The last couple of years were not very smooth for any industry. Some were in the survival phase, and some had won in finding opportunities in any worst scenarios. But, the world has gotten used to these unexpected scenarios and is aware of being prepared for any pandemics and hurricanes at any time.
2022 has gone through the continuation of the changes which commenced at the beginning of the pandemic. The last 3 years have gone through a great transformation in the customer experience arena.
The acceleration of digitization is the major factor that changed the overall customer experience globally under the pressure of the pandemic and social distancing.
Without any doubt, we can say that digital transformation has brought numerous benefits to the overall customer experience; we can buy groceries online, even try a makeup product before buying with augmented reality, consult a doctor virtually, etc.
But this also generated a lack of human touch in some way or another in 2022.
Re-balance Between Human Touch and Operational Efficiency in 2023
Gen x, millennials, and gen z consumers like the convenience of experience with digitization, advanced operational efficiency, and high-end technology. And people prefer self service in many day-to-day functions. But sometimes, organizations fail to balance human connection and operational efficiency.
For example, a company has invested more in technology by implementing AI-integrated chatbots to reduce the response time, and they could achieve the target. But the customer felt they were not talking to a human, and often they got stuck with some unique issues and couldn’t connect to a human support agent immediately. This decreased the satisfaction level of customers drastically.
It has been a tough time for organizations and customers since companies couldn’t offer what their customers need, and customers did not get a worthy customer experience for the money they spent.
So, 2023 is a good start for companies and leaders to re-balance the human touch and operational efficiency.
In-person and online connections are different ways of doing business. But, customers should not feel so. If a customer needs to talk about their unique specification to a person and get a bespoke solution, he should feel he is talking to the ‘human’ customer service representative in person even though they connect online.
This means that even though there is a line between in-person and online customer experiences, customers should not feel the line between them.
How Will Customer Experience in 2023 be Challenging?
It may feel intimidating when you hear there are challenges in the upcoming year. But do not worry much if your team and leadership are strong and ready to take the right steps at the right time.
The main challenge the world is going to face is economic changes. The inflation and lay-offs will lead customers to tighten the strings of their wallets and will be very cautious about spending every penny.
Based on the overhiring and automation of many jobs in the last few years will lead many people to lose their jobs, and it will influence their shopping routine.
They won’t be willing to spend on an expensive product from their favorite brands or stores.
For example, a person who goes through an economic crisis won’t go to a luxurious clothing brand even though he always wears and feels comfortable in that brand. Instead, he would be looking for an alternative solution that would give the same look and comfort but be less expensive.
Since the economic crisis is uncontrollable to you, you can harness the things under your control to keep your customers happy and satisfied as always.
You should be adaptable and flexible to your changing customer preferences and be there for them no matter the worst situation the world is going through. If you do so, your customers will choose you repeatedly since they feel you can deliver what they want, satisfying all their change choices, not any other alternative.
To win the customers’ hearts in 2023, you need to consider 3 important factors.
- Win Customer Loyalty with Extreme Human Connection
- Get Connected with Customers by Constant Listening
- Learn the Emotions of Customers in Deep.
Let’s go through them individually.
1. Win Customer Loyalty with Extreme Human Connection
There are many digital channels where customers and a brand connect. But the main points that trigger a customer's behavior on staying connected or leaving a brand are the customer support centers.
That is where people ask for help, assistance, and presale and post-sale queries. But, as we discussed above, many companies are mistaken that the ways to improve customer experience through support centers are by reducing the waiting time of customers or automating problem-solving with high-end technologies.
Even though the response time influences the customer experience, that is not the major factor influencing a positive customer experience. People like helpful and empathetic agents more than an agent that gives a response within seconds.
There is no use in getting a quick response that is irrelevant, right?
Customers would go through many scenarios, and they can go through some unique issues even though you sell the same products to everyone. They would like to connect with a human to let their issues know and resolve them as soon as possible.
The agents should be empathetic to be aware of the scenario a customer goes through and how the customer’s situation can improve if they resolve the issue immediately.
For example, a customer aged 75+ purchased a vacuum cleaner from your company and called you when he had to go through a simple issue, which is hard to do quickly for a person his age. In such scenarios, the customer experience agent should not send the settings video link to the customer, as that is not the right way to give a solution in this context.
Instead, he should be patient and soft to make the customer understand the issues and how to resolve them step by step. If that also doesn’t help, you can promise him to send a technician to fix the issues on the very next day.
So, the front liners should be empathetic and contextual instead of just going through with a system or set of instructions.
Yet, people need automated experience as well as human connection. It depends upon the context. But, you need to understand where you need to be more human and more operational. Using customer insights will help to know different customer preferences for various activities.
