Customer experience (CX) is a key differentiator in an increasingly competitive landscape. With over 50% of customers willing to leave a brand based on CX alone, it is no surprise it is a key priority for businesses.
What should you focus on this year to keep ahead of the curve? Here are 3 trends to be aware of.
1. Focus on breaking down data silos
After years of being told digital transformation was coming, the pandemic was an accelerator. As the world was forced online, customers migrated to businesses that could offer them a digital-first experience. Those that could not, lagged.
2023 will be the year digital transformation moves to the next phase. And that requires organisations to break down data silos, which have, despite best efforts, created disjointed multi-channel strategies and systems.
Once CX teams and solutions can cut across disparate data, businesses will have new opportunities to leverage AI-powered technology and deliver hyper-personalised experiences at scale.
2. Journey orchestration will deliver more consistent experiences
It is not just data that can get stuck in silos. In many organisations, CX operations have been siloed too. There are challenges when one team manages the website, another chatbot engagement, with a separate team looking after the call centre. The result is a fragmented and inconsistent experience from the customer’s perspective.
In 2023, businesses will look at operations holistically to create more customer-centric, consistent and connected experiences. Building on last year’s trend of investment in smart journey orchestration tools, we predict that CX leaders in 2023 will take this to the next level by balancing quantitative and qualitative customer insights – orchestrating real-time, contextually relevant experiences across the customer lifecycle while connecting customers to the right employees.
Savvy businesses will look to AI to automate processes in real-time, enabling faster and more precise optimisation.
3. Interaction strategies will replace contact centre strategies
Call centres are notoriously expensive to run, and as cost pressures mount, businesses will be looking to ramp up more cost-effective solutions. This will require a pivot from ‘contact centre strategies’ to ‘interaction strategies’ – where businesses look to optimise every customer service touchpoint and improve the way channels integrate with each other.
In these interaction strategies, organisations will increasingly focus on assisted service rather than pure self-service as they strike the right balance between convenience for customers, the human touch and operational efficiency.
Again, data sharing will be key here as organisations learn from voice-of-customer data from all touchpoints, not just calls. These interaction strategies will then put you in a strong position to benefit from AI and automation to optimise interactions in real-time.
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To learn more about 2023 customer experience trends, download our free guide.
