Resetting Your Customer Experience For Post Covid

We are nearing the end of 2020… the year that changed the world with months in lockdown, travel bans, restrictions on gatherings, working from home enforcements and rising unemployment. No one saw these things coming.

For vulnerable consumers and the customer teams that serve them, Covid-19 has forced companies to rethink what customer care means to ensure they are addressing their customer needs.

A customer’s interaction with a company can have an immediate and lasting effect on their sense of trust and loyalty. During a time of crisis, it is essential that businesses deliver service and experiences that meet customers new needs with empathy, care, and concern. It is important to use real-time data to understand shifts in consumer behaviour so businesses can quickly pivot innovating redesign journeys to align with constantly changing customer preferences.

Below are customer experience practices that build resilience and prepare companies for success in the days after Covid-19.

Care

People need extra information and support to navigate during these unprecedented times.

To show that you care, REACH OUT and offer genuine support, not through marketing or blatant attempts to gain competitive advantage. These experiences are important for customers in the short term, and the impact will build positive, lasting relationships.

Meet your customers where they are

Your customers’ normal patterns of life have been put on hold, and as a result there has been a shift in demand patterns - customers need digital, at-home, and low-touch options. Digitisation has accelerated because of the coronavirus pandemic and digital-led experiences will continue to grow in popularity as we recover from the crisis. Businesses that act fast and innovate in their delivery model to help consumers navigate during the pandemic safely and effectively will establish a strong advantage.

Redesign operations to support the new world

It is to be expected that consumer preferences and business models will last longer than the crisis. Once covid-19 subsides, economic challenges will remain, so it is key for companies to deliver on customer experiences that are emerging as most important, whilst realising productivity efficiencies, to remain competitive.

A keyway to simultaneously improve your customer experience and business efficiencies is to increase digital self-service and to make smarter operational trade-offs, driven by what matters most to customers. Migrating customers to digital channels is often a successful way to boost savings and satisfaction.

Agility

Sustaining a strong customer experience during a crisis requires prompt research to interpret the changing dynamics and new pain points as well as agile innovation to address them. Businesses that can master that tactic will generate value for customers in high-priority areas in an environment of intensified competition.

Customer experience has taken on a new definition and dimension in the uncertain times of Covid-19. Companies who show care towards their customers, reinvent their customer journey and anticipate how customers will change their habits, will build deeper relationships that will continue beyond the crisis.

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Looking to redesign your own customer experience? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people and customers just as much as financial outcomes.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

Digital Commerce

According to Gartner, five areas of digital commerce are being transformed due to the effect of Covid-19 on customer behaviours and businesses accelerating their adoption of online and digital alternatives.

1. Contact Purchasing

Contactless purchasing has become a preferred payment. Gartner predicts 80% of ordering and replenishment  will be contactless by 2024.

Customers:

Contactless payments and pickup/delivery

Operations:

Contactless business operations where companies can use robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision to assist employees across the supply chain

2. Virtual Product Reviews

Currently the adoption of 2D and 3D product previews remains light.

Gartner predicts the uptake  will increase - software vendors offering visual configuration tools have reported a rise in business due to the pandemic.

Virtual Product Reviews may reduce the need for samples and showrooms and enable more customer self-service when buying configurable products.

3. Live Commerce Streaming Services

Live commerce involves video streaming to demonstrate products and interact with shoppers in real time to encourage purchases. Brands that have implemented livestreaming for selling or customer engagement are seeing early signs of success.

4. B2B Buying Experience

Businesses that sell B2B should think about transforming their shopping platform into one that has a more consumer-like feel to gain traction with younger professionals as they will expect a B2C like experience.

5. Enterprise Marketplaces

Enterprise marketplaces are online marketplaces operated by organizations that enable third-party sellers to sell directly to end customers.

Need to make the most of digital commerce trends?

Let us help. To learn more about how to leverage digital trends and pivot your business, contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au