Digital Trends to Influence Better Customer Experiences
Customer experience can be a difficult element of your business to measure, but it has a tremendous impact on your business as a whole. Be it customer loyalty, your brand reputation or improving conversion rates, customer experience plays a part in various aspects of your business.Staying mindful of the latest digital trends can help you adapt your strategy to meet customer demands and deliver the best experience possible.
Personalization should take center stage
Hyper-personalization and data-led products, services and offers will be the focus going forward. As Vonage points out, “customers expect companies to understand their unique tastes and preferences and engage them as individuals rather than customer types or segments. A personalized customer experience makes this possible by delivering tailored messaging, offers, and products to each person”.Customers want something unique, not mass produced, and that’s where the value of personalization and micro-moments comes in. Whether it’s information, an offer or discount, or a product selection, businesses need to carefully consider what they’re showing to each user and how they can improve to tailor it further. The key to personalization is giving customers choices, offering support to them at each stage of their journey and making better use of feedback.
Deliver seamless omnichannel experiences
Content is spread across a variety of channels now, from email and websites to social media, video content and communication apps. And, the businesses that will see success in the coming years are those who can deliver a seamless omnichannel experience for their customers.Integrating all communication channels and incorporating customer data enables businesses to deliver consistent experiences and allows customers to move between channels without any hassle. This can help to enhance customer loyalty, supports customers throughout their buying journey, and provides another opportunity for businesses to personalize the services they offer.
Get creative with storytelling and content
Standing out from the crowd online is harder than ever, and it’s a growing challenge for digital marketers. Brands need to find new ways of appealing to their audience and building loyalty, and the content they choose to put out is one of the most effective ways to do that. Rather than traditional advertising, digital marketing teams should now be focusing on building an emotional connection with customers.Storytelling is nothing new in the world of content marketing, but the ability to do it effectively and with purpose is tough. MPB recommends structuring your narrative to create meaningful content: “A story consists of many elements that come together to create a cohesive narrative. A good story usually involves people we can relate to. Guide your audience. Your subject needs a timeline, a sense of going from A to B. It’s all about sequences—a beginning, a middle and an end—a storyline based on the scene you’re capturing”.
Chatbots can provide convenience and speed
Over recent years, more companies have begun using chatbots to enhance customer support and make their experiences simpler. The pandemic has fueled this demand even further, prompting more customers to turn to the internet to resolve issues such as seeking information, making bookings or placing orders. With speed and convenience topping the list of priorities for customers, bots provide the answer.Chatbots are a solution to delivering 24/7 automated support to deliver instant responses regardless of time zones. 68% of customers enjoy using chatbots as they provide a quick solution to queries and customer service issues, and they can be tailored to resolve different problems that customers are continually facing, while freeing up employee time. While chatbots aren’t designed to replace human interactions, they are a valuable addition to online spaces to enhance support for customers and make certain tasks easier.
Emphasis on mobile remains
Over the past few years, businesses have adapted to prioritize the mobile experience. And, as more time passes, customers take to their phones to complete an increasing number of tasks, from shopping and working to researching or communicating. This upward trend means that businesses need to ensure the experiences they’re delivering on mobile exceed their customers’ expectations.Companies can no longer neglect mobile experiences. In particular, loading speeds and adaptive screen sizes need to be a focus to avoid abandonment rates rising and to retain customer loyalty.When creating any content, how it’s viewed and accessed via mobile should be considered to ensure a smooth user experience and the ability for customers to carry out any function they would on a desktop with ease from their smartphones. Without this, businesses will be at risk of falling behind their competitors and losing sales.
Focus on authenticity
Customers are increasingly looking to brands that are socially-conscious and align with their values. Whether it’s social justice issues or climate change, consumers are looking for ways to match up their social values with their shopping habits, even if that means paying a higher price for the items or services.For brands, this indicates that authenticity is what truly matters. In other words, businesses need to walk the walk when it comes to the claims they make about sustainability or social matters. Being able to trust a brand to do the right thing can massively influence customer loyalty and brand reputation. If you want to deliver a great customer experience, you need to have empathy for how they feel and what they’re trying to achieve. Understanding their motives and providing a genuine response or solution is critical when it comes to delivering the best experiences possible.What today’s digital trends all show is that customer experience is king and businesses looking to boost profits and expand their growth need to put the experience of their customers first. After even a single bad experience with a company, one in three would never use that brand again. For businesses, the pressure is on to make sure every step of their journey is faultless when it comes to customer experience.