Customer Experience Trends in the Post-COVID Era

By Apac CIO Outlook | Thursday, July 23, 2020

Fremont, CA: You can create all the products in the world, and provide every service, but if you do not have a customer, you do not have a business. In today’s ever-evolving economy, customer relationships have effectively become every business’s primary competitive differentiator. However, with a wide array of choices, the expectations customers have of organizations are also evolving rapidly. Customers demand more each time they deal with a brand or a business, and can swiftly switch to a competitor if they did not get that superior customer experience which they had expected. Providing access to the services customers need through the channels they choose has become essential than ever.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has further convoluted the scenario. The crisis has had a dramatic impact on the customer landscape, and people have begun to prioritize in new ways in the post-COVID era. According to experts in the domain, consumer behavior has certainly changed, at least for the next twelve to eighteen months. The businesses must deliver what their customers want now, not what they had liked in the pre-COVID era. Besides, businesses that were skeptical about digital transformation earlier has little choice now but to embrace it.

The customer experience sector has already been undergoing a data-driven transformation in response to the altering customer landscape, and the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) are at the heart of it. For instance, IoT is extensively leveraged today to provide an effective and more personalized customer experience. IoT technology also gives valuable insight into customer usage patterns that helps in nurturing the relationship with customers, analyzing the market patterns, and determining the development of future products. Similarly, AI is touted by the experts as the future of customer experience. AI applications like chatbots and virtual assistants have already started giving customer service a makeover, and reports suggest that it is only going to get better. With predictive personalization, AI can provide a tailor-made experience for the customers.

The ubiquity of mobile technology is also a game-changer in the customer experience domain. The major players in the sector have already started using forward-thinking technology to power their channels, collect and store data, and enable every device to work together to deliver a consistent experience for the customers. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are also expected to play a dominant role in customer experience in the coming years with the rolling out of 5-G infrastructure.