Customers now expect every interaction with a company to be personalized, streamlined, and convenient. Clients want brands to be active on all channels they prefer, empowered with knowledge, and ready to respond to their unique needs. In fact, 73% of customers now say CX is the number one thing they consider when deciding whether to purchase from a company.
However, in a world where customer expectations are evolving rapidly, it can be challenging to know where to begin when updating your CX stack. While 73% of customer support leaders today say they believe customer expectations are increasing, only 42% believe they’re living up to the requirements of their consumers. Keeping on top of the latest trends influencing customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty scores could be a great way to stay ahead of the competition.
Here are some of the most crucial CX trends companies will need to prepare for in 2023.
Cloud Technology Convergence
One of the significant trends of 2022 was the rapid adoption of CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) platforms. Many brands began moving their Contact Center stack into the cloud to respond quickly to changing customer expectations and empower employees in the age of remote and hybrid work. As a result, the CCaaS landscape is growing at a CAGR of 18.4%.
However, investing in CCaaS on its own may not be enough for true CX leaders. Creating the best customer experiences means ensuring your team members are consistently aligned and informed. Connecting multiple cloud environments into a single “work hub” for the modern service agent could be the best way to achieve this goal.
Increasingly, we’re seeing more UCaaS, and CCaaS vendors offer combined “Experience as a Service” solutions in the cloud.
“As part of the integration of UCaaS and CCaaS, we’re going to start seeing more integration with collaboration tools such as team spaces, video, screen sharing and document sharing to let agents, customers, and subject matter experts collaborate together and create what I call the “collaborative contact center.” When a customer can send a video of a broken appliance, or the damage to their car after an accident, and an agent can share how-to videos or walk through the proper way to fill out a loan application, issues can be solved much more quickly, resulting in improved customer satisfaction,” said Blair Pleasant, President and Principal Analyst, COMMfusion.
These tools connect contact center functionality with UC and collaboration capabilities, workforce engagement tools, and other SaaS solutions for an end-to-end suite of cloud innovations. With these comprehensive tools, brands can more easily align their teams and gain meaningful insights into the entire customer journey.
The Rise of Proactive and Predictive Care
Simply responding rapidly to customer queries isn’t enough in today’s fast-paced landscape. Gartner believes that by 2025, proactive customer service and engagement solutions will outweigh reactive strategies. Consumers are increasingly looking for companies that can use tools like predictive modeling and automation to eliminate problems before they ever happen.
To deliver the best level of proactive care, organizations will need to invest more heavily in tools that allow them to assess historical and real-time data and develop strategies for success. Customer journey mapping tools and AI analytics will enable brands to stay one step ahead of their customer’s needs and even reach out to clients before they need to call for assistance.
Creating proactive strategies will also mean making self-service solutions more advanced, using natural language processing tools to collect insights about customer needs, and developing more intelligent solutions to client problems.
Tools to Enhance Employee Experience
Throughout 2022, companies began to learn that Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX) weren’t disparate concepts but two sides of the same coin. We’re rapidly moving towards a landscape where brands are beginning to focus more heavily on the concept of “Total Experience” and the broader experience economy.
As a result, CX is becoming less of a siloed concept in the business environment. As part of a comprehensive customer experience strategy, brands invest more heavily in tools that engage, empower, and inform employees. Virtual assistants are emerging to make it easier for agents to access crucial information from the contact center and CRM during customer calls.
Workforce management and engagement tools are beginning to intertwine with the CCaaS and UCaaS landscape, helping brands to engage and unify hybrid workers. In 2023, any effective strategy for CX must consider the employee experience and how the two concepts go hand-in-hand to boost satisfaction.
The Rise of New Communication Channels
While omnichannel communications in the CX landscape are nothing new, customers constantly discover new and improved ways to interact with their preferred brands. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen a rise in clients using messaging apps, social media, and even video to complete transactions and solve issues. Around 85% of customers say video improves their service experience and helps them connect with the brand.
To stay ahead of CX expectations, companies will need to ensure they’re active on all the right channels and that all of these platforms are aligned. This will help brands to create more seamless digital experiences for their clients, wherein customers can start a conversation with a bot and naturally transition to a video call with an agent without repeating themselves.
Keeping a close eye on the new channels customers use as they emerge is crucial. Not only are self-service tools and bots with natural language processing abilities becoming more common, but customers are also beginning to think about XR and the metaverse too. Brands may need to be prepared for a rise in VR, AR, and MR experiences.
Hyper-personalization with AI
Gartner has defined Hyper-Personalization as one of the essential strategies for successful CX in the years to come. Consumers are increasingly aware that companies have access to endless information about their journeys, purchases, and intent. They expect brands to use their collected information to deliver more relevant, unique experiences.
As a result, brands need to invest in more ways to make every interaction as tailored to the customer as possible. This begins with leveraging the right analytical and data management tools, such as CRM systems, conversational analytics, and contact center recordings. Artificial Intelligence will be crucial in making personalization possible for service agents.
Automated solutions built into customer service tools already allow agents to access information about a customer within seconds of answering a call or chat message. Going forward, these tools will also assist agents with real-time suggestions of what to do in a call based on the previous discussions with each customer.
Greater Focus on Compliance and Security
Security has always been a critical concern for companies implementing new CX strategies. However, in recent years, new regulations and increasing concerns about privacy are placing further pressure on companies. In the future, we’re likely to see the implementation of various new tools in the CX landscape to help businesses keep track of privacy and security problems.
Implementing the right security and compliance components into a CX stack will be particularly important for businesses supporting an ever-growing selection of hybrid and remote workers. These solutions could range from automated AI tools, which help companies to pinpoint the source of potential threats, to biometric scanning systems and fraud prevention tools.
Wherever companies collect data to interact and engage with their customers, they’ll need to use transparent and secure strategies to maintain consumer trust.
Stay in the Know
Keep your finger on the pulse of evolving CX trends and connect with industry peers at UCX USA, September 13-14, 2023 in Austin, Texas. UCX USA, is a Connections-First unified communications and collaboration event, with a focus on peer-to-peer networking, inspiring thought leadership and best-in-class matchmaking for IT, AV and CX leaders, directors and managers in Cloud & Networks, Collaboration, Security, Customer Contact & Experience, Video & AV, and Artificial Intelligence. Sign up to learn more by Dec. 31, 2022 and save 15% on Registration!
