In this post we reflect what are and could be the best Customer Experience Trends in 2022 and beyond. We bring relevant Videos together to understand these trends.
What defines a Customer Experience?
Customer Experience is a sum total of Cognitive, Sensory, and Behavioural customer responses during all stages of the customer journey starting from Pre Sales, Purchase, to Post Sales stages. It is greatly influenced by the Marketing Initiatives taken by the Company. Customer Engagement is key to Positive Customer Experience. An Engaged Customer will make a purchase at some point based on the input data. This input data is received during Customer Experience Stage and greatly influences the Customer Choice in making the purchase decision.
Lets additionally understand Customer Experience from the below video
What Trends will continue to Shape Customer Experience this year and beyond?
1. Artificial Intelligence
AI would continue to define and shape the role of IOT, Automation and Robotics in streamlining customer Experience. Let’s understand how LEVI STRAUSS is using AI to enhance Customer Experience (in the below video)
How AMAZON is using AI to shape Customer Experiences.
2. Increased Personalisation with Rewards for the Loyal Customers
More and more Customers would seek personal responses to their purchasing behaviour not only in terms of customer support but also based on their loyal shopping behaviour. They expect to be rewarded. Businesses that understand this and reward Customers with Personalised offers for being the biggest brand ambassadors will win.
Lets understand in this video how Personalisation is shaping and changing Customer Experience
3. Metaverse Commerce – Role of Digital Avatars would become cornerstone of Customer Experience. And as Digital Social Interactions multiply, so would its increasing Commerce Potential
H&M started offering its customers a 3D shopping experience in its virtual store in Metaverse. Customers are able to walk around the store, shop the product in a 3D digital world just as in the physical world. Payments are made through CEEK (Mobile App), but customers also have the opportunity to order these garments from H&M physical stores later in CEEK currency. The Video describes this experience.
4. Offering Empathy led Connected Customer Experiences
Your Brand is defined by how Customers react to you, feelings they express and nature of their interaction. Technology Centric Humane Customer Experiences at multiple levels can offer that 360 Degree Empathetic Customer Experience which makes Customer feel cared for.
5. Seamless OmniChannel Customer Communication
Seamless Omnichannel Customer Communication is a strategy by which Company delivers consistent experience across any Consumer Touchpoint across any channel online or offline. Consistency in delivering Customer Experience across Website, Mobile App, Social media, Messaging Apps like- WHATSAPP or Snapchat, kiosks or physical stores from engagement to conversion and anywhere in between can greatly enhance customer service experience. Seamless Omnichannel Customer Communication helps in achieving the following:
- Provided Seamless unified Customer Experience across all channels
- Unification of Customer Data to get valuable customer insights.
- Unified Data helps in mapping Customer Journey and develop effective Customer Strategy
- Better Insights help in understanding Customer Purchase behaviour and delivering Personalised Customer Service
- It helps in significant cost reduction, as well as in saving time to address customer concerns and queries.
6. Bullish Digital Product Focus for MINIMAL Digital Hassles.
COVID has changed the way Customers shop. There was a major shift towards Online Shopping. Having Zero Digital Inconvenience would be the top priority for all the Digital Players this year and beyond. There are lot of factors that create obstacles in digital customer’s focus or attention span. This subsequently affects Shopping Card Abandonment Rates. Some of these are as below:
- Difficult UX Experience
- Unnecessary Popups
- Slow page load times
- Lack of uniformity, order and organised layout
- Difficulty in finding important information
- Lack of Effective Real Time Customer Support
- Confusing details due to multiple links on Website
Addressing these factors to create ZERO HASSLE online experience is one of the latest trends shaping Customer Experiences.
7. Understanding Dynamic Customer Needs and Changing Habits
Today’s customer is spoilt for choice, and is exposed to number of options and alternatives for his most needs. Also due to increased penetration of technology in day to day life, the consumer has rapidly undergone a great transformation. His needs are dynamically changing due to ever changing business and technology landscape.
Consider the Starbucks Example, how it has understood Customer needs.
To keep a customer loyal, it involves adapting to the Changing Needs of the Customer whether its a nature of service or product or customer support. Everything needs to be revamped to remain relevant to the customer. Perhaps some ways of doing it, is using customer analytics and data backed strategy. This helps in understanding the consumer perception of the brand and product or service offerings. The Analytics and Insights can pave way for subsequent course correction.
8. Reducing the Customer Stress by adopting new customer friendly measures and strategies
Customer Friendliness is the corner stone of any successful customer oriented business. If you walk in to a retail store to make a complaint about a product you bought recently and are greeted by Unfriendly Staff who is not bothered to address your concerns, it can be a great turn off and piss off the customer.
This can lead to negative customer experience and can lead to either Customer Loss or Bad Reviews online. Negative Word of Mouth can be a deal breaker in the new age of Digital Media. So make sure you have this ground covered where you have taken steps to train the Staff in dealing with Customers by adopting Customer Friendly Measures and People Centric Policies.
9. Ensuring Transparency with strong focus on Ethics
Nothing can be more annoying to any customer when he doesn’t know what he is paying for. Any misleading content or information regarding product or service can lead to reputation loss with spread of word of mouth. Its more expensive to acquire a customer than to retain one.
So the focal point of any successful customer experience strategy has to revolve around Transparency and Ethics. Without these two, its very difficult to get loyal customer. This is not a one off strategic measure, but instead its a work in progress where the company has to strive to maintain Transparency at all levels and at all the times
