Digital customer experience has changed drastically ever since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in 2020. Everything had to be rethought. The pandemic also brought with it many new opportunities. It allowed us to think outside the box.
With countries going under lockdown, people had no option but to work from home and look for digital solutions to all their problems. This means that your customers relied on digital means for just about everything.
Only those companies survived that managed to provide a digital experience to their customers. With 2021 upon us, it is crucial that you learned more about the hottest digital customer experience trends.
Competition has never been this tough. According to Forrester, 25 percent of brands are predicted to make great strides in improving customer experience this year.
If you are just as excited as we are about what is to come, you need to read on. The following trends will be bringing significant change.
1. Habit Loops
Companies are extensively studying customer behavior. As we already know that our habits influence our behavior; habit loops are expected to be a huge thing in 2021. They will help the business keep its target audience engaged digitally.
Some of the biggest platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, have already been using habit loops for a long time. Now, brands have finally realized their potential. If you do not know what a habit loop is, it is a neurological loop that forms a habit.
The three elements of a habit loop are mentioned below.
• Cue
• Routine
• Reward
To better understand a habit loop in the digital world, let’s consider the example of social media. Every time you receive a new notification, you will hear a ping which is the cue.
Checking your phone to see the notification is routine. Finally, seeing a new like, comment, or message is the reward.
Here is what you can do. Create a hook for each product and service. It should encourage your target audience to take the desired action. You will need to reward users in the form of points, special deals, or the latest products.
2. Omnichannel Customer Service
Customers today expect an omnichannel customer experience. The chances are that you must have heard of omnichannel marketing. With the rise of remote work, it is vital to provide omnichannel customer service.
At its core, customer success is based on a lasting relationship with customers. To achieve this, you need to focus on providing an optimal customer experience.
This is possible by making sure that every department and team communicates effectively and works together to provide the desired customer data.
With customers spending time online more than ever before, they expect a consistent experience across all channels. You cannot afford to provide an inconsistent experience to customers. Therefore, you must offer an omnichannel customer experience.
To start things on the right foot, you have to utilize a CRM system for organizing the client information in a central place. Whether you run a carpet cleaning Stevenage business or any other business, all the customer data should be stored in one place.
3. Chatbots
Customer service is evolving. One of the trends that are ushering in a new era is chatbots. The fact is that chatbots are extremely useful. They can be used to assist with customer service.
As artificial intelligence improves, it will continue to influence business activity. More and more companies are using bots for automating marketing and sales tasks. To provide an efficient digital customer experience, you must use chatbots in 2021 if you want to stick around.
The main reason behind their success is that they offer a quick response rate. Thus, you need to invest in chatbots. They will enable you to help customers find answers to their problems more quickly.
For example, chatbots can be connected with the FAQ section or knowledge base. The moment someone visits your site, the chatbot should appear. It should help answer basic queries.
Besides, customers are less likely to consult with a customer service representative when you provide a chatbot at the homepage.
4. Hyper-Personalization
There has been an increase in hyper-personalization over the years, and 2021 will be no different. Brands are always on the lookout for ways to provide more personalized service.
Only those businesses will succeed that manage to offer personalized services. However, many are still lagging when it comes to hyper-personalization. Hence, you can easily stand out by personalizing the customer experience.
To ensure personalization, you first need to utilize customer data. Develop detailed personas for your target audience and use them to guide you to share the right content with every customer.
You also need to take advantage of marketing automation for sending personalized emails to customers. There are various tools available that you can use.
5. Predictive Analytics
Customers expect brands to anticipate their very next move. This is where predictive analytics comes into place. Since brands already have access to customer data, they can use them for predicting customer behavior.
Predictive analytics will play a massive role this year. With customers having no issues with giving their personal data to receive more benefits, you must improve their experience by cashing in on predictive analytics.
Companies that hope to succeed will invest in predictive analytics to enhance the customer experience. Ecommerce businesses can greatly benefit from analytics as it will help them predict inventory and stock levels by keeping an eye on what visitors view and purchase.
Before you can use predictive analytics, you have to educate yourself on how to use it to its full potential. The good news is that there are plenty of tools, such as SAP and IBM, which can be used for predictive analytics. Therefore, you just need to take a leap of faith.
Conclusion – 5 Digital CX Trends to Look for in 2021
Customers today are more comfortable using digital devices. They expect an incredible customer experience. Therefore, you need to implement habit loops, omnichannel customer service, chatbots, hyper-personalization, and predictive analytics to succeed in 2021.