Top Customer Experience Trends for 2021

Customer experience is a determining factor to stick out from the competition. In 2020, this aspect held true more than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies to cater to customer experience in a whole new aspect. Customer experience has become a top priority for businesses and more so in 2021. This is because customer experience has become the deciding factor for customers to choose whether they want to be associated or not. Customers stay loyal because they enjoy the experience.

As per Temkin Group, companies that earn $1 billion annually will earn an additional $700 million within 3 years of investing in customer experience. Investing in customer experience improves the company revenue to a great extent. As per PWC, 86 percent of buyers are ready to pay more for an exceptional customer experience. A walker study also found that customer experience will overtake product and price as the key brand differentiator.

What is Customer Experience?

Customer Experience is the way customers perceive their association with the company. These perceptions can be memories, feelings, behaviour, and more which drive their action. To deliver a great customer experience, it is necessary to invest in relationship marketing. With that, you will be able to deliver a personalized experience across the customer journey.

For 2021, the game-changer will be customer experience. Here are some trends that will shape customer experience in 2021.

AI to Improve CX

AI is transformative. AI is transforming the way businesses interact with customers. As per Microsoft, nearly 95 percent of customer interactions will be through AI by 2025. AI can improve communication and address customer queries. AI helps provide personalized services and products to individuals. Businesses need to offer an integrative experience to customers. Reducing waiting times, creating less roadblocks, improving communication should be the priority. Using AI to streamline tasks like-

• Regular updates of product or service
  Automating manual tasks
• Answering routing and other support
• Improving communication through chatbots, human agents
• Enhanced support with monitoring and suggestions

Omnichannel approach will be preferred

Customer experience is complex. More than 50 percent of channels use more than a single medium for customer experience. This shows how spread and diversified customers are with respect to spatial locations. Many customers have moved completely online and some still prefer the brick and mortar model. In this mix, it is necessary for companies to provide a seamless, omnichannel customer experience that will foster relationships and drive loyalty. Customers like to see consistent, similar messaging across different platforms. The experience has to be the same online as well as offline. A great example here is Ikea. Ikea has a heavy focus on customer experience. By investing in an omnichannel experience, PWC found that more than 80 percent of companies have won profits.

Benefits

• High business performance
• Real-time assistance with video and voice chat
• Get real-time insights across customer profile
• Improve availability across channels

Real-time Data Insights

Customer data has the power to drive business outcomes and ROI exponentially. With predictive analytics, companies will only increase their margins by huge numbers. Companies can collect data in all forms to create the right buyer personas and form business goals. Customer insights through data will help analyze customer behaviour, help in segmentation, set objectives, and more. With data, companies can improve the overall customer experience due to the availability of better information. Data is the new gold. With customer data, it is possible to understand their best information and requirements. This is what will set companies apart in 2021. Data can create a seamless experience across various channels. Meaningful data will ensure that customers get a real-time experience.

Benefits

• Maximises chances of conversion
• Improves scope for upgradation
• Simple usability for customers
• Reduces time to resolve queries

Contactless or Remote CX

With recent events in the global environment, customer service and experience needs to be optimized online. This has changed what customers expect from businesses and companies. Customer experience as a priority needs to be contactless. This will require businesses to shift their processes to suit the remote lifestyle. Companies can see it as cost-cutting. There is a need to streamline operations in that direction. As per Zendesk, 67 percent of companies prefer self-service over contacting a company agent or representative. Also, more than 90 percent of customers will choose an online knowledge base if it suits their needs.

Benefits

• Customer experience will be considered safe
• Makes customers feel satisfied
• Improves customer engagement and satisfaction

Personalization will be Key

In 2021, one trend will be more companies personalizing their customer experience. Businesses need to focus on providing a personalized experience to customers. Customers seek valuable content from companies without sharing personal information. Over 60 percent of customers want companies to send personalized discounts or offers based on previous purchases. Customers like feeling loved and listened to across their journey. Social media spaces like Twitter, Facebook can improve communication and help customize updates and promotions. Creating a personalized customer experience will make customers loyal to such brands. For B2B marketers, if customers do not like what they face on the field, chances of churning or changing are more.

Benefits

• Know the exact requirements of customers
• Learn about customer interests
• Engage with customers on a personal level
• Connect with customers deeply

Bottom Line: CX is the New Deciding Factor

Customer experience is basically standing out from the noise. Customer experience makes organizations win loyal customers. Customers are empowered than ever before. They are aware of how peers are treated in other companies. That will encourage them to make shifts in purchases based on customer experience.

Creating customer profiles will help offer personalized content and actions. It will help measure customer behaviour across multiple channels and touchpoints. Staying ahead of the curve with the trend in place will help customers stay committed to the brand.

In the long term, it is advisable for companies to shift to AI and technology which will improve the overall customer experience. If the experience the customer faces is pleasant, smooth, and constantly improving, the chances of driving brand loyalty are more. To give your customers the best experience, you need to know them well by improving their customer success levels.

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