In business today, excellence in customer experience is not just a buzzword. It is an absolute necessity.
Even so, it remains a rare experience. But what if e-commerce merchants had the ability to not only collect massive amounts of data about their customers’ experience and behavior, but also to use it to anticipate and deliver the seamless, targeted experience those customers really want? To harvest complex metrics in real time and use them to reshape customer experience, enhance customer satisfaction, build loyalty, and drive conversion rates higher?
The short answer is, they do. The new generation of sophisticated customer experience analytics intelligence now available makes all of that and more possible and accessible for every online business.
The answers are here and now
The emerging solutions sometimes sound like science fiction, or like cost-prohibitive tools beyond the reach of any but the biggest corporations. But breakthroughs such as predictive analytics, machine learning, digital self-service, voice analytics and more are not only the cornerstones of the online experiences customers are coming to expect – and will soon demand. They are also cost-effective ways for businesses to:
- Predict purchases and target offers or coupons to the right customer at the right time
- Increase transactional value by suggesting complementary or additional purchases
- Understand and respond to customer preferences in order to anticipate what information they need or want before they even ask
- Resolve the identities behind anonymous transactions
- Identify customer’s social media usage and influence
- Predict attrition and reach out to dissatisfied customers to limit it
- Employ Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology to engage customers more fully
- Protect fraud by recognizing patterns that potentially signal trouble
- Analyze voices to respond proactively to customers’ preferences and concerns
- Engage each customer with a personalized experience
And the list goes on.
Significantly, though, the many customer-centered solutions made possible by the new technologies are flexible and allow businesses to be agile from the outset. The various functions can be readily adapted and tailored to the specific needs and goals of each business while allowing for change and growth down the line.
And change is going to come
It’s the one thing any business can be sure of, especially those grounded in or making heavy use of the internet. Change is a constant – but that doesn’t mean only technological change. At this point, keeping up with technology to consistently deliver the best customer experience possible and outpace the competition may actually be the easiest challenge to meet. The trickier part may be anticipating, preparing for, and successfully meeting the ever-evolving preferences, expectations, and requirements of customers, in order to maintain that optimal customer experience for the long run.
As the customer experience analytics experts at nanorep point out, tomorrow’s successful businesses won’t merely be the ones that have stayed in step with technology, but the ones that have also recognized that their customers are individuals who expect to enjoy a personalized experience from an e-commerce business. And that will be so whether the customers arrive by way of website, app, an instant message visit with a chatbot, or the next platform to come along.
Customers come in all different ages, genders and cultural backgrounds, and as marketers already know, we have seen major generational shifts in attitudes, habits, and behavior patterns in recent years, and that rapidly shifting retail terrain promises to continue into the future. The one constant through it all is that each of those customers, no matter what demographic sector they inhabit, now expects a tailor-made experience with the businesses they patronize.
That’s what will keep them coming back, and that’s what customer experience analytics can deliver.
About the Author
Debbie Fletcher is an enthusiastic, experienced writer who has written for a range of different magazines and news publications over the years. Graduating from City University London specialising in English Literature, Debbie’s passion for writing has since grown. She loves anything and everything technology, and exploring different cultures across the world. She’s currently looking towards starting her Masters in Comparative Literature in the next few years.
