Which CX Strategies should you explore?

Customers are no longer willing to accept inferior experiences. Studies show that 60% of customers would leave a company after just one bad experience. That’s a 22% increase from 2021, and while companies continue to look for ways to recover from the pandemic, it’s clear that customers are not willing to wait until their favorite brands meet their expectations.

If you still have not fully invested in the latest customer experience and service trends in 2022, you could risk losing your customers to more innovative brands.

Of course, you may not have the budget to research every new CX trend your team comes across. That’s why we have compiled this list of the top CX strategies you should be exploring right now.

1.    Proactive Customer Care

Some 54% of consumers say they feel that customer service is being pushed too far into the background at large companies. Their customers are tired of feeling like just another number when interacting with big brands. They want companies that understand their needs, their expectations, and their problems.

In fact, consumers are increasingly demanding brands that understand them well enough to anticipate impending problems and solve them before they become issues. According to McKinsey, customers today say they expect their favorite brands to anticipate their needs. In fact, 50% of customers say they would switch brands if a company’s service was not proactive.

One way to improve proactive customer service is to invest in real-time monitoring and analytics tools, combined with automated solutions that can automatically fix issues before they impact the end customer. For example, you can track issues with a network and switch customers to a failover strategy when something threatens to go wrong with their service.

Analytics and monitoring tools can also help you gather large amounts of information and data to feed predictive analytics tools and bots. AI can help you identify patterns in customer demand and need that you might not be able to see yourself.

2.    The Demand for Customer Intelligence

Customers today expect much more from customer service than they did a few years ago. For example, today’s consumers are tired of repeating themselves, and they hate calling companies when they could just send a message instead. About 93% of consumers say they are willing to spend more money with companies that do not ask them to repeat themselves.

In addition, your customers not only want you to be active at every touchpoint, but they also want you to provide a seamless experience from one environment to the next. Some 73% of customers today want to be able to start a conversation on one channel and continue it on another without having to restart the inquiry. A fast and consistent experience is clearly a top priority for customers.

However, customers also do not want to compromise on personalized, empathetic experiences when they interact with brands. Your customers want personalized conversations with agents who have access to the right data. Implementing the right technology ensures you can take advantage of the right opportunities, enriched by customer intelligence.

For example, an omnichannel contact center as a service solution allows agents to track important customer information from one channel to the next, so they never lose sight of context. The same tools can give agents access to the information they need about services and products, so they appear more knowledgeable.

3.    Automation is Everywhere

Automation is no longer just the “next best solution” for digital transformation, but a critical component to being competitive in today’s CX environment. It has become an indispensable component in virtually every aspect of customer service. Business leaders are using automated systems to track down potential issues with services and products so they can offer quick solutions.

Brands are turning to automation solutions in the form of IVR tools and intelligent routing systems to ensure that customers either reach the right service agent on the first try or have the tools they need to resolve issues on their own. As chatbots and virtual agents become more advanced and intelligent, consumers are also more willing to include them in their technology offerings.

For the modern customer, automation no longer has to mean dealing with clunky bots that do not understand natural language. Instead, the right tools can provide faster and more efficient ways to do business with a company. According to G2, the Intelligent Virtual Assistant category alone for rated software solutions saw an 850% increase in traffic in 2021.

When incorporating automation into your CX strategy, take the time to find the right partner for you. It’s important to strike a balance between using automation solutions to simplify your customers’ lives and removing too many “human” elements from the conversation with your audience.

4.    Companies Balance Personalization and Privacy

Finding the right balance between personalization and privacy will be an important trend in the CX landscape in a post-pandemic world. As mentioned earlier, consumers increasingly demand empathetic and personalized experiences from the brands they do business with. In addition, companies have more access to AI and Big Data analytics tools that help them predict and respond to customer needs.

While your customers want you to understand them and provide them with appropriate services, they also do not want to feel like their data is being spied on. Therefore, it’s essential that you follow proper privacy policies.

Automation solutions can be an effective way to stay ahead of the curve when balancing data privacy and personalized customer experiences. For example, an automated workflow can ensure that your system automatically obtains permission to collect customer data before proceeding with a customer service interaction. The same solution can determine where information is stored and which personally identifiable details should be automatically removed or deleted.
When evaluating a CX solution, companies must review the security protocols, certifications, and privacy standards of the technology they plan to use.

5.    Customer Expectations Continue to Accelerate

Companies hoping the pandemic has only caused a temporary spike in demand for excellent customer experiences are out of luck. According to McKinsey, the pandemic has put consumers and businesses about five years ahead in adopting technologies and new strategies.

As a result, consumers expect their favorite brands to invest in the latest technologies to stay ahead of the curve. Whether it’s AI translation tools that help your employees communicate more effectively with consumers from abroad or automation strategies that help you stay ahead of complex technical problems, your customers expect you to be agile. If you are not ready to embrace new customer service ideas and solutions as they emerge, you could lose your customers to brands that are changing more.

As customer expectations continue to evolve, the companies that succeed will be those that cater to the unique needs of their customers. If you are able to assess the needs of your target audience using competitive and sentiment analysis, you can make the right decisions about how to grow and improve your business.

It’s Time to Upgrade your CX

Now more than ever, companies need to make sure they make CX a priority if they want to stay ahead of the curve with their customers. Your customers are less forgiving and more demanding than ever, and they have countless competitors to turn to if you do not meet their expectations.

Making sure you have what it takes to serve your customers with unforgettable, digitally transformed CX solutions can help you maintain a consistently profitable business.

If you are ready to take your CX strategy to the next level, contact Bulb Technologies today. We will help you figure out which CX trends you should be taking advantage of.