An exceptional customer experience (CX) is no longer a ‘nice to have’ – it is a must have if you want to attract and retain customers and drive growth

An exceptional customer experience (CX) is no longer a ‘nice to have’ – it is a must have if you want to attract and retain customers and drive growth. In fact, improving CX by just one point can boost revenue by $1 billion, according to Forrester.

It is no surprise then that global CX spending is expected to reach $641 billion in 2022 (compared to $500 billion in 2019), with organisations looking to prioritise automation, hyper-personalisation and digital self-service in a bid to meet customers’ ever-rising expectations. These investments mean businesses are undergoing rapid change to processes and technology in an effort to make CX a competitive advantage.

But where should those investments go – and which changes will deliver the greatest benefits?

In this article, I explore the top 7 trends set to shape CX in 2022 (and beyond).

 TREND 1

ACCELERATED CX DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

A solid digital foundation is crucial for CX success. After all, how can you offer a slick, end-to-end customer journey if you are working with siloed teams, disjointed legacy systems and disparate data?

Digital transformation has been on the agenda for years now, but research shows that many businesses are behind schedule when it comes to the digitalization of CX. Pandemic-related disruption is generally a cause of these delays, but with organizations now returning to a more business-as-usual approach, 2022 will see CX digital transformation back at the forefront. Importantly, this rejuvenated CX digital transformation will be an evolution, not a revolution – with progressive steps that boost operational efficiency and profitability. It will not just be about systems and processes; businesses are recognizing that to truly thrive in the new landscape, they need a digital-first culture, too. The ones that succeed will look at specific bottlenecks for staff and customers – and cost-effective ways to alleviate them.

 Areas to evaluate include:

·     Culture: The shared values and beliefs that drive behavior;

·      Talent: Hiring, development and retention practices;

·      Structure: Of the organisation and how teams, tech and data are integrated;

·      Metrics: The strategic measurements that drive business decisions;

·      Processes: The ways people work and make decisions;

·      Technology: The systems and tools that enable processes

TREND 2

CUSTOMER JOURNEY ORCHESTRATION AND VISUALISATION

As the value of CX becomes more evident, so too does the importance of real-time insights. The more real-time data you have about how customers interact across all touchpoints, the more personalised you can make their journey. And the more personalised the journey, the more likely you are to inspire long-term loyalty and revenue.

Customer journey orchestration and visualisation provides you a holistic view of your end-to-end customer experience in real-time, across all online and offline channels.

TREND 3

CONSOLIDATION

 In-store, online, email, social media, Chatbots, contact centres – there are more ways than ever for customers to engage with brands which means there are more sources of data than ever before.

Often, CX flounders because that data is not consolidated. For example, in many organisations, transactional data and customer history are not consistent across communication channels. Voice, email, web chat, social and web self-service operate in silos and do not link to the same data sources. As a result, customers receive an inconsistent service: when they move from app to social to contact centre, they have to keep repeating their query. Agents then end up dealing with frustrated customers and taking more time than necessary to resolve issues.

Therefore, data consolidation will be a vital part of CX strategies in 2022 – helping drive down costs and drive up customer satisfaction and employee morale. By bringing together data from all touchpoints and channels into one centralised hub, brands can get an accurate view of the end-to-end CX and offer more streamlined multi-channel journeys. This does not have to involve changing underlying legacy systems. Data orchestration means you can have a single version of the truth that aggregates your existing tech, which means fewer internal changes and faster access to enhanced analytics.

 TREND 4

AUTOMATION

From an operational standpoint, automation is essential for any business looking to improve productivity and eliminate human error from manual tasks. But the real benefit of automation is its ability to increase agility.

When you leverage automation, smart technologies do the bulk of the heavy lifting when it comes to process. This not only frees up resources for higher-value, more creative work, but it also enables businesses to adapt faster to changes (like a global pandemic, for example). Reporting and decision making are also accelerated, because you have greater access to the real-time insight that is so crucial for effective CX optimisation.

TREND 5

DIGITAL SELF-SERVICE

 When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down brick-and-mortar stores and put unprecedented pressure on contact centres, brands truly realised the importance of effective digital self-service. In fact, web chat usage alone has risen by 58% over the past year. In 2022 will see even more adoption of and investment in digital self-service tools like Chatbots. These AI-powered tools use a Natural Language Processing (NLP) and speech recognition engine to capture and understand intent, so customers can communicate in a natural manner. This results in a human-like experience while automating queries into the business.

An effect of this Chatbot adoption will be a proliferation in channels for digital self-service. This means that channel orchestration, like journey orchestration, will be crucial. It is great to offer customers the choice between web chat, WhatsApp, RCS, Facebook Messenger and voice – but only if they canjump seamlessly between them, with all channels having access to data on previous interactions. Otherwise, you are just creating a disjointed, frustrating experience.

TREND 6

VOICE AND CONVERSATIONAL IVR

 While digital channels are important to the modern CX, so too is voice. There will always be customers who prefer to call in, and there will always be situations that warrant the personal touch voice offers. Therefore, traditional channels like Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Conversational IVR remain important.

When implemented correctly, these AI-powered voice tools can help deflect calls and enhance self-service by directing customers with easy-to-solve queries online. This then improves CX by reducing wait times for customers who really do need to speak to someone – and freeing up agent resources to more effectively handle complex queries.

TREND 7

Advance in Artificial inteligence

The last decade has seen massive advancements in AI. Where once it was limited to a few high-tech functions, it is now being used in everything from product recommendations to cybersecurity to customer service. As the volume of data available to brands increases during 2022, we will see AI continue to gain prominence, particularly in the CX space. Machine learning will play a bigger role, with Chatbots evolving to replicate more sophisticated human speech patterns and product recommendations becoming hyper-personalised.

Although there are clear drivers for greater personalisation and self-service, customers are also worried about the trust factor associated with digitalisation: 99% of customers say companies need to improve their trustworthiness as we emerge from the pandemic.

 CONCLUSION

The CX technology ecosystem has grown more and more complex as the rate of innovation increases and customer expectations rise. 2021 was a year of adjusting to the ‘new normal’. In 2022, businesses should take a step back and review their CX with a critical eye, looking at how digital transformation can improve efficiency and boost trust.

 The top CX goals and challenges for 2022 all tie into the ability to offer hyper-personalised experiences, in terms of content, channel and convenience. Delivering that hyper-personalisation involves journey orchestration, data consolidation, automation, digital self-service and IVR and AI – the key trends I have talked about.

Focusing on these key areas in 2022 will deliver a more customer-centric approach, which when applied correctly and backed by robust technologies and processes, will increase customer loyalty at a time where people are shopping around more than ever. Not only will they deliver efficiency gains, but they will also help brands retain a human touch and build trust amidst their technology adoption.