As this tumultuous yr attracts to an in depth, we’re setting our sights on 2021. A yr that all of us hope will carry higher days – however one which we all know will proceed to carry modifications, as effectively. What would be the key buyer expertise traits in 2021?
On this put up, we’re taking a better have a look at the highest 10 traits and predictions for the shopper expertise, buyer care, and buyer intelligence in 2021. Let’s dive proper in…
High 10 Buyer Expertise Tendencies for 2021
1. The shift to digital will proceed to speed up.
In 2020, so many interactions shifted to digital codecs out of necessity. However even as soon as the pandemic is beneath management, the brand new behaviors customers have grown accustomed to usually are not anticipated to alter. For instance, Forrester predicts there will probably be a 40% improve in digital customer support interactions in 2021, and to accommodate this, manufacturers will add extra channels (rising their ranges of channels from eight to 11, on common).
To maintain up with client demand for digital CX excellence, manufacturers will supply extra choices for asynchronous communication, similar to SMS. Mature manufacturers will attempt to proactively intervene in buyer interactions utilizing intent indicators to move off points earlier than they occur. It’s clear that prime expectations for digital experiences at the moment are right here to remain.
2. Isolation will drive customers to experiment with new issues.
Shoppers are extra open to making an attempt new experiences and new types of consumption to battle emotions of isolation. For instance, in 2020, two million viewers joined The Weeknd’s digital live performance on TikTok the place they may work together and interact with him in actual time. And a whopping 27 million viewers attended a digital Travis Scott live performance by way of Fortnite. Forrester estimates that one in ten U.S. on-line adults with experiment with augmented or digital actuality within the coming yr.
What does this imply for manufacturers? Shoppers are supplying you with permission to be artistic and to experiment with new methods of participating with them. However take into accout: sincerity and authenticity matter greater than ever, and ploys to control customers’ feelings will flip them off.
3. CX continues to be king – however what CX means is altering.
In keeping with Gartner, greater than 80% of corporations predict that buyer expertise will probably be their major differentiator now and into the longer term. However whereas the important thing elements of CX like buyer effort and comfort nonetheless matter, belief and security have turn into much more essential. Shoppers are involved with whether or not manufacturers make them really feel protected throughout the pandemic.
For instance, Forrester research reveals that buyers don’t belief manufacturers to make sensible decisions about maintaining them protected throughout the pandemic. Solely 13% of customers belief retailers to do an excellent job at sanitization and social distancing, and solely 6% belief journey manufacturers.
On account of this development, customers have gotten rather more selective with the manufacturers they’ll work together with in particular person. To make that choose checklist, corporations should concentrate on designing experiences that instill confidence.
4. Processes that have been thrown collectively out of necessity should now mature.
In this post, we talked about how the now-ubiquitous retail development of contactless pick-up is within the technique of going “from scrappy to scale” – in different phrases, new processes manufacturers needed to throw collectively rapidly in response to the pandemic must turn into extra buttoned-up and scalable.
An awesome instance for 2021 is the development in the direction of “zero UI,” or interfaces that don’t depend on screens to have interaction. Suppose applied sciences that reply to inputs like voice, gestures, and proximity. Utilizing these applied sciences to go “touchless” has turn into a well-liked thought, however one which’s tough to execute effectively.
Should you’ve been working to implement a brand new course of or a brand new approach to interact, know that in 2021, there will probably be an expectation of operational maturity.
5. Buyer insights will get extra emotional.
In 2021, Forrester estimates that 10% of Buyer Intelligence (CI) budgets will go in the direction of the comparatively new area of emotion analytics. Emotion has all the time been a significant part in how people make choices, which was amplified in 2020 as feelings ran excessive. Understandably, manufacturers need to make use of emotion-based insights to grasp rising traits of their buyer base.
Instruments like AI-based text analytics, sentiment analysis, and social listening might help you layer emotion into your present analytics, supplying you with a extra complete understanding of your clients.