For example, for transferring money to a friend, customers like to go with the automated option like the bank’s mobile app or other platforms like Google Pay. At the same time, people need human connection while applying for a loan in a bank.
It’s all about balancing between automated self service and human interaction. In today’s busy world, nobody can entirely depend on other humans since they don’t have much time to talk things with people and need automated quick solutions. At the same time, they sometimes need human assistance to feel valued and treated well and be patient with them according to their context.
5 Ways to Keep Balance Between Human and Digital Connections
- Foresee each customer’s requirement in advance with the help of customer insights to be prepared with the solution and how to provide the solutions per the context.
- Walk in customers’ shoes to know the pain points in their journey to build an empathetic relationship.
- Make them feel your digital version, which can be an app, website, or social presence, is the same authentic version of your brand.
- Let your existing customers know that you got their back at all points of their journey by sending follow-up messages and letting them know they are doing it correctly or incorrectly, and help them out immediately whenever required.
- Communication with customers can be informal to feel the human touch, but follow the societal norms and fundamental principles to keep it professional.
2. Get Connected with Customers by Constant Listening
As the economy goes down, the cost of living increases and the layoff in 2023 will definitely make customers think before spending on each and every brand. They will start spending as cheaply as possible, and the customers will switch from brand to brand these times.
So, the best way to seize the down market, higher customer retention rate, and let customers stick to you is to close all customer experience gaps and let them not think about switching to any other brand.
Active listening to customers and customer journey is necessary. People talk to a brand or talk about a brand online or offline as they need the brand to hear them and understand their issues.
When a customer raises a complaint, he hopes the brand will listen to his problem and get an immediate solution. If they feel they are never heard, it will be like talking to a wall, and they will leave quietly.
No customers would come and tell you that they will switch to your competitor or give a deadline to resolve their problem. They just leave. And the chances of this quiet leaving will be higher in the coming year as a commercial or a random google ad can change their mind instantly. So, the customer churn rate will be higher than ever.
We can say that digitization has uplifted the customer experience to the next level, and they continue to do that. But, the same digitization opened a straightforward way of churn.
They can simply swipe to switch to your competitor; an extra 10% offer on your competitors is enough for them to get what they want.
The best way to overcome these issues and anticipate an upcoming customer action is by active listening. Connecting with customers is important for that.
A study found that 64% of consumers want brands to be connected with them and know what they need. When brands connect to them and listen to their concerns and requirements even before a customer reports to them and resolves them as soon as possible, customers feel connected and comfortable with the brand. This connection leads customers to choose your brand irrespective of other economic factors.
So, close all customer experience gaps because customers will be in a state of zero tolerance for a poor customer experience, especially in crisis times.
Each customer might look for unique customer experiences according to their context and needs. So always ensure you offer a personalized customer experience to each of them and make them think that you are the only brand that can offer what they need.
Brands like Apple have succeeded in this. Because no matter what economic shrink happens, most Apple customers keep buying Apple products over and over even though there are a lot of cheaper options available in the market.
Getting closer to customers will also help you find what they miss and opportunities to give more customer attention to you. And many companies flourished in the rough times of the 2009 recession by understanding what customers were ‘missing.’
Netflix is one of the brands that thrived in the great recession of 2009 with a new streaming service to save themselves during the extinction time of the video rental service era.
If you get closer and listen to customers and their customer journey deeply through multiple channels, you will get to know them naturally and more deeply. This understanding will help you to save yourself from hard times.
3. Learn the Emotions of Customers in Deep
Understanding customers in depth will help to know their emotions and context and how you need to connect with them as per their situations.
38% of customers expect brands to know who they are and their current context and emotion when they connect with you.
To get a deeper understanding of customer emotions, you need to use all customer data, both structured and unstructured, qualitative and quantitative, and operational and functional data. This covers all customer reviews, feedback, social media communication, CRM tickets, etc.
With the help of a sophisticated and robust customer experience analytics tool, you can assemble all customer data into one place and derive actionable insights to make the right decisions. So, data and analytics are inevitable in the customer experience of 2023.
Another way of understanding customer emotions is through video conversations. When people talk face to face online or offline, it will help to better understand the context and situation they go through.
Connect with your customers through a video call and PPV live stream, and obtain video testimonials, interviews, and videos they posted about your products on social media to get a deeper idea of their emotions when using your products and services.
Get Ready for 2023!
Every new year brings new hope. Understand the customer experience trends and practices you followed that couldn’t give a positive and exceptional customer experience to customers and stop investing in them. Listen to them and their customer journey, and find new ways to connect with your customers by balancing the human and technology elements. Know their emotions and give what exactly each customer wants exclusively.
Read more: 10 New Year Resolutions to Improve Customer Experience in 2023