To define customer experience, it is the sum of all interactions a customer and a company share throughout their working relationship. There lots of opportunities to wow the customer, and there are just as many to disappoint them.
Customers have become more demanding. Even after 2020, where the world changed and more transactions were completed online, customers continue to want and need support. Without technology, some businesses will not be able to support their customer base, which means unhappy customer experiences and therefore customers taking their business to a competitor.
Customers expect things immediately. Just consider Amazon One-Click – wouldn’t all businesses want to be like that, to offer that kind of service and experience? Admittedly, this is an extreme example of a business that has got it right but at the same time, focusing on the customer and using technology to enhance your service proposition can only be a good thing, so ask yourself these questions:
- How available are you? Customers are global; 9-5 has been extended out to mean 24 hours. If you are not available between 5pm and 9am the next day, your business will be lost. Decision trees/chatbots will be your best friends.
- How do you gather feedback and what do you do with it? There are many tools that can offer end to end analytics, giving you the opportunity to track your buyer’s behaviour. You could also create and distribute pulse surveys as opposed to an old-fashioned DM survey by having a popup on your website asking “How are we doing?”
- How self-reliant is your website? Customers who can navigate your website, find what they are looking for with minimal intuition and zero help creates a great customer experience. It also helps loyalty and builds credibility.
- What is your AI strategy? AI helps humans provide answers to customers quickly, which improves satisfaction, eventually.
- Have you considered VR? This is a bit left-field, but if your product or service aligns itself with an immersive experience, then why not? Customers love this way of trialing a product and it helps put them in a mindful state that they are only going to achieve by purchasing your product – Guinness and Tesco did it incredibly effectively and there are no reasons why other businesses cannot follow suit.
Companies have to use technology to improve customer experience in today’s buying climate. Where you spot opportunities for automation, scalability, and efficiency; leverage technology. Can technology replace humans? No. You have to use technology and humans as a hybrid approach. Get this right, and your customers will keep returning.