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Welcome to navigating the customer experience, Happy International Women's Day 2022.   We have been podcasting for almost 6 years, and we are already 158 episodes in, like, Wow. Thank you so much to every one of our listeners that has ever taken the time to listen to our podcast. And we really hope that you are able to get some value out of our conversations.

 

Today, I want to spend a little time and talk about a few customer experience trends for 2022. Let's first begin by defining what our customer experience is. The term customer experience describes a customer's overall impression of your business throughout the course of their customer journey. From first discovering your brand to using a purchased product or service.

 

There are many strategies a business needs to invest in to create fantastic customer experiences. These of course may include offering stellar customer service, driving proactive customer engagement and building positive customer relations, solving your customers problems and issues and communicating with them often. All of these things can potentially be brand differentiators for customers in their own right.

 

Now, some big ticket item trends that we have seen emerging and developing further in 2022 and beyond include:

 

• Social Media as a Primary Service Channel - Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn have become vital elements of the customer journey. A 2019 survey revealed that 85% of contact centre leaders say that social media is a simplest way to support customers. Customers are increasingly discovering brands, browsing products and making buying decisions on social media. As a result, they expect to be able to ask questions and get help on the same channels. However, in 2021, only 14% of consumers strongly agreed that companies are effectively combining newer channels such as social, digital and mobile and traditional ones like email, telephone, paper mail to provide a positive customer experience. Many companies may be struggling to bring the same standard of service to yet another channel. But as I've mentioned before, social media represents one of the most effective channels to provide your customers with timely and easily accessible support. In 2022, it's definitely worth prioritizing your social media as part of your omnichannel service strategy.

 

• Abundant Self-Service Options for Customers - Many customers do their own research, conduct their own analysis, and many times may even proceed to purchase even without speaking directly with a representative from a company…. you may ask WHY? People enjoy serving themselves, and this allows them to be in control of their experiences and control the pace. A Harvard Business Review found that a whopping 88% of U.S customers expect organizations to offer a self-service support portal. Things like this may include an FAQ page (frequently asked questions), chatbots or even a comprehensive knowledge base. In addition to meeting these customer expectations, providing robust self-service tools reduces the burden on your customer support team. With the right resources, customers are empowered to successfully solve their enquiries, often in less time than a representative can. And of course, this will free up your customer service team to focus on more complex and hands on items or issues with customers.

 

• Increased Communication - According to Salesforce, 84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. And two- thirds of customers say they're willing to pay more for a better customer experience. One way to deliver on this expectation is to use customer service automation. Automated