For a business to succeed in this age; it is vital, to create a customer-focused culture. That is a culture that centers on the customers. Also, adopting a customer-focused model is more sustainable than relying on a durable product.
It is so, because, the model will depend on the trends of the customers and move with the changes, in the same. The conversation of going through a customer experience transformation will begin in your boardroom. Technology also has a vital role to play in improving the customer experience for companies, almost like getting a high score demands you to buy phd online.
Google trends show a rise in the search intent for “customer-centric” plans by businesses. It has been so, for the last two years. As the market increases in competitiveness; so does it cause the need for a customer-focused approach to increase. Providing your customers with the proper experience will be better than product or price, for businesses, as predicted by Gartner.
We will now delve into the trends to watch out for or try out this year:
• Customer Feedback
It is common for companies to send their customers surveys on their products or services. However, the feedback received from the polls doesn’t provide the organizations with insights that are actionable. It then leads to the generation of numerous unused feedback.
There’s nothing more annoying to a customer than taking your time to raise awareness of a failure in a product or service, and nothing is done to make the situation better the next time. Many of us have had these encounters. A company may need only to collect data on the areas that they are ready to work on, to minimize these instances.
• Collaboration
To increase and maintain your current customer base, you need to drive the loyalty and respect of your customers. In that, customers appreciate when a company know them well and can make relevant suggestions to them. The same applies when sending marketing messages; customers want to receive the right message.
You have to treat the customer support that your business provides, as a team sport. That means relevant departments should work together to provide customer support with useful information. Use integrations to make your customer’s experience, effortless.
Companies are also making massive investments to improve their digital capabilities and skills. The next step is to build an experience that will bring together their digital channels, physical locations, and contact centers.
• The Role of the CEO
For a better customer experience, the CEO of a company should know what happens on the ground. You can do by getting involved in the feedback and listening mechanisms at your company. That is, to lead your company to achieve exponential growth and success financially, you need to be able to drive your team in providing a customer experience that is powerful.
The type of experience that your employees have will translate to you’re the experience of your customers. As the CEO, you are the one who will set the tone for the entire company. If you care about customer experience, and you should, you need to incorporate it into the culture of the organization.
Involve your staff in changing your corporate culture to customer-focused one, through training. And it applies to all employees and not just the ones who directly interact with customers.
• Voice Recognition
We expect more companies to focus on speech recognition for interfaces and insights. Tools for text analytics have become a staple. The next big hurdle for businesses is speech analytics.
There are various digital products that many customers are getting acquainted with, and especially ones that have a natural voice interface. They include Google Home, Amazon Echo, etc.
• AI and Bots
We cannot deny the disruptions that technology is causing in different fields, and so does it, in creating a customer-centric culture. For years now, AI and Bots have and will continue to be a topic of discussion. More so, since it is alluring to be able to reduce the resolution, and first response time.
The use of AI serves both the customer and support staff. In that AI handles fundamental questions that do not require human help. At the same time, a customer doesn’t have to wait longer for response to their query as the support agent goes through massive data, in search of the right answer.
AI provides support by assisting in providing real-time answers to a question by a client.
• Personalization
Time, the thing we need most and can’t seem to get enough of it. It is not pleasant to be served with content that is not relevant to you. The use of Augmented Reality makes it possible for companies to shape and personalize the experience of their customers.
It is about saving them their precious time. It calls for having an excellent understanding of the preferences of your customers, leveraging your customer data, and conversations to preempt the needs of your customers. You can tailor the experience of your customers using machine learning, too.
Lack of resources is what hinders many companies from making personalization a priority.
• The quest for Analytics Expertise
Businesses are looking for people who can make sense of the vast chunks of data available. As per the estimations, by 2020 we will be producing 44 zettabytes of data, daily. Artificial Intelligence is helping companies to identify relevant experiences and opportunities for customers.
Not to forget that many organizations are seeing the value of analytics, be it predictive, behavioral, or speech analytics. Decisioning helps in the creation of personalized customer experiences. They are also looking for people with expertise in analytics.
And we will see aggressive recruitment of analytic experts. In some cases companies will have to invest in retooling and retraining their internal employees, to fill this role.
Conclusion
To set yourself apart from your competition, you need to adopt and invest in customer-centric approaches. You may not see the growth instantly, but it is a long game. The tools, technology you invest in, together with the support you offer, is what will distinguish you from others.
It’s not too late to improve your programs. Start with the culture and don’t forget the vital role that technology plays in changing the experience of your customers.