✓ (1 attempt blocked)
  SMS consented → SMS sent only to opted-in: 100% ✓

TIMING PREFERENCE ADHERENCE:
  Within contact hours: 94.8% ✓ (3 off-hours — all P0 overrides, logged)
  Timezone accurate: 98.2% ✓
  Holiday respected: 100% ✓

FREQUENCY CAP ADHERENCE:
  Daily cap respected: 96.4% (5 cases where urgent issues exceeded cap)
  Opt-out processing time: 4.2 hours avg (target: <24 hours) ✓
  Unsubscribe honored: 100% of 34 requests

IMPACT ANALYSIS:
  Customer opt-out rate: 0.8% (↓ from 1.5% before preference system)
  Repeat contact for same issue: 3.2% (↓ from 5.1%)
  CSAT improvement from preference adherence: +0.5 points
  Estimated revenue protected: $127,000 (from improved retention)

TOP PREFERENCE TRENDS:
  Email remains dominant: 72% of customers prefer email
  Chat growing: 15% (↑ 3% from last quarter)
  Phone declining: 8% (↓ 4% from last quarter)
  SMS: 5% (stable)
  In-app: 10% (↑ 5% — correlated with new in-app messaging feature)

RECOMMENDATIONS:
  1. Launch preference center self-service update (currently agent-only)
  2. Add preference prompt to ticket creation flow: "How would you like to be contacted?"
  3. Quarterly preference refresh survey for customers inactive 90+ days
  4. Integrate preference data into marketing platform for full-stack consistency