Trevor Gordon -Delivering Frictionless Digital Support Experiences During 2020 And Beyond

Tony Gosling, Chief Digital Officer, Pell Frischmann, Mcbains And Dorsch Gruppe

With the UK ending its 2nd lockdown on December 2nd and a lot of businesses opening up for what should be an extremely busy holiday period there will be talk that normality is around the corner; but while social distancing is in place, a laser focus on customer experience and successfully leveraging tech for your service ecosystem is key to help these businesses trade profitably.

The pandemic has caused massive shifts in customer behaviour – how people buy, what they buy and where they buy it; and the impact of these increased market demands on existing business models combined with changes to the ways of working for front line staff / contact centers (e.g. increase in remote working & disparate teams) has placed more importance on the ability for organisations to have the service ecosystems in place to meet these increasing demands quickly and cost effectively.

When the pandemic initially hit, we were seeing industries such as travel, retail, hospitality, financial services, and emergencies services with huge increases in customer queries, a large volume shift during peak periods, increased frequency of customer communications; all coupled with staffing issues and the need for a quick, timely response. The ability to adapt the mixture of people, process and technology to get the right service ecosystem mix to adapt was crucial.

Providing seamlessly integrated customer service is critical for success - 2020 has seen a reinvigorated demand for digital and mobile experiences and your support offering must effortlessly meet customers where they are. This has caused many businesses to reinvent how they approached omnichannel care. For many organisations this means a digital and mobile first approach with the increased use of AI for both conversational AI (chatbots) and multichannel orchestration. This included how digital, mobile and in app support fit into your wider service ecosystem that helps leading enterprises maximise their capacity, efficiency and speed.

There are some key trends which accelerated as a result of the pandemic and we will probably see these sustain into 2021. They are as follows:

• Consumers want hyperlocal and personalized experiences both instore and online

• There is redefined focus for consumers/ CX on convenience and safety

• The pandemic has created a shock to loyalty with a large majority of consumers switching to brands they consider to be caring. Customer Experience / Service leaders need to consider these trends and think about how they shape their customer strategies and tweak their service ecosystem roadmaps. Key areas to consider are:

 • Focus on synchronisation of channels for a seamless mobile experience - Leverage real-time data for a personalized experience, and fully embed self-serve, social, and chat into your mobile customer service offerings.

• Remove friction, bolster retention & revenue, and eliminate bad user experience by providing dedicated, mobile-optimized support services.

 • Continued focus on how to deliver a better mobile experience which will delight your users – Explore the opportunities for automation, asynchronous messaging & AI