What has the pandemic taught us about customer experience?

Nearly 2 years after Covid-19 outbreak, it is safe to say that it has taught us A LOT. It has affected pretty much all aspects of life. And the same of course is true for the customer experience (CX).

Although CX has always been an integral part of a company’s success, the pandemic has revealed the power of investing in customer experience. As people shifted towards digital channels, servicing customers in new ways that met their needs became critical for brands. It also presented them with new opportunities to engage better with their customers. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2021 half of all customers say that CX is more important to them today than it was a year ago.

As we look ahead to the world post coronavirus, marketers need to make sure they maintain of customer experience as a priority, meeting heightened expectations and satisfying changing tastes. Let’s take a look at the important CX trends COVID-19 has inspired.

Digitising the customer experience

One thing is for certain, the pandemic drove both brands and consumers into deeper relationships with technology, and many marketers acknowledge that it is going to play an ever-increasing role in shaping the customer experience.

Consumers are now doing more online than simply buying groceries, books or clothes. People have shifted to low-touch digital platforms across other categories. Companies had to of course adjust and quickly realized that they had to embrace digital technologies to engage customers more effectively.

However, when digitising the customer experience, there’s a lot to get right. Customers must have secure, easy access to their account and all the information they need must appear seamlessly. Therefore businesses should make the customer experience easy, seamless and appealing. They should orchestrate and integrate customer interactions through various channels. Besides traditional channels, such as voice calls, SMS, and email, consumers are increasingly using other digital platforms as well, such as social media, chat applications, and videos.

Personalisation will boost customer loyalty

With the pandemic causing global supply-chain disruptions, consumers had to try new brands, places to shop, or methods of shopping. If they couldn’t find their preferred product, they would easily switch to a competitor's with no hesitation. This clearly means that customer loyalty is up for grabs. Consumers today are going with brands that are convenient, reliable, and have their best interests at heart. So, it becomes evident that businesses need to rethink their strategies in order to boost customer loyalty.

One way they can do this is by offering highly personalised customer experiences, by providing their customers products, offers, and communications that are uniquely relevant to them! Another way is by personalising multiple interactions, across touchpoints on various channels, and ensuring that their experience is seamless and consistent.

Simply put, businesses that use analytics and data to deliver personalised, omnichannel experiences are the ones that will gain new fans and kept the old ones.

CX means human-centric

Despite the increase in low touch customer journeys from 2020 onwards, establishing a human connection is still key for customer experience.

Since the customer experience has become largely digital, the need to be human-centric has become more important. With the increase of AI and digital tools taking over the mundane admin work, employees are now more free to add value and the human touch to the customer experience. This can be as simple as speaking to the customer over the phone when they need support, or having a video call to walk a customer through documents (rather than sending emails back and forth).

Εmbracing an omnichannel CX approach

According to Zendesk’s CX report, half of all high-performing companies have adopted omnichannel support, which top CX performers are 2.8 times more likely to offer than low CX performers.

The use of an omnichannel solution can help integrating multiple channels, in order to provide customers with a seamless experience. While many companies offer support through a range of different channels—such as phone, email, and chat - which are separate from one another, creating a siloing effect.

With omnichannel support, context is never lost. The use of omnichannel platforms allows agents to easily access relevant information to resolve issues more quickly or transfer a conversation from social messaging to in-app, or from an email to text, providing a more personalized experience.

Don’t go back to how things used to be

With things slowly going back to a new normal, it’s essential to evaluate how the pandemic impacted how you do business in order to find the best way forward for engaging your customers and employees. As the above have come to suggest one thing is for certain, it is imperative to invest in your customer experience and to provide a connected experience. So, go ahead and digitise the experience and embrace an omnichannel, personalised, human-centric CX approach.