5 Trends to Transform Customer Experience in 2016

“Your customer experience is the next competitive battleground. It’s where the business is going to win or lose.”

Undoubtedly, the foremost priority of businesses these days is to deliver an effective customers experience that hits the emotions of their customers. This is because it is the key differentiator for the businesses in this competitive world.

According to Deloitte, 62% of companies see customer experience as a competitive differentiator. These organizations understand that enhancing the customer experience is an ongoing process. And that accomplishing this task is tough to manage and needs a thorough understanding of the latest industry trends.

While the year 2015 was named as the “Year of Employee”, 2016 is being declared as the “Year of Emotions” in terms of customer experience.

Hence, watch out for the top 5 customer experience trends that will change the ace of marketing in the year 2016.

1. Mobile Interaction Will Continue to Evolve

Just like the year 2015, mobiles will continue to dominate as the preferred channel of interaction in 2016. Organizations will increasingly go beyond the elementary level of developing mobile-friendly websites and introducing mobile apps to serve their customers in a better way. From developing location-independent communication apps to being able to communicate through live conversations on mobiles, organizations will have to rethink upon their services and operations on mobiles.

2. Multi-Channel Servicing Will Continue to Upsurge

The ever-evolving technology has provided us with multiple channels to interact with customers and to serve them efficiently. The future of customer service revolves around offering a customer service through a channel, which is most convenient to them. In addition, modern customers are looking for freedom of choice where they can personalize their experience anywhere, anytime on any device. As such, companies will need to make efforts to integrate these multi-channels (voice, email, mobile, SMS, web, social media, chat and more) into a seamless customer experience.

3. Faster Latest Innovation in Customer Reaction

There will be a significant rise in the consumers’ expectations this year. They will no longer rate the company based on the product delivery time, but they’d look for companies who also have rapid turnaround time to solve their issues and answer their questions in the best possible way. Real-time customer service will be the top priority both for the customers and the organizations.

4. Transparency with the Customers

Organization will need to allow their customers to parts of their business, which were hidden earlier. This will help the organizations to offer them a very personalized experience. Plus, this will also reduce the anxiety of the customers strengthening their interest and ‘faith’ on the company.

5. The Leveraging of Human Emotions

While new technologies are emerging almost every day, organizations should keep in mind that customers are humans first and then their customers. As such, it is vital to listen to them and understand their underlying emotions. When a customer lands at your store or website, they “hope” for something. Hence, it is a must for you to assure them with the best services, reliability and quality that will help build their trust and long term interest in you. Remember, technology will always fluctuate, but emotions remain constant. Hence, organizations that can incorporate the human component into their services will tend to be more successful.

As to conclude, it can be said that improving the overall customer experience will be the foremost priority for companies and the main driving force behind their digital transformation objectives in the year 2016.