Exploring the Future of Customer Experience
Businesses were established to offer solutions to people’s problems. With borders opening up trade and foreign policies becoming more conducive to upcoming businesses, goods and services could travel farther and cater to a wider audience base. Several decades post the advent of globalization and industrialization, industries have shifted their focus from just providing the solution, to incorporating other facets that are important to their consumers. These include delivering the service on time, ensuring the best condition of the item,and offering frequent discounts, among other things. There then came a time, when businesses started delivering and offering perks on the ordered product as an add-on, and further ahead to presenting surprise discounts even out of the purview of festivals and important dates.
Coupled with these key transformations, companies hired an able workforce and empowered them with the right skills needed to maintain a healthy and lasting relationship with their customers. With rating systems in place that gave the workforce the required incentive to boost customer satisfaction, companies made the successful shift from just offering competent goods and services, to providing customers with quality experience.
Apart from pursuing superlative consumer experience through accommodating critical changes in their business functioning, a key aspect involves the utilization of software as services like SAP’s flagship customer relationship management solution, SAP CX. The SAP Customer Experience portfolio covers every step in the process, from the first contact a customer has with a company through to when they choose to buy from it. SAP achieves this by integrating various solutions for marketing, sales, and customer relationship management.
The ideals of consumer experience are, undoubtedly, ever-evolving. However, the following are 5 key predictions that will decide the future of the idea.
- Empathy will emerge as a top CX metric:
The pandemic of 2020 has drastically impacted the functioning of almost every industry. With the home being an employee’s newest workplace, it became a norm to not just accommodate but also happily acknowledge the various glitches that come with it. An extension of the same, ideals of inclusivity, the importance of mental health, and shifting more businesses online to make it easily accessible to as many people as possible, empathy is now a key metric in business advancement.
“In an effort to measure empathy, many companies are adding empathy-specific questions to their post-call surveys. ‘Empathy training’ has also become a part of several business verticals," commented Steven Petruk, President, Global Outsourcing Division, CGS.
- Omnichannel approach (remote/online services) will become extremely popular:
A successful omnichannel CX seamlessly integrates online and offline communication channels to form a unified and unforgettable experience from the first to the last point of contact. With an increase in virtual support, consumers can be in constant touch with service providers of several industries, operating remotely and available online for help and aid!
- Personalized consumer strategy will be boosted with predictive analysis:
Consumers today, expect highly personalized, in-the-moment online experiences that provide them with real-time insights. Competent predictive analytics helps brands collect transactional, behavioural, and sensor data to form a customer ID that informs business goals as they move forward. This customer data is crucial to understanding what their CX does and does not get right.A source by McKinsey reveals that predictive analysis can help retailers increase their margins up to 60%.
- Customer service calls will be further personalized with AI like chatbots and Virtual Assistants:
Sales and CX teams across the globe are using services equipped with AI that will re-imaginecustomer experiences in their end-to-end journeys with the product. According to Microsoft, 95% of all interactions will be supported by AI technology, further giving incentive to companies to start incorporating the same in their dealings with their customers. Virtual Assistant and Chatbots provide 24X7 service, reducing pressure on consumer staff by providing low-level support for prolonged periods.
- With everyone upping their game, customer retention will get harder to achieve:
As more and more companies come up with innovative ways to ramp up their customer experience services, it will only get harder to survive the competition and retain their customers. Customer loyalty, thus, will get tougher to guarantee.
With businesses vouching to put customers and their experience first, even before their own profits, softwares like SAP CX will be in great demand. In a recent report, the Economist showed that 68% of companies are pursuing digital transformations that will enhance customer experience and business agility. In times like these, it is imperative for your business to stay abreast with the latest trends of the business world. With SAP experts with over a decade’s experience, Exalogic Consulting brings to you some of the most innovative ways you can transform your organisation’s functioning, and get started on your journey to ensuring top-notch Consumer Experience!
You can get in touch with us for your most convoluted queries on the subject. We look forward to hearing from you.
