In the current tech-driven and digitalised business era, the decades-old strategy to compete on price is no longer an effective way to succeed. Today, a state-of-the-art customer experience is becoming the priority of businesses and a leading way to outperform competitors. Businesses are laser-focused on customer experience because customers today prefer companies that empathise with them and focus on creating better overall customer experiences.
Gladly’s Customer Service Expectations Survey (2018) revealed that 68% of customers surveyed indicated that they are willing to “pay more” for a company’s product or service offerings if the company has a reputation for having “good customer service”.
Since CX is an invaluable strategy for businesses today, we discuss the key trends in CX:
Key Trends in CX
Omnichannel Customer Experience
Although an omnichannel customer experience is not a new phenomenon, it is no longer a choice, but rather a necessity to survive in the digital market. The purpose of an omnichannel CX is to connect a company with its customers seamlessly across a variety of channels, such as social media, messaging and email (Clark, 2022). This allows the customer to seamlessly switch from one platform to another without losing any progress made on the former channel (Genesys, n.d.).
Since customers today are regularly online, interacting with social media, emails, web content, applications and other digital platforms, an omnichannel customer experience is vital to provide the easy and frictionless experience that customers want today.
Personalized CX
Research by McKinsey reveals that rising customer expectations now include “personalised interactions” and 71% of customers expect a personalised experience from companies (Arora et al., 2021).
Employing personalised text messages and email “subject lines” are commonly used, but now businesses are looking to utilize the key selling moments wisely (Marr, 2021). When a customer is displaying online behaviour indicative of purchasing intent, businesses are aiming to grab those selling opportunities through “personalised offers” and interactions using artificial intelligence (AI) (Marr, 2021). Bhagat, Chauhan, and Bhagat (2022) state that AI-enabled customer experience tools enhance “consumers’ buying behaviour”.
AI has great potential in personalising customer experiences, as it has the ability to personalise a client’s journey at “every touch point” (Startek, 2022).
Human-Centred CX
Startek (2022) warns businesses to not ignore the importance of empathetic human interactions when dealing with customers. According to PwC (2018), 59% of customers feel that businesses do not fulfill the “human element” in CX, whereas 74% of non-U.S. customers preferred more human interactions in company’s future CX strategies.
Startek (2022) explains that companies should utilise technology for ceaseless service delivery for customers in a state of “low emotional need”, but for customers in a “high emotional need”, human intervention is necessary to build long-lasting relationships and ensure that the customer feels well-tended to.
VR and AR
The metaverse, enabled by Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), has the potential to develop “immersive connections” with customers (Startek, 2022). This allows customers to interact with businesses in “life-like virtual environments” (Startek, 2022). Startek (2022) explains that VR and AR has the potential to build long-lasting, personal relationships with customers that is more effective than conventional means of communication.
References:
Arora, N. et al. (2021) McKinsey & Company. McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-value-of-getting-personalization-right-or-wrong-is-multiplying.
Clark, B. (2022) Omnichannel Customer Experience: What is it and Why is it Important? Acquire. Available at: https://acquire.io/blog/omnichannel-customer-experience/
Genesys (n.d.) Omnichannel Customer Experience. Genesys. Available at: https://www.genesys.com/definitions/what-is-omnichannel-customer-experience
Gladly (2018) in Customer Service Expectations Survey. Gladly, pp. 4. Available at: https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2771217/Content/2018%20Customer%20Service%20Expectations%20Gladly.pdf
Marr, B. (2021) The 5 Biggest Customer Experience (CX) Trends In 2022. Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2021/11/17/the-5-biggest-customer-experience-cx-trends-in-2022/?sh=7f5d9e874cff.
PwC (2018) Experience is everything. Get it right., PwC. PwC. Available at: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/consumer-intelligence-series/future-of-customer-experience.html.
Startek (2022) Top 5 Customer Experience (CX) Trends in 2022, Startek. Startek. Available at: https://www.startek.com/news-insights/top-5-customer-experience-cx-trends-in-2022.
