Creating an awesome customer experience is timeless. How you create that customer experience is not. The way you engage with customers to enhance their loyalty and bring them back to your business again and again is driven by trends.
If you’re not careful, the who, why and how you reach out to customers will feel forced and dated – kind of like the mullet of communication. And you don’t want that!
To get savvy on the most current trends in customer experience, let’s look at this fab article from HuffPo, which lays out 5 Key Customer Experience Trends for 2017.
“The days of a one-way monologue, at the customer, are over. Instead there must be a real-time, two-way dialogue with the customer. Consumers have an abundance of channels at their disposal and can effortlessly communicate with brands – or about brands – like never before. As such, they have more control over how brands communicate and interact with them. They’re empowered, and this changes how businesses approach their customer experience. So, in the spirit of the New Year, here are my top 5 customer experience predictions and trends for 2017.”
So what are the key Customer Experience trends to keep in mind?
1) Be conversational – Customer interaction needs to go both ways to make an impact.
2) Get tech-savvy – Using technology in a meaningful way is becoming table-stakes for businesses of every size and shape. Smart use of tech is no longer just for the big players.
3) BOOM! – The Millennials have gotten the press lately, but the Boomers are still large and in charge. Focusing on your more mature customers may yield better results for your business.
4) Data, data, data – I spend a lot of time focusing on customer connection, and that connection has to be driven by information about your customers, your competition and your market. Now’s the time to dial in your data so you can provide the best experience for customers.
And finally
5) Focus on the fundamentals – You can get busy chasing the next big thing – and it ends up feeling like chasing your tail. Whether it’s social media, texting solutions or even the data analysis I just told you was all-fire important (and it is!). “Technology for technology’s sake is never a good idea. And getting the right foundation in place is prerequisite to the introduction of new technology.” The time you spend on simple customer programs – if they’re the right ones for you – will be more successful than a fancy initiative that isn’t right for your unique business or your customers.
A quick conversation can identify your company’s best opportunity for next-level growth. Let’s talk!