The customer today has become more aware of the advent of digitalization, the growing use of AI & technology, and easily available knowledge. This has made the customer experience journey even more interesting & challenging for the brands. The firms in business these days understand that customers have higher expectations for a customized, individualized experience across all of the company's channels, as well as 24/7 customer service. Customers additionally hope that businesses will enable them to control their own story throughout the buying process. As we progress ahead in 2023, we felt like sharing a quick analysis of the latest trends in Customer Experience that brands should keep in mind while devising their market-winning strategies.
Agent Experience Gets Priority
Agent experience can refer to any aspects of a support agent's engagement with a company, including the tools. The link between agents and CX has become crucial because agents are the voice of the brand for customers & can be the voice of customers for the brand. Focusing on Agent Experience helps brands to ensure that customers have a positive experience when interacting with agents across all touchpoints. Furthermore, brands should also prioritize taking customers’ feedback from agents to understand their perspective on products & services. Since agents are the first point of contact with the customers, their insights about customers can be helpful in improving CX for the better.
For instance, in large-scale companies, with multiple business lines, it becomes extremely challenging for the top management to connect with customers. Understanding & analyzing agent feedback for products & services can sort out a lot of things like what feature or process bothers customers the most, what needs to be improved & what can the brand let go of. Top management must listen to the voice of customers, & in addition to communicating with the agents, brands can also choose to get real-time analysis through tools like QAViews. Where they don't have to do multiple login processes, with just a single click & they can directly listen to the conversation between agents and customers saving their time & effort even more.
An agent can easily communicate the cumulative voice of customers, and by analyzing their calls & feedback, firms can rectify the issues faster without having to go through rigorous customer data.
Digital Trust Critical to Customer Loyalty
Digital customer experience has gained popularity as it is an effective way to improve customer retention and engagement, as well as increase conversion rates. It is critical for businesses of all sizes, as it helps to drive repeat business and increase customer loyalty. Digital CX focuses on creating a positive experience for customers using digital channels, such as e-mail, social media, and online chat. It is designed to provide customers with a better overall experience, from the moment they contact customer support to the resolution of their issue.
Various digital tools have further made it easy for brands to facilitate a superior customer experience. As per a report, brands using effective DCX tools are nearly 4x more successful in providing customization to customers. Not only the e-commerce brands, but a local retail outlet also benefits equally once it goes digital.
With an increasing reliance on digital platforms, brands must focus on effective data security practices. How you ensure your customers that whatever data they’ll share stays safe, is crucial. From well-written privacy policies, and disclaimers to pop-ups that communicate the same- everything adds up to customer loyalty. Customer data is a goldmine, and customer trust via data security is the key to that.
Voice Note & Chat Popularity
To tell you
some statistics, 27% of the global online population uses voice search on their
mobile devices & 72% of people report using voice search through their digital
assistant.
Consumers are
utilizing voice technology with the numerous applications on their smartphones
without having to unlock their devices. They have those voice relationships synchronize
across every smart device they own, including their cars and TVs, as they
choose a voice to communicate with their favorite businesses.
The accessibility
of WhatsApp has made voice notes also popular owing to quick & easy
communication. In addition to voice search & chat, brands must work towards
providing effective CX solutions through voice notes. Various small-scale,
homegrown businesses are already catering to customers this way. Coming to
large corporates, whether they should hire an agent for this or let AI do the
magic, is food for thought, which brings us to another trend in voice search.
It is the increasing use of AI to power voice search algorithms.
By using AI
to generate results and enhance the accuracy of user searches automatically,
businesses can improve the speed and accuracy of their voice searches. This
trend has led to a rise in the use of voice search engines like Google Now and
Amazon Echo, which AI powers. For instance, Alexa updating customers with their
orders’ ETA and due bills is an experience that everyone seeks.
Other key
trends in voice search include the growing popularity of voice-enabled chatbots
and conversational interfaces. These bots allow customers to interact with
businesses through natural language questions and responses, which helps them
find information faster and makes it easier for them to complete
transactions.
Overall, developing a voice search, chat & notes strategy can help businesses optimize their efforts and improve their customer experience. By understanding these trends, businesses can identify areas to improve customer communication & use their tech, team & resources accordingly.
Click & Mortar for a better experience
The good old
brick & mortar is now more empowered with the click & mortar approach.
Seamless integration of physical stores and digital platforms is something that
brands must focus on.
Going to Phygital
(physical + digital) is important because it allows businesses to reach a wider
audience more effectively through platforms such as social media, online video,
and mobile applications. By using these platforms, businesses can identify and
target potential customers in a more personalized way, increasing the chances
that they will reach their desired target market.
This also
allows businesses to build relationships with their customers in a meaningful
way, creating trust and loyalty that can lead to increased sales and customer
engagement. By using these approaches, businesses can tap into the latent
demand for their products or services and create a more positive customer
experience. In addition, by understanding how people interact with their
products and services on a daily basis, businesses can make necessary updates
or modifications to their products or services without interrupting customer
flow.
In the retail
sector, various ration home-delivery brands have pioneered this space by
effectively connecting local kirana shops with customers digitally through
their quick and easy-to-use interface. A popular eyewear brand to offers an
integrated experience over its App and physical stores, customers can check the
product at a store, place an order & pay online. Tracking payments also becomes
easy with this integration. This is a trend that is here to stay because it
makes the entire experience transparent and convenient for both customers &
brands.
