In today’s business landscape, there’s nothing more important than understanding and catering to your customer. Now that consumers have more choices than ever before, businesses from every background need to continually prove that they’re the best option for their clients. Maintaining a successful business means investing heavily in “customer experience.”
Sabio, an expert in the CX solutions environment, believes that as we head into 2019, artificial intelligence will play an essential part in supplementing customer engagement. According to the Chief Innovation Officer for Sabio, Stuart Dorman, today’s consumers have more influence and power than ever before. Smart technologies like augmented customer interactions and AI could be the key to driving faster, more effective interactions with clients.
Predicting the Future of Customer Interactions with Sabio
In an article exploring the potential trends that customer experience could deliver in 2019, Sabio highlighted ten predictions, focused on the interaction between artificial intelligence, analytics, and customer engagement. To start with, they believe that artificial intelligence will form the launching point for almost every customer interaction. With AI, it’s easier for contact centre agents to bring context to a conversation by establishing the reason for customer contact before the discussion begins. This means that clients can be passed immediately to the person most equipped to handle their needs.
Additionally, Sabio believes that machine support will augment human interactions through virtual assistants tied to customer contact agents. Active listening and augmented intelligence may help agents to deliver better experiences, while various new digital technologies help to eliminate the gaps in the customer journey.
The Role of the Customer in the Buyer Journey
Many of Sabio’s predictions for next year revolve around the growing role of the customer in the buyer journey. Today’s consumers have more control than ever, and the way they’re making their purchasing choices is changing. For instance, one-third of UK customers say that they prefer to buy from ethical companies, and 8 out of 10 consumers refuse to deal with a brand they can’t trust.
Today’s businesses will need to take the new expectations of modern consumers into account when they’re developing customer experience solutions. Sabio believes that this will lead to an increased emphasis of the “Voice of the Customer” in shaping design experiences and customer journeys. Additionally, Sabio also thinks that this increased dependency on customer data will mean that businesses will have to make sure that they’re collecting and “categorising” their data more effectively. In 2019, companies may need to reconsider how they curate their data while clarifying where data ownership exists within the business.
The better companies can manage and understand their data, the easier it will be for them to enhance the channels their consumers are using and adapt their experience offerings to suit consumer demand. According to Sabio, 2019 may see an increase in transitioning email traffic to instant messaging options, as email still accounts for 20% of all contact volume.
Other Emerging Trends in Customer Engagement
As part of their discussion on customer engagement, Sabio drew attention to the concept of “consumer agency,” and Apple’s decision to introduce “Memojis,” or personal avatars for customers using the iPhone. According to Sabio, in 2019, customer representation could grow, as consumers demand a more personalised digital experience. At the same time, to allow for better experiences online, customers will continue to become more accepting of content sharing and video solutions.
Sabio feels that with most consumers only a click away from a video stream in their day-to-day lives, there’s much more potential for video to make its way into the customer experience market. In the right circumstances, video has the potential to simplify complex conversations by adding a visual element to the conversation.
Finally, Sabio also spoke about the impending death of Facebook in an era where consumers are increasingly concerned about their privacy online. Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal of this year, Sabio feels that consumers will be more cautious about the way that companies’ access and share their data online. Currently, Facebook continues to have one of the biggest user bases online, but it’s possible that consumers will begin to turn towards other social media channels if they believe that their data will be safer elsewhere. This is particularly true now that other platforms are looking into the development of their own messaging capabilities.
