Video transcript
Hi everyone, My name is Jeannie Walters, I’m a Customer Experience keynote speaker and writer, and CEO of Experience Investigators.Today I’m your guest host for Simplifying CX.
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Today, I’ll share what I see in the customer experience crystal ball. What trends, predictions, and expectations should you be aware of to deliver exceptional experiences next year and beyond?
In particular, I’ll cover 5 trends to consider as you design your customer’s journey, particularly as we meet new expectations for customers around social distancing, health and safety restrictions, and more due to COVID-19.
First, customers want to trust you are doing everything you can for their health and safety!
Forrester reports in their Predictions 2021: Customer Experience guide that just 6%of US online adults trust travel companies to make smart choices in regard to guidance around proximity and hygiene.
Reassurance through evidence. Hotels leaving stickers on the door wrap around remote controls.
How are you providing not just behind-the-scenes protocols but evidence to reassure your customers?
Second, smartphones For The Win! (Slide 3)
Customers will expect more contactless options. Smartphones can help customers navigate typically high-touch scenarios like restaurant menus or touch screen options.
Scanning QR codes is easier than ever and allows customers more detail where and how they want it.
Possibilities to serve customers in more personalized ways with smartphones are endless! Menus could provide more detailed information regarding food allergies and where ingredients were sourced, for example.
Third, Augmented Reality will provide better experiences for both brands and customers.
It’s difficult to picture just how that chair will look in your living room. Augmented reality, or AR, helps customers avoid buyer’s remorse!
In ten years, even clothing sizes might be a thing of the past. AR can be used to scan and size customers for a perfect fit.
Customers will rely on brands that offer these convenient reassurances for customers, especially since so many will continue to shop from home.
Fourth, Familiar experiences need new journeys!
According to Forrester’s Predictions 2021: Customer Experience guide, consumers will be seeking in-person experiences.
Let’s face it. Going to a restaurant is different than in the past, and will continue to change and evolve. Customers might assume things will be back to the familiar, but these types of experiences will still have different limitations and restrictions than in the past.
What about a doctor’s waiting room? Do patients need a better way to check in virtually so they don’t need to wait in a crowded space with sick people?
The best customer experiences are well thought-out and designed from the customer’s perspective. Customer journey mapping and service blueprinting are both techniques that could help brands understand the new journey and how to deliver on it.
Don’t forget to map the employee experience, too. They will need new tools, processes, training, and communication to deliver on these new journeys.
And Fifth, Customers want brands to deliver on their diversity and inclusion promises.
There were many promises made. Now customers want to see these words turn to action!
Forrester’s Predictions 2021: Customer Experience guide predicts many of these organizations will stay focused inside the business. But the focus on employees only misses the mark of what inclusion practices could really yield.
Customers want to buy from brands that align with their values. Millennials have especially made this a key point in their decision-making process.
Brands need to be transparent and open about the progress they are making toward the promises they’ve made. This has to be about a lot more than a press release!
In conclusion: Customers have expectations to meet. Employees have to deliver new experiences. Processes, systems and procedures must support these experiences for both employees and customers.
Effective experience design means understanding where customers are today, what they need for tomorrow, and how the journey can get there.
What trends will you embrace to exceed your customer’s expectations for the future?
For a complete guide to these 5 customer experience trends, click on the description section of this video. What topics do you want to be covered in GetFeedback’s Simplifying CX series? Let us know in the comments below.
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Until next time!