Month: August 2018

What will the future of customer experience be? Will it be more influenced by technology or by Rating software and Customer Reviews or by digital word of mouth? Are we all influencers? How Digital Assistants transform our lives? Which social media will prevail in the competitive arena? How should companies organize themselves?

Nothing structured. Only impulses, suggestions, examples, ideas. 

Since we’re living in an age where retail chains go bust by the score, the same goes for restaurants, hotels, events…and so on, the need for an optimal customer experience is clearer than ever before…(.but how many reviews are fake?) Modern technology provides opportunities to enhance Customer Experience even further, especially since it is developing at a very high speed.

What will customer experience look like in, say, 4 years from now? Digital assistants everywhere, but the human touch retains its value – Siri and Cortana, Alexa and Google Assistant, Bixby (Samsung) and Lyra (Artificial Solutions), are examples of the digital assistants we know now: nice little smartphone and home smart speakers that amuse us with hilarious conversations and the occasional surprising answer.

Nevertheless, digital assistants may have evolved considerably in the future, this is something obvious. Thanks to the artificial intelligence and machine learning They’ll offer conversations and will assist people in making the right choice…everywhere.

The e-commerce of the future redesigns consumer habits and producer services. It leads to augmented reality in everyday shopping. Defines new strategies based on big data and predictive analytics. The digital and vocal assistants inaugurate the outsourcing of purchasing behavior. An example comes from H&M; the retailer recently launched a voice-controlled shopping app built with Google, and an AR tool that lets shoppers view holograms of clothing.

Some other web shops are experimenting with chatbots and wizards who try to offer real advice. By 2020, these systems may have matured and offer real and useful advice based on targeted open and closed questioning. They’ll also become a standard in brick&mortar shops. One good example of where we’re heading is Robot Pepper. This physical robot is able to initiate a conversation and assuming it’s designed to do so assist you in purchasing products suitable to your needs. Google recently at the I/O conference in May took that process a step further by unveiling Duplex, an AI assistant that can interact with humans–not just search engines–in pursuit of booking our restaurant tables and scheduling our haircuts.

However, their role will change. Robots will look after basic customer care, while humans will remain indispensable for more advanced forms of advice that need a human touch. There are various examples of organizations which have exposed a part of their customer care solutions to automation. In addition, well-functioning self-service facilities will become more important and will be indispensable by 2020. Including self-service portals or active user communities where clients can ask their questions. Interactive shops increase shopping districts attractiveness – In 2020,  brick&mortar stores will need to think even more about their relevance.

Now, what about the world of social media, the most important online media. New youth for Youtube, everyone has his own private channel, the expansion of Instagram across real and virtual people like Miquela that has more than one million followers but it is completely generated at the computer; everything is pushing influencer marketing top of mind. Ready to make influencer marketing a part of 2019 business strategy?

The great news is that technology offers countless opportunities to give a huge boost to the shopping experience. The only hurdle here is creativity. That’s a good thing because shopping should be sexy. Let’s take for instance a sneaker store. The moment a client passes the store, he’ll get a personalized deal offer on his smartphone. The latest addition to his favored line of sneakers is available with 20 percent off, and in stock at this store. Once inside, he’ll explain to the digital assistant that he’s searching for a sneaker appropriate for a novice runner. When fitting the sneaker, beamers project walking exercises on the shop floor to test out some of its features. Lastly, the mirror can show him how different colors along with other varieties would look on him using augmented reality (here The 10 most innovative shops in the world).  Have also a look at the project Adidas Knit For You (sewing for you) where the customer participates in the point of sale in person to design and manufacture of the product.

Hyper individualization brings product and shopping experience closer to the consumer – Stores and brands will increasingly collect client data in 2020.
At the end of the day, Companies must seize opportunities to make also customer support more proactive. This can be accomplished in a multitude of ways, including implementing more efficient call routing based on a customer’s past support history, tailoring customer communications and using available information to anticipate customer needs.
They must focus on leveraging big data to create a single source of truth and emphasize proactive behavior.