2022 has proven another disruptive year in the CX space, with emerging trends including the rise of more immersive experiences, hyper-personalization, and – most recently – ChatGPT.
What will 2023 hold? The continued rise of technology convergence, observable AI, and under-the-bonnet automation is likely – especially given the current economic uncertainty.
Our panelists delve deeper into these areas while spotlighting many other eye-catching trends and emerging technologies in the CX space. This month, they include:
- Steve Bell, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Talkdesk
- Joy Corso, Chief Marketing Officer at Vonage
- Vasili Triant, Chief Operating Officer at UJET
- Jim Davies, Chief Experience Officer at Calabrio
- Koray Parmaks, VP of CCaaS at Intermedia
- Jonathan Maher, Head of Contact Center Specialists for Avaya Europe
Read on to gauge each expert’s vision for the customer experiences of tomorrow.
Share an Example of a CX Trend You Expect to Come to the Fore In 2023
Bell: Brands will make customer intimacy a significant focus in 2023, according to Talkdesk research.
Why? Because consumers’ overall connection to a brand drives loyalty.
Realizing this, businesses will view the contact center as a CX hub, with agents as brand ambassadors.
Garnering a deeper understanding of what drives customer connections is also central to this aim as brands move away from VoC surveys.
Instead, they will look to harness untapped customer insights - structured and unstructured data gleaned from customer interactions.
With this insight, companies will strive to deliver more personalized customer engagements.
Corso: Consumers continue to value real-time personal engagement, with more organizations adopting video solutions to offer customers human support in moments that matter.
However, conversational AI will gain further momentum, automating more transactional contacts.
Indeed, these technologies are slowly becoming more popular, with 40 percent of consumers who contact a call center doing so after looking for online self-service first.
Recognizing such trends, brands will adapt to ever-changing customer expectations and adopt these channels propelling their transformation projects forward and avoiding being left behind.
Triant: As the economic outlook remains murky, UJET research shows consumers plan to cut spending, starting with brands that don’t provide stellar customer service.
Companies are also cutting costs, with many turning to chatbots for customer service.
Underlining this, Gartner expects a 40 percent increase in chatbot technology adoption. However, chatbots frequently underwhelm.
Downsizing during a recession doesn’t need to negatively impact customer service.
UJET's research shows 54 percent of consumers will spend less with a brand in the future if they skimp on customer service, and 33 percent will switch brands altogether.
As such, changes a brand makes to its CX during times of crisis can impact its long-term bottom line.
Davies: In 2023, more channels will become available to customers - including WhatsApp, Google Messaging, and TikTok - to name a few.
Organizations must take greater control of their omnichannel environment to remain competitive, blending these modern channels with traditional ones for a consistent customer experience.
Linked to this is the opportunity to adopt a more proactive, reaching out to customers through digital channels to provide assistance before customers even ask for it.
Customer service teams may also identify and manage these consumer-preferred methods of communication to accurately forecast and schedule the associated impact on resources.
While doing so, contact centers can proactively train staff with personalized coaching on each channel to elevate their performance and enhance customer experiences.
Parmaks: Subject matter experts (SMEs) are increasingly crucial in quickly resolving customer queries. As such, more businesses will look for technology that makes it easier to pull SMEs into customer conversations.
Historically, frontline users using contact center applications were siloed. They could see other agents' availability and collaborate, but it ended there. Finding an SME for answers required jumping into a siloed UC application.
Now, businesses want the benefits of a single business communications platform that combines UC and the contact center into one application.
As a result, agents resolve customer requests faster, enjoying better access to relevant expertise. Meanwhile, companies can capture cost savings by consolidating the tech stack.
Maher: Increasing support for more complex digital interactions will continue.
As such, businesses must improve their handling of situations where customers start a journey digitally but revert to another communication channel – perhaps even a brick-and-mortar outlet.
Whether these complex interactions are between a customer and a live agent or an intelligent chatbot, businesses must align their channels better.
Moreover, businesses should not rush to implement new messaging apps, social media platforms, or perhaps even a metaverse proposition. They do not want to end up with more dreaded siloes.
Consider optimizing the existing environment first, perhaps using in-chat authentication, purchasing and payment, or assisted website co-browsing, for example.
Currently, it is typical for consumers to escalate 30- 40 percent of digital-first contacts to voice, so there is significant room for optimization.
Which Facets of CX Should Brands Perhaps Pay More Attention to In 2023?
Bell: Part of getting closer to customers is knowing what makes them tick. For younger customers, this is often social responsibility pledges alongside ethical positions and actions.
Indeed, many "conscious consumers" have stopped using a company’s services or products due to their stance on topics like social issues and sustainability.
So how can companies get to know these consumers in 2023 and beyond? After all, traditional surveys rarely cut the mustard. Enter "VOC 2.0".
Such an approach involves mining customer interactions and using these insights to drive personalized, intimate engagement across customer-facing organizational departments.
By taking on such a strategy, perceptions of the contact center start to change. It goes from a cost center to an intelligence center and ultimately to a business growth center.
Corso: Omnichannel is a term every CX professional knows, but implementing it is challenging – in terms of data aggregation alone.
Nevertheless, in 2023, it remains a massive opportunity to deliver better, personalized experiences.
Indeed, an omnichannel approach gives customers a consistent and cohesive experience on every channel, both online and offline.
Designed with the customer experience in mind, omnichannel provides a convenient interaction at every touchpoint — as context follows the customer as they shift between channels.
As such, customers can switch channels within the same interaction to continue their conversation without having to recap it from the beginning for a different agent.
The result is that customers no longer have to repeat themselves, and agents have access to the most relevant information to offer improved, personalized support.
Triant: Designing and deploying an effective marriage between virtual and live agents throughout the customer experience will come front and center for many businesses in 2023.
According to a recent report from UJET, 80 percent of consumers report increased frustration levels due to chatbots. Additional report data suggests:
- 63 percent of chatbot interactions did not result in a resolution
- 72 percent felt that using a chatbot was a waste of time
- 54 percent said a live agent provides the fastest resolution and best overall CX
Nevertheless, when properly implemented, chatbots can help businesses manage costs and workforce levels by handling simple requests, boosting CSAT, and freeing up live agents.
Yet, proper implementation requires a comprehensive analysis of customer interactions to identify candidates for self-service and automation. Such an initiative should also flag the most common pain points and design resolution paths.
Unfortunately, this is rare, which leaves customers interacting with cookie-cutter chatbots that can only process simple requests.
Davies: Frontline agents can influence consumer perceptions, enhance customer loyalty, and boost profits. Yet, the broader business often overlooks their experiences at work.
In 2023, this facet of CX will garner greater attention as more brands recognize the correlation between engaged employees and customer experience success.
Steve Bell[/caption]
Joy Corso[/caption]
Vasili Triant[/caption]
Jim Davies[/caption]
Koray Parmaks[/caption]
Jonathan Maher[/caption]