Watching customer experience evolve over the past year, we’re now looking at what to expect in 2021. Alchemer CEO, David Roberts, and Alchemer VP of Customer Success, Ryan Tamminga, discuss what to expect in customer experience in 2021.
Trend 1: Customer experience will be powered by leaders on the front lines
Trend 2: Digital transformation efforts will accelerate dramatically. In many instances, customers will no longer engage with a company face–to–face
During the pandemic, customers lost immediate face-to-face interactions. They could no longer visit malls for shopping or fly to meet business-to-business clients. Now companies must create (and recreate) that trust and intimacy without the face-to-face experience. More and more, your website will become the storefront for your business. Companies thriving today have successfully embraced digital transformation. They conduct business digitally, adapting to the different experience this creates.
Trend 3: The sophistication of CX will skyrocket
The pandemic has led to a new wave of automation at the customer level. This will eliminate background activities and allow customer-facing teams to engage more directly with their customers. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology will help automate background activities, so that people can focus on customers. To be successful, organizations will need to apply higher-level skillsets to better engage customers and building hyper-personalized experiences.
Trend 4: Some companies will over-rotate toward automation
In the rush to embrace digital transformation, it’s easy to go too far. Automating background activities is a good thing to do as it frees up people to spend more time with customers. It’s not easy and possible to automate too many customer-facing interactions. Companies must guard against further distancing themselves from the few remaining personal interactions with their customers. Successful companies will use automation to allow for more personal customer engagements, not to replace them.
Trend 5: Employee experience will be just as critical as customer experience
Working remotely makes it easy to become isolated and transactional. Engaging your employees in the same ways you engage your customers will be beneficial. It will help retain your best people and maintain your corporate culture. Keeping a pulse on your employees allows you keep your employees engaged and passionate about their work and company. As we adapt to the new norms over the next six months, successful companies will focus on maintaining high employee engagement and passion. This will enhance customer experiences with the company.
Hear more from David and Ryan
While this blog has covered the top trends we see shaping CX in 2021, the webinar offers even more, including more than ten minutes of questions and answers with Alchemer CEO, David Roberts, and Alchemer VP of Customer Success, Ryan Tamminga. To watch the webinar, click here and sign in. You will also find other webinars about NPS, Employee Experience, and Risk Assessments.
