What customer experience (CX) technology trends to look out for in 2022?
A business can flourish only when it has satisfied customers. The customers are the foundation of any business, and a repeat customer makes a business grow manifold. However, there are times when there will be grievances, feedback, etc., which could be both positive or negative. Gone are the days when people had to depend on the snail mail and wait even longer for a response. Today, most businesses have contact centers where customers can connect through multiple routes concerning the product or service. At this stage, a customer must be left satisfied and happy with the response to spread the good word, thereby enhancing the base.
Thus, it becomes imperative for companies to ensure that the customer experience (CX) is of exceptional quality. According to an analysis by leading research company Forrester, 69 per cent of customers believe that live assistance has the highest satisfaction rate while believing that their questions can be fully answered telephonically. In comparison, 45 per cent of customers in the US would abandon a payment process if they don't get their questions addressed immediately. It is an eye-opener for anybody who undermines an efficient contact center's long-term and short-term effects vis-a-vis customer satisfaction.
Most of us have, at some point or the other, been annoyed by the long wait to connect to agents at a contact center and by the call getting transferred from one agent to another. It is the number one cause of frustration and negative customer experience. Specific queries can be answered by auto answers or voice bots with the help of AI. It leaves the workforce at contact centers to work on bettering the customer experience by appealing to emotional satisfaction and finding innovative solutions, eventually leading to higher customer satisfaction and higher retention.
We all know how a positive image of the brand goes a long way in creating brand loyalty. While customers prefer telephonic phone calls, which appeal to them emotionally and help quickly resolve their problems, customers today are open to technology-based resolutions too. In 2022, it is obvious for the customers and contact center agents to stay abreast with technology, and as a matter of fact, Artificial Intelligence is being used to provide unique solutions. Businesses have an integrated omnichannel communication experience that enables the customers to find answers to their queries without human intervention. Advancements such as voice bots, chatbots, IVR, and call back at convenience have ensured that customers can get their issues resolved intelligently at their convenience. Besides, AI-powered omnichannel conversational bots, which understand the context in case a query is written differently or misspelled, also dominate the trends currently. The rule the roost primarily because personalized experience goes a long way in customer retention and happiness.
While the customer is at the core, one must not forget the agents sitting on the other end and are the foundation of the brand image the company is trying to build. Customized Agent Desktop software, which has all the information like customer history, purchase or service received details, and personal information, amongst others, is the most significant advantage resulting in quick resolution of issues. Better contact center analytics, data analysis, and more connectivity with integration is another step towards ensuring that the agents are empowered with more information to help the customers.
Employee engagement programs that can increase agent retention are equally important because a happy employee leads to a happy company. An agent must provide a personalised experience with excellent communication skills. Though cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence seem to be making their inroads in the contact center industry, the one-on-one communication shall continue, and customers and agents will continue to be the key factors affecting the brand image.