6. The function of Buyer Intelligence leaders will change.
In keeping with Forrester’s analysis, CI management should shift from the function of “useful information to disaster strategist.” Shopper behaviors and market traits in 2020 have been extraordinarily unpredictable, and previous fashions turned ineffective.
Buyer Intelligence leaders ought to concentrate on offering CMOs with an optimized dashboard of insights and information pulled from a diversified set of sources together with extra real-time (or near-real-time) metrics, with the purpose of maintaining a finger on the heartbeat of quickly altering buyer wants and wishes.
7. Buyer care will proceed to be a lifeline to many.
Entrance-line customer support brokers are not merely coping with clients who’ve been inconvenienced by some mishap – they’re additionally aiding those that have been really devastated by the financial and well being results of COVID-19. More than half of U.S. households have reported monetary misery because of the pandemic.
As we head into 2021, it’s value revisiting what your buyer journey map appears to be like like for purchasers who’re at present experiencing monetary hardships. Be proactive utilizing self-service instruments and revised processes to extend agent effectiveness at coping with clients in a lot of these conditions.
8. Voice will proceed to be a key channel.
Even because the world has gone digital, voice calls are nonetheless the most well-liked channel for circumstances that require a excessive diploma of empathy and interactive problem-solving. For instance, consider a buyer calling to revise their utility cost plan as a result of they misplaced their job because of the pandemic – not solely do they want an answer to a posh drawback, they might be looking for out a sympathetic ear.
In 2020, this development resulted in voice volumes rising by 50%. So as to liberate sufficient time for brokers to ship the advanced, empathetic therapy that these circumstances want, contact facilities should leverage customer service automation applied sciences like email process automation and self-service chatbots to dump the repetitive, routine circumstances.
9. Work-from-home will come of age for agent workforces.
Out of necessity, contact facilities have seen speedy enhancements to work-from-home processes and tech stacks in 2020. In 2021, trade specialists predict these enhancements will proceed to be refined, and get in touch with facilities will additional mature within the areas of workforce optimization, interplay analytics, and digital platforms for service.
For instance, post-interaction customer surveys measure the efficacy and high quality of customer support engagements, whether or not it’s a stay agent or a digital interface. Manufacturers that leverage this degree of knowledge in 2021 will be capable to rapidly root out and deal with any points stemming from the transition to work-from-home.
10. Many corporations will create the hybrid function of in-store affiliate/buyer care agent.
In 2020, with retail foot site visitors at an all-time low, corporations started to mix the roles of in-store affiliate and buyer care agent, having their in-store personnel reply buyer questions by way of digital and voice platforms. Apple was a notable instance, asking their “Geniuses” to each interact in-person with the restricted variety of clients coming into their shops, in addition to answering buyer questions on-line.
Forrester predicts at the least 30% of contact facilities in industries with bodily places will do that in 2021. Buyer Care leaders should take into account what instruments and processes should be put in place to permit for this hybridization of roles with out compromising the general buyer expertise.
Deal with these traits in 2021 with assist from Astute
As an end-to-end buyer engagement platform, Astute has the expertise in the present day’s manufacturers must hold tempo with regardless of the future brings. Right here’s how we might help you deal with these high buyer expertise traits in 2021:
- Digital customer experience platform that gives chatbot-based help for earlier than, throughout, and after purchases throughout all of your digital channels
- Smart, cloud-based agent tools that equip contact middle groups to successfully deal with all buyer contact channels, irrespective of the place they’re working from
- Customer service automation that offloads probably the most repetitive and routine circumstances, making room for brokers to have interaction in person-to-person, high-empathy experiences
- Voice of the customer tools that measure buyer confidence and belief in your model, the effectiveness of particular person service interactions, buyer sentiment and emotion, and extra
- Social media marketing platform that lets you be artistic, experiment, and measure what works as you interact along with your buyer base in new and other ways
For extra details about how our complete CX toolkit can drive outcomes for what you are promoting in 2021, set up time to talk with us.
