As we enter the second quarter of 2020, we’re witnessing how top digital customer experience trends are playing out. It’s no secret that businesses are increasingly focused on how to deliver a quality customer experience. However, the ways in which businesses are choosing to deliver those experiences changes as rapidly as technology will allow.
We’ve worked with many diverse teams to successfully use and ensure they know what’s required from them to ensure retention and long-term success within your organization.
Book a demoCustomer data remains at the center of it all. Each of the top digital experience trends of 2020 point toward customer data as the cornerstone for strategic planning. The challenge most companies face is how to best deploy on these trends for maximum profitability. This article breaks down what the top trends are and how to integrate them into your business plan.
The digital customer experience is an essential part of personalizing your brand. In today’s tech-driven world, brands are primarily corresponding with customers via digital channels. The digital experience isn’t just about one product or platform - it’s about connecting everything together with the intention of creating a seamless customer journey.
Companies are realizing that centering business practices around digital customer experiences is what will allow them to dominate their market sector. Customers are more tech-savvy than ever before, and they expect great customer experiences. Companies that fall short of expectations will not last long. Thanks to social media, every single customer has a very public platform to voice their opinion on their unique brand experiences, and this can either work for or against you.
Companies aiming to take advantage of the top digital trends of 2020 require a Digital Experience Platform (DXP). Using a DXP allows companies to deliver a consistent experience across all channels and touchpoints, including web, mobile, social media, enterprise content, and more, while gathering actionable data and unique customer insights. This means customer information is centralized and the experience can be deployed from one place into several touchpoints, rather than being gathered and deployed from several sources that do not communicate with each other.
Companies using a DXP to track and manage the digital customer experience are able to effectively leverage customer data for various purposes. Marketing ROI increases because brands make smarter decisions about what audiences want and need. Customer service improves because you’re hyper-focused on the most effective ways to help your customers.
DXP also helps establish better internal systems, and therefore a stronger employee experience as well. Companies known to have a strong company culture tend to also have the best digital customer experiences. Engaged, happy employees directly translates to enthusiastic customers and an increase in revenue.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) used for digital customer experiences offers the ability to learn from customer data and then take action based on that data. AI quickly analyzes massive amounts of information to quickly develop unique and meaningful insights. AI deployed as part of a digital customer experience initiative will help brands respond to customer needs faster, in an intelligent and more personalized way.
AI combined with a DXP allows brands to gather and execute on customer insights at every touchpoint. This technology is becoming more sophisticated and will be increasingly employed by companies aiming to optimize their customer experiences. AI can help identify what your customer wants (or even what your customer needs, but may not realize it yet), and direct them to that very thing in an instant, whether it’s a product, service, or even simply just more support or information.
Optimizing for voice search is essential, as smart-speakers and mobile voice commands are becoming more prevalent. Brands that incorporate voice search into their digital customer experience will be well ahead of competitors not yet taking advantage of this modality. Customers want voice-assisted interactions and are frustrated when voice interactions provide little value, so it’s well worth it for brands to start perfecting this tool.
Integrating voice search with a DXP ensures your brand engages customers where they’re at, while collecting data on what they want and need. Voice search has become more sophisticated and granular in recent years, and developers are advancing voice search to align with various speech patterns, accents, different languages, and more. Together with a DXP, voice search will deliver massive amounts of actionable customer data.
Improving employee experience is something a lot of companies are talking about, but few understand what it means or how to build it. Studies show companies that invest in creating a cohesive culture tend to see a boost in productivity and employee engagement. A recent Gallup poll showed that 34% of employees claim they feel engaged in the workplace. So there is still a huge gap to fill. The same report says that companies with the highest rate of engaged employees show 21% higher profit than companies reporting that the majority of employees were not engaged.
When the internal world of a company is happy, it filters into everything the company is producing, and companies clearly see a huge benefit from that. Using a DXP helps organizations deliver communication tools to employees, which in turn makes it easier for employees to develop the kind of work relationships that make collaboration easier and more effective. With streamlined communication, teams have access to the information they need on various parts of the customer journey and no longer work in silos where information tends to be gated and inaccessible.
In our highly digitized world, brands are able to engage customers 24/7. While there are many platforms helping companies reach their ideal customer, the space is crowded and brand presence can easily sink to the bottom of a very large pond. Companies that rise to the top are finding that personalized marketing is the most effective way to become a “purple cow,” as famed marketer Seth Godin says. In other words, create something so wonderful that your ideal customer cannot help but pay attention.
Data is king in being able to personalize customer digital experiences. Gathering data on customers via your DXP allows you to track and target various market segments, learn from their behaviors, and understand how to meet them where they are. This can be anything from crafting the ideal message, to delivering a personalized experience.
This remains an incredible opportunity for companies to optimize digital customer experiences based on the top trends of 2020. The best place for an enterprise to start is with a powerful DXP.
Check out the Glossary to help you understand industry jargon and ideas
Learn more about how CentricMinds Intranet can help you unify all your work with everyone in one single place.
Watch videos or download whitepapers to learn more
