The epidemic has had a dramatic impact on customer behavior and brand interactions. Client loyalty has dwindled significantly as more consumers turn towards online purchasing for goods or services they need, with social commerce increasing exponentially as companies seek ways to maintain a competitive advantage by improving customer experiences for increased sales opportunities and loyalty among existing client base.
In this blog we discover how technology greatly enhances customer experience today; also gain knowledge on which technologies work best based on needs, resources, and objectives, as well as ways to incorporate technology into existing processes for seamless implementation of technology into current operations.
Customer Experience
What is Customer experience? Customer experience and customer service often become confused; while the two do work hand-in-hand, customer experience should not be confused with one another. Customer experience refers to a journey customers make from initial interaction to completed purchase or transaction - how smoothly each stage goes and their emotions during every point along this process is key in creating positive customer interactions; friction will cause potential clients and customers to flee your brand.
Ideally, customer experiences should run seamlessly; any disruptions in service delivery could cost businesses customers and prospects in terms of revenue loss, and new potential clients and prospects exit quickly. Customers looking for help and guidance after having an adverse customer service experience often turn to customer service for support and guidance.
Not every poor experience, though, can be helped through support; for instance, if they require self-serve options but there isn't the technology in place, their needs won't be fulfilled; on the other hand, if a user gets confused on one step of completing a form; customer service could provide valuable assistance by filling in forms. Customer experience refers to users' interactions with your brand throughout their journey; customer service assists if customers get stuck or require any help at any point along their journey.
Why Is It Important To Improve The Customer Experience?
Modern technology is truly amazing; people no longer require much thought or legwork themselves when doing their shopping; therefore, they expect brands to make things as convenient and straightforward for them as possible - and customer experience plays a pivotal role here. Of course, customer experience also plays a part here by linking it directly with customer service quality and overall satisfaction; these three components often stand alone from competing brands as being unique determining factors between themselves and each other.
The importance of customer experience is of equal significance as the product or service bought; in fact, customer experience should be prioritized over anything else to achieve business success. Your success requires loyal customers; therefore, improving it across the board should remain top of your priority list.
Why Is Technology Important In Customer Service?
Technology helps businesses bridge the gap between themselves and customers when the latter are physically unable to visit stores and offices in person, improving customer experience without placing undue strain on resources. Since the pandemic began, consumers have turned increasingly to technology to meet their needs - from groceries and online research to service support requests and virtual medical consultations.
Since most needs can now be fulfilled online, having the appropriate technology allows you to quickly adapt to customers' requests and continue providing positive experiences without direct interaction - creating loyalty among your target market and keeping customers attracted to your brand.
How Can Technology Enhance Customer Experience
Technology offers various means by which it can enhance customer experiences, as outlined below:
Automating Services To Customers
Customers today tend to prefer doing things for themselves and prefer less direct interaction, something especially evident during a pandemic. Take steps to provide as many self-help options for customers, such as FAQs or tutorials.
Implement tools on your website that offer vital answers. For instance, if you sell floor mobile devices and customers need information about model specifications or costs of their ideal model or package options without speaking directly with someone, that's more convenient for them. Automated tools make this information gathering much faster for customers who prefer not having to do that manually themselves.
Increase Customer Support Services Capabilities
Customer experience is all about providing customers with clear support at every turn so that they can move from stage to stage seamlessly and smoothly. Certain technology applications can assist in this regard - many specifically created to give users assistance - which ensures customers feel valued and that their needs are being taken into consideration by you - ultimately keeping them coming back for more.
Provide Personalized Recommendations To Customers
Sometimes, we don't know exactly what we need until we see it, which is why technology makes it easier for customers to locate it through personalized recommendations. This can shorten customers' browsing time through your product/service catalog and enhance the overall customer experience - something most customers value greatly.
Read More: Strategies For Mastering Customer Experience Management
Five Technologies To Enhance Customer Experiences
Businesses today need the appropriate digital tools in order to deliver an excellent customer experience, build brand loyalty, and drive sales growth. Here are such technologies to enhance customer experience - one may already exist that you could utilize immediately.
Cloud Technology
Cloud technologies are increasingly ubiquitous in business organizations today for a good reason: customer experience improvement was noted as the top driver behind their investment decision to invest in cloud solutions by 57% of survey participants.
Technology advancement has led to an explosion of sales channels. Consumers today can make purchases across various channels, such as brick-and-mortar stores, phone orders, and mobile apps; indeed, a recent report indicated that 51% of businesses use at least eight channels for customer engagement purposes.
Omnichannel retail, the concept of providing customers with an integrated customer experience across all sales channels and creating consistent brand interactions, is expected to become even more prevalent as new technologies emerge. No matter which channels customers use to interact with brands, brands can gather, centralize, and respond accordingly by employing cloud technology as part of managing interactions and unifying all customer information into one central repository.
Chatbots
Thanks to smartphones and mobile search features, consumers today have grown accustomed to immediate answers and instantaneous access to the web. Yet according to consumer research reports, customers will wait up to four hours before being responsive; unfortunately, however, nearly 90% of customer inquiries go unanswered by brands, failing which could compromise sales conversions, revenue generation, and brand longevity.
Chatbots are artificial intelligence-powered technologies designed to engage in conversation with humans via the internet, engaging users through voice dialogue. Chatbots have quickly taken over customer service functions for an increasing number of businesses as they offer instantaneous responses and fulfill consumer expectations of instant support.
Virtual And Augmented Reality Applications
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies represent game changers in how people communicate and interact, having already proven significant impacts across various fields - especially customer experience, where AR/VR apps and solutions have become widespread.
AR and VR have had an immediate effect on B2B customer service. Customers can quickly learn more about your company and solve their problems more effectively than ever. Furthermore, this technology revolutionizes how sales reps understand customers, giving them greater empathy towards each individual they encounter while suggesting solutions more quickly for issues they encounter.
Voice Capabilities
With the popularity of devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home growing rapidly, voice capabilities are quickly adding value to customer experiences. Brands must use voice as part of an experience-led marketing approach in order to enhance consumer loyalty and spur actions on behalf of their consumers.
Voice-enabled purchasing experiences are becoming an invaluable asset to customers as they leverage data and audio feedback to make a customer's task simpler or seamless. Time is of the essence these days; busy shoppers can utilize voice commands for quick shopping experiences with great loyalty from returning customers who provide repeat business for brands.
Smartphones
Arguably, the most influential technology is still the smartphone. From this device, customers gain access to the cloud: making phone calls or sending SMS that chatbots will answer; accessing VR/AR tools for incredible experiences or hands-on education; shopping via voice capabilities or using virtual reality for education or sales and promotion purposes - or all three at the same time.
Customers want the peace of mind that comes from knowing their data is secure, especially since their smartphone serves as the ultimate enabler, gateway, and getaway for customers. They use it for shopping, pre-visit research posts, visit research, product reviews, social sharing loyalty program access through one device.
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Conclusion
LiveHelpIndia provides outsourced customer services designed to assist companies with engaging better with their customers while remaining competitive in the market. No matter if it involves customer experience, technology, skills, or additional workforce augmentation - LiveHelpIndia will assist in crafting unique experiences aligned with brand values and business goals.
We provide various technological solutions designed to enhance customer experiences. For more information about how we can assist your company in implementing customer-focused strategies, please reach out and connect.
