Customer Experience has become important even more than product or price. And that is why companies are prioritizing CX.
It helps improve customer satisfaction and customer retention. If you too are wondering how you can work on your CX strategy, a good thing to do is look for emerging trends. That will help you get a clear idea of what is popular right now, and make better decisions.
To help you with that, we have shortlisted the top 7 trends that are likely to keep growing in 2023 and in years to come.
Following are the Customer Experience trends:
- The Rise of Chatbots
- Unstoppable Growth of Omnichannel Shopping
- Personalization Is Showing No Signs of Slowing Down
- Internet of Things will Be The New Normal
- Voice Commerce to Enhance Customer Experience
- Video Content Redefining Customer Experience
- Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
1. The Rise of Chatbots
Customers want quick responses. You and your employees may not be able to answer every query. And that’s where virtual assistants are useful.
Chatbot technology is steadily growing. The chatbot market size is projected to grow from $2.6 billion in 2021 to $9.4 billion by 2024.
Your business can leverage chatbots to streamline the entire customer journey and improve their shopping experience.
Some common use cases of chatbots include – using AI to understand customer preferences and create highly personalized product recommendations.
Customer service chatbots are also a common use case. From providing relevant information to troubleshooting, AI chatbots for business help in quickly providing a response to customers.
Example: Clothing retail brand H&M developed a chatbot for the messaging platform Kik. The bot acts as a virtual stylist offering tailored outfit recommendations for users. The bot asks users to choose between two pictures that show different outfits. Once the user submits an answer, the bot builds a style persona for them.
Then the bot displays personalized outfits along with the price. The user can choose an outfit to either shop or save it. On clicking the shop button, they land on H&M’s website from where they can complete the purchase.
2. Unstoppable Growth of Omnichannel Shopping
Another trend in customer experience is omnichannel retail. Customers want to interact with brands at multiple touchpoints. Failing to deliver a multi-channel experience can put businesses far behind their competitors.
‘Omnichannel is a lead nurturing and user engagement approach in which a company gives access to their products, offers, and support services to customers or prospects on all channels, platforms, and devices.’ – Hubspot
To start with an omnichannel strategy, consider providing consistent communication across different channels.
3. Personalization Is Showing No Signs of Slowing Down
Customers have started expecting personalization more than ever. They expect customers to deliver products tailored to their preferences. Some of them are even willing to pay more for products that are unique as per their demand.
One way to meet customer expectations is to give them the power to customize your offerings. Using a Product Designer tool, they can customize products like apparel, accessories, gifts, cards, etc. with clipart, artwork, colors, etc.
The tool is easily integrable with any eCommerce platform. For instance, if you have a Magento store, you can integrate a Magento Product Designer Tool and quickly start selling customized products in your store.
Customization offers various benefits including customer engagement, customer satisfaction, and loyalty, brand awareness, and boosts sales.
4. Internet of Things will Be The New Normal
After years of hype, the Internet of Things is gaining momentum. IoT solutions have the potential to generate $4-11 Trillion in economic value by 2025. Additionally, 83% of organizations have improved their efficiency by introducing IoT technology.
Internet of Things is among the top emerging technologies that will have a huge impact on customer experience. Other than that, the Internet of Things helps maximize efficiency, improve productivity, and decrease costs.
One important use case for IoT is personalized communication. Internet of Things can generate important data for your business. You can use this data to personalize communication with your customers and improve their satisfaction.
An example of IoT in eCommerce is IoT-enabled yoga pants by ‘Like a Glove’. They have yoga pants fitted with sensors that measure a customer’s body shape. The measurements are sent via Bluetooth to the company’s mobile app. A customer gets a list of recommended products that best fit their measurement.
5. Voice Commerce to Enhance Customer Experience
Businesses are beginning to understand the potential of voice commerce to improve customer engagement and experience. That is because more end-users have started taking advantage of voice-driven services.
They are using voice to perform search engine queries, find products, reorder, make a purchase, track a package, and more.
Today voice shopping accounts for $2 Billion in consumer spending. Voice is expected to be a $40 billion channel by 2022.
What makes voice commerce so powerful is ease and convenience. They can quickly browse your products, get information, get relevant suggestions, etc. That way hassle-free voice shopping is ushering in a new way of online commerce.
6. Video Content Redefining Customer Experience
Video is greatly popular. It is a powerful tool to help businesses focus on customer connection and retention. And it shouldn’t be surprising to know that 82% of web traffic comes from video.
Brands have always used video to engage and inform but using video for CX may seem unrealistic. Here are a few ways you can use video to improve customer experience.
One is incorporating video on your website. It plays a pre-sale role to help visitors understand your products or services in depth. You can even use videos in your FAQs to answer common customer queries.
7. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
AR and VR are transforming the way businesses interact with customers. AR is an interactive version of the real world achieved by using digital visual elements, sounds, or other sensory stimuli. On the other hand, VR is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment that one can explore in 360 degrees.
These two technologies are no longer limited to Sci-Fi movies. They play a huge role in delivering a seamless shopping experience. The well-known application of AR VR in eCommerce is virtual try-on solutions that help customers make better purchase decisions.
Customer Experience is the New Battlefield, Are You Ready to Win the Game?
Customer experience has become a major concern for business owners. More and more customers are proactively investing in customer experience. According to Super Office, more than two-thirds of companies now compete primarily on the basis of CX. We hope that understanding the latest trends will help you make an informed decision on the aspects that you want to focus on.
