Being flexible and adaptable is a must in both day-to-day and business life. After all, the world around us is changing rapidly and dictates its pace to everyone. It is the same with user experience that keeps on evolving no matter what.
Nothing can slow down the evolution of user preference and expectation, so without further ado, let's talk about the changes they will see in 2023.
It Will Become More Secure
To keep on providing better services, businesses and support teams need to accumulate more and more customer data.
Apart from regular name, date of birth, and shipping address, businesses now need such information as the history of orders and requests, the preferred style and medium of communication, and other details that can help improve customer experience.
To gather the needed information, businesses will have to improve their security. PCI DSS, GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA compliance, and ISO certification — all of which are active at my company, SupportYourApp — will help big companies and small startups safely gather as much information as they need to provide the best customer support.
It Will Become More Immersive
Customers want to have a more honest and immersive experience. The main challenge here is reaching that almost elusive immersiveness.
Let's start with what immersive customer experience is? It is an amalgamation of different tech solutions: VR, AR, AI, and so on. To provide customers with every one of these, brands need to start to implement them into their customer communication strategy.
And that takes resources: support consultants need to be more tech-savvy, the tech department needs to be in sync with support teams’ and customers’ requirements, and Service Delivery departments need to be ready to tackle challenges that may come along with implementing this many difficult technologies.
But, as I have learned through more than a decade in the industry, the bigger the challenge, the better the reward. Among the best ways to deliver immersive services to customers are:
- Implementing AI and ML into the CRM system used for storing and managing customer communication.
- Utilizing co-browsing, video support sessions, or even VR.
- Offering omnichannel support.
- Speak the customer's language.
- Being available 24/7/365.
With the development of Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse, I am sure we are only seeing the beginning of the immersive user experience.
It Will Become More Authentic
Authenticity and transparency are the best ways to establish trust with customers and promote long-lasting loyalty.
But why should CX be authentic? First off, because customers want it —
Second, because it is better for the support teams themselves.
Being open with every customer, having the freedom to communicate every resolution and timeframe, and the opportunity to adjust the style of communication to every user prevents burnout and gives support agents a chance to shine and grow.
It Will Become Phygital
Phygital is the future of customer communication. Physical reigned all the way until the pandemic, which completely changed customer preferences and put digital into the spotlight. Seeing the combination of the two seems like a perfectly logical development for the industry.
One of the best examples of phygital is a good old McDonald’s restaurant, where human checkouts and digital kiosks coexist and serve customers within the same space. It can also be found in shops where an order was made via the internet but picked up on location.
Where we already see phygital in customer support is in one-on-one video calls and co-browsing sessions, where human interaction meets and seamlessly blends with the latest technology.
Overall, users will expect more honest, human, immersive, and technology-driven CX. Among others, these components are what will drive the evolution of CX in the future.