With consumer confidence constantly in flux – falling from a record low in January to its highest level in almost a year in February – the experiences that brands deliver today become increasingly important in winning over customers and their share of wallet.
Every interaction with a brand matters. With global economic uncertainty and the cost-of-living crisis driving customers to reconsider their finances and tighten their purse-strings, a single negative experience could be enough to lose them forever.
In fact, recent research from Qualtrics XM Institute found that bad customer experiences are putting $3.1 trillion in annual global consumer spending at risk. On average, 35% of consumers said they would decrease their spending after a poor experience with a company, and 15% said they would stop spending with the company altogether.
Brands need to understand what matters most to consumers to make an impact in a highly competitive market – and they can do so by taking a human-centric approach towards identifying and addressing changing needs and preferences.
Prioritising the human connection
Humans thrive on building a physical connection with others, whether that’s through eye contact, body language, conversations or shared experiences. These are also often only achieved through person-to-person interactions. Given this, it’s no surprise that customers are increasingly seeking a human connection with every brand experience instead of another faceless transaction.
Yet in recent years, the number of human interactions within the customer journey has decreased. This is notably caused by the rise of digital technologies that not only provide an alternative experience, but also aim to make processes faster and more seamless. Subsequently, whilst consumers have embraced the autonomy and convenience of online tools and AI assistants, when looking across the full CX journey, it’s essential for CX leaders to pair these optimisations with human connections, which can make the extra difference, if they want to retain and win customers.
Employees dealing with customers on the frontline, such as contact centre agents or retail staff in physical locations, are a good place to start. They can foster a human connection that pays dividends in customer spend and loyalty. In fact, Qualtrics’ Global Consumer Trends report found that human connection trumps operational metrics when it comes to driving customer satisfaction in the contact centre, with empathetic agents about twice as likely to make customers happy compared to short wait times.
Driving empathy through technology
The proof is there about how human empathy is a key factor that consumers want from their digital experiences. But to achieve empathy, employees need to be empowered and equipped with the right skills to use their human intuition during customer interactions, rather than relying solely on scripts or online tools to answer queries and offer solutions to problems.
Employees also need to have the right level of knowledge and insight to make these empathy-driven decisions. That is where the power of technology can be combined with the human touch. Equipping employees with the right information at the right moment during the interaction.
Leaders need to leverage unstructured data – such as call transcripts, online reviews, social media posts and video feedback – to gain a deep understanding of customer needs, intent and emotions. This can be used as a tool for CX leaders that will help them act with empathy, personalise experiences and build deeper connections to get closer to customers.
Through these insights, companies can delve more deeply into friction points across the entire customer journey, as well as uncovering opportunities that are sometimes missed with an approach solely reliant on solicited feedback.
Finding the right balance
The challenge for today’s CX leaders is to find the middle ground where human empathy, intuition, and creativity can meet the speed, scale, accuracy and efficiency provided by technology. The need to prioritise human connection in CX doesn’t necessarily mean that technological advances are unwelcome. But rather that brands must identify the tasks that require a human touch, as well as the tasks that can be automated to make the job easier for humans.
For example, customer service agents can leverage technology such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing to reduce the time spent on repetitive, laboursome tasks. As a result, they can focus on providing a more human and empathetic approach to CX, personalising interactions in a way that meets customer preferences.
Overall, in today’s environment, share of wallet tends to be concentrated amongst trusted brands as customers become more cautious of the companies they choose to invest in. Through the right balance of digital tools and human interaction to understand customer needs, brands have an opportunity to win people over and take market share away from their competitors.
As these needs evolve, companies should leverage unstructured data to keep up and not only understand what people value most in the present moment, but also what they will want in the near future.