Mid-Year 2021’s Most Noteworthy Trends for Customer Experience

As we move through 2021, a few Customer Experience trends are emerging as noteworthy. As CX specialists, we all know it’s crucial to the success of your business to stay on top of trends and learn new insights to keep your teams on the right track and your brand in the spotlight. Since the pandemic, this is of even more importance, as adjusting quickly to new paradigms increases the value of your business and keeps you moving down the road to success.

Shutterstock; Photo by GaudiLab

Shutterstock; Photo by GaudiLab

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According to a new report from industry analyst Forrester, “2021 will be the year that every company – not just the 15% of firms that were already digitally savvy – doubles down on technology-fueled experiences, operations, products and ecosystems.” In the past year, companies had an opportunity to really look at what was working and what was not, and adjust appropriately, from the front-end to the back-end. Given the slowdown across the world, brands had a moment to stop doing, and take the time to see what really made sense vs. a “we-have-always-done-it-this-way” approach.

Due to the pandemic, fulfilling experiences hurtled to the forefront, as consumers craved ways to deal with isolation, either virtually or simulated. This opened up opportunities for brands to try new things and to find creative ways to build trust with new brand adoptees.

Mid-Year 2021’s Most Noteworthy Trends for Customer Experience Click To Tweet

1. Cutting Tech Spend but Improving CX

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• Tech systems were modified to support remote workers. If companies weren’t set up before the pandemic, they are now. A flexible work environment where employees can either work from anywhere or utilize a hybrid of working from both home/offices has now become the norm as regions reopen.

• Many businesses initiated a consolidation and/or elimination of tech stacks, allowing for smarter spending on the most necessary areas, resulting in a more strategic, holistic approach for tech needs.

• More brands incorporated chatbots and virtual assistants as pathways to customer engagement. AI and automation will only increase as a vital tool in the customer journey. The survey states “…more than one-third of B2B technology buyers say digital engagement channels (such as vendor websites) have become more important in their buying journey, while around four in ten indicate that human/analog engagement with sellers has become less important.”

• Going forward, sales tools with embedded AI and automation functionality will become key indicators for invaluable insights on customer research and buyer interaction, identifying patterns, channels and allowing for significant opportunities for building essential relationships.

Mid-Year 2021’s Most Noteworthy Trends for Customer Experience Click To Tweet

2. Staffing Appropriately

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The key to any successful customer experience is a team of expert empathetic agents. To support that team, new training and new tools need to constantly be in play in order to deliver consistently helpful experiences. Additionally, businesses have become more focused on the employee experience. This is the best way to find, develop and keep top talent, crucial to keeping a competitive advantage in a pivotal year.

3. Consumer Trust

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Positive interactions build trust and brand integrity. By identifying system issues, consolidating and updating tech, and developing highly-trained employees, businesses who addressed these core competencies improved their brand’s output, increasing customer trust in the process.

Take the time to discuss these trends with your teams. What can you do to address these topics and accelerate your business as a result? Use these new insights as ways to guide your business forward and keep your brand top of mind with your loyal customers. Stay nimble and keep growing.