Don’t underestimate the power of customer experience. Research by Forrester shows 77% of US adults say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service.
People’s time is valuable. And, if you look at some of the world’s hottest startups and modern brands, they deliver on convenience, optimized journeys and human-centered experiences.
There’s been a race to adopt disruptive new technologies - mobile, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, internet of things and lots more. Yes, it’s all very exciting - but what’s the point of all this technology if they are unusable to humans whose experiences tech is supposed to advance? Tech isn’t the solution. It’s the gateway to more enchanting and integrated experiences.
That takes experience design.
Experience design starts with purpose
What’s happening in businesses is the rapid adoption of new technologies without purpose. For example, brands were very quick to adopt chatbots and social media as tools to support customer service. However, those technologies have been implemented on top of legacy processes, services and metrics and, as many brands are discovering the hard way, doesn’t work very well. New mindsets are need to see new possibilities. New frameworks are needed to build experiences where technologies and processes work for customers based on the experiential standards that modern brands and start ups are forging.
The goal posts have moved
The game is changing
As such, new technologies are gifts to the open minded.
Technology offers brands new opportunities to create new, better experiences but only if you understand who you're talking to and understand their past behaviors. If you miss this crucial context, ultimately the technology won’t work - it will always miss the humanity, the magic, In the experience.
The holy grail we’re all striving for is loyalty among our customers. It seems simple: If you can build an intelligent platform where the context of the customer is brought to the forefront, you will be able to lead customers to personalized experiences that will inevitably lead to loyal lifetime value customers. Oftentimes, brands are failing because they don’t understand their customer. And that’s because they’re not their customer.
We can all wear a smile; it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re entirely happy
There is a front office, and there is a back office. To create better experiences, we have to rethink our methodologies, structures and our cultures that support the adoption of new mindsets, ensuing change and the pursuit of innovation - this is back office stuff. Being flexible is a part of this new world - using data across a business to rethink the way a product or service is designed based on the knowledge of customer usage and engagement. It means shedding biases to learn in real time, to improve the experience. It’s a basic concept but has not been adopted as quickly as the new technology.
For new technology to work properly and effectively, we have to install collaboration into business structure. Across the organization, it’s imperative that we rethink structure to share data and knowledge - tear down the walls so that your teams are no longer siloed and can effectively communicate with one another. Those businesses that can’t do that won’t be effective or useful in this world of hyper-connectivity.
We all need a reset
The companies delivering the best customer experiences are those who recognize what it is customers are seeking, how they’re behaving and learning what it is they value. That’s where inspiration lies. It should awaken you to new possibilities and spark a fire within you to move in new directions. That’s purpose.
We, as customers, can love the product but more than that we love the change that they are making. Purpose defines your work and your work defines the experience and the experience becomes the brand
If we are to succeed, we have to build an environment where these new technologies can do their job. It’s time to design experiences you want people to have, remember and share.
