Customer Experience – the topic that everyone likes to talk and yet many try to shy away from its implementation. One of the primary reasons is that its implementation leads to change in the organizations existing business process and product offering.
A customer’s decision to buy a particular brand is largely getting influenced by the online reviews and social media posts shared by friends and family. COVID19 pandemic impact worldwide has resulted in the creation of social commerce which blends e-commerce and social media for retail marketing. Social commerce is expected to grow by 31.9%[i] to reach $2.2 Trillion by the end of 2026.
The evolution of smartphone devices and social media has fundamentally changed how we interact with people. In turn, this is influencing our behavior, expectations, and experience of interacting with any product/service.
Understanding these behavior changes and adjusting your products/services experience is of utmost importance in today’s digital ecosystem. To remain competitive and relevant to your customers, incumbents need to analyze the complete customer journey to map the touchpoints with devices, applications, and people.
As we move into 2022, our world will be gradually opening from the shadow of the COVID19 pandemic. Here are five customer-experience trends which will continue to influence the customers.
1- Omni-channel Experience
Mobile devices, cloud platforms, and high-speed internet allow users to be online with any device, any place, and any time. Digital customers do not like to be restricted to the laptop or mobile phone interface. A customer would like to get acquainted with a brand on a social media platform via friends and family. A customer would like a self-service portal where they can get answers to FAQ, knowledge base, product information, and how-to videos. A customer would like to access YouTube for the DIY videos to solve any issues or get acquainted with the product feature. Customers like to have a frictionless experience whenever they are transitioning from one device to another.
According to the survey, 66% of customers use at least three communication channels to contact the business. 80% of the customers think that the brand needs to put more effort into creating a seamless experience.
The omni-channel experience continues to be a relevant customer-experience trend in 2022 also.
2- Self-Service Platform
Do you like to call #800 for technical support, order inquiry, or product information? Well, nobody likes to call and spend time talking to an agent.
Have you ever tried to find a call-center #800 number on Amazon.com or any FinTech site like Robinhood, Betterment, etc.? Try it. You will not find it. Does these companies, do not want to provide support to their customers? That is not true. Instead, they have built a very user-friendly self-service portal that helps the customer answer most of the questions online.
We are now in 2022, still many organizations do have a self-service portal for their customer.
Nuance Enterprise survey says that 75% of respondents said self-service is a convenient way to address customer issues. In the same survey, 67% of customers prefer a self-service platform over speaking to an agent.
Customer of today expects to get most of their questions answered online which is quick and frictionless.
3- Personalization
We all have come from the age of departmental stores, large outlet malls, newspaper and national TV broadcasting programs/messages for the masses, and pre-configured products/services. It does not offer any flexibility or customization to the customer’s needs.
The one-size-fits-all approach is not viable in today’s digital age.
Marketing and sales strategy like unique-selling points, discounts, free services, etc. is losing its relevance. Your competitors are also adapting to the same marketing and sales strategy.
Personalization helps in differentiating your product offering to the customer. A report by Epsilon research says 80% of the customer are more likely to make a purchase when a business provides a personalized experience.
Ever wonder, why does Starbucks note down the customer’s name for each order? Well, it always feels great when someone calls you by your name instead of a number. Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, etc. shows videos and programs based on the user’s experience. Amazon provides a similar personalization by recommending products.
Personalization continues to be the customer-experience trend that helps build brand creditability, increase loyalty, and help retain the customer.
4- Eco-friendly and Sustainable Product
Covid-19 pandemic has taught that nature cannot be taken for granted anymore. It has the power to wipe out our generation if we do not control our restlessness. It also showed us that nature has the power to revive itself when the world underwent a global shutdown. Customers and especially the younger generation pay more attention to Environmental issues, Sustainability, and a transparent Governance model (ESG).
Accordingly to PWC Consumer Intelligence report more than 80% of consumers around the world like to buy from a company that stand-up for ESG.
In 2022 and onward, we will see more and more customers associating with the brands which invest in ESG.
5- Cognifying Products/Services
A customer’s digital experience is not limited to the 2-dimensional screen of a monitor or mobile. Internet-of-Thing (IoT) devices, 5G internet, cloud platforms, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) are extending the boundaries of digital tools usage via touch, voice, and facial expressions to build more smart products.
Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired magazine phrased it as “cognifying” of products/services. We are seeing more and more electrical products like TV, thermostat, light switches, fridge, washing machines, garage door openers, drones, security cameras, etc. turned into IoT devices. We all have heard about autonomous cars.
We will continue to see the integration of digital technology into our everyday household products and the customer will continue to use these new digital gadgets.
Conclusion
As we move ahead into 2022, the pace of digitalization will be accelerating much faster. The disruption caused by COVID19 has made the business leaders acknowledge the digital transformation importance. Our customers and employees are living through this transformation. The younger generation is leading the digital technology adapting and they are the new consumers of tomorrow. Incumbents need to acknowledge the importance of digitalization and accept these customer-experience trends as the pathway to transform themselves. An organization might have to upgrade the skill set of the employees, hire new talent, and also cannibalize their existing product/services. Remember Microsoft had to cannibalize MS Office (purchased via license fees) for MS Office 365 (subscription services). We all are living in a digitally connected world and your customer might get influenced by any product/service and would expect a similar experience. The only thing matters now are that you are making the change to anticipate the customer expectations and provide a better user experience.
[i] Social Commerce – Global Market Trajectory & Analytics (researchandmarkets.com)