6 CX Essentials for 2023
Published in Brandberries
There’s crystal ball gazing and then there’s shifts in an existing way of doing things. Often, giving more attention to ‘what’s new’ when it comes to trends, results in ignoring a shift in pattern within existing parameters.
Customer Experience is the overall impression that a customer has of a company or product based on their interactions with it. It includes everything from the initial contact with the company to post-purchase follow-up and support.
The fundamental point that is unchanged about Customer Experience is that customers are ‘divinely discontent’, as Jeff Bezos said. The more a brand meets customer needs, the more customers have higher expectations.
Brands must continually do better to meet these expectations. Customers are empowered through so many channels, and with so much information, that brands need to keep up. Customer Experience transformation occurs because the customer is ahead of brands and brands are always trying to catch up to them.
What are some of the trends in Customer Experience for 2023 and beyond?
Immersive Experiences
Automation/ Self Service
Remaining Human, Listening Better
AI Generated Content
First Party Data
Commerce
1. Immersive Experiences
Whether we talk about Web3, the Metaverse or our current web, consumers today discover brands through video and visuals in a very different way compared to text search. Tapping into this intuitive way of experiencing a brand is not new, but virtual experiences have moved beyond fashion and make-up to many other categories. Take for example, Ikea’s sleepover event that went global, including Dubai, and North Face’s coldest pop-up store in China. Immersive experiences, whether phygital, or digital, are here to stay and we will see more of this as commerce continues to become experiential, rather than transactional, and digital avatars become reality.
2. Automation/Self Service
Enabling customers to complete a purchase experience through automation and self-service is something that gained traction in the pandemic and continues to be important as it provides convenience. In a physical store, it is a cashier-less or check-out free store, and online, it is the convenience of filling a cart through recurring subscriptions and auto-debits.
3. Remaining Human, Listening Better
Empathy is key and has an impact on customer spends. Tools and automation aside, customers need to feel heard. The rush to chatbots for customer service will be tempered by the understanding that bots need to be trained, but not at the expense of annoying the customer. Within MENA, brands need to understand where bots can deliver efficiency, vs where real human interaction has a positive impact on loyalty. Tied to this is the act of listening better, gathering more feedback through deeper methods than quick survey ratings.
4. AI Generated Content
We are still learning what AI can do in the areas of content. Open AI’s ChatGPT, Dalle E 2 and Lensa’s avatars that have taken social media by storm. There is potential in using technology for creative and content, the right way. I can easily imagine visuals being created through text to image generation models. However, there is the controversial issue of AI being trained on work by real artists who did not consent to their art being used this way. Brands will need to be careful about how they leverage such AI platforms, without infringing on artists’ works.
5. First Party Data
With the concerns surrounding data privacy, shifts in attribution measurement and upcoming limitations in third party data tracking, brands understand that 1P data is crucial and will continue to work towards this. It is not only the case for the more obvious categories such as banking, hospitality, digital first companies, but also CPG which has a tougher time acquiring 1P data. This data can then be used to build a more unified customer view and enable better personalisation.
6. Commerce
Commerce takes many forms now. Traditional, online, social, conversational, native, community, live – providing a homogenous experience as consumers move from one channel to another is paramount. Globally, 73% of buyers report using multiple channels during their shopping process. This should not be dramatically different for our region. Headless commerce allows for more customisation based on the channel and we will continue to see more adoption of it.
Warren Buffet said, “Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.” On that note, I hope that these CX Essentials are of some value to readers.