Depending on your industry or the marketing strategies that work for your unique cohort of customers, the words “customer experience trends” will likely mean different things to you compared to your peers. But what’s the one thing everyone can agree on? That CX has become one of the biggest factors in helping a brand stand apart from competition.

Nowadays, earning customers loyalty, along with a share of their wallet, has less to do with the products or services you provide and more to do with the experience you are able to offer.

With such a bright spotlight on CX for 2022, what are the key areas you should focus on over the coming year? We surveyed founders, marketing leaders, and eCommerce experts to summarise the top six trends they are prioritising in 2022.

A defining factor? Try personalisation.

Personalisation is no longer a “nice to have”. It is rapidly becoming the norm and is expected by consumers throughout their buying process and beyond.  It has been proven that businesses that have implemented personalization in their customer buying journeys have seen revenues increase by up to 15%.

Personalization can be the single most impactful CX improvement that a business can make to help revenue growth when supported by powerful marketing automation tech. Start by looking at the data you hold on your customers. If you don’t have enough meaningful data to communicate with relevance - then start asking questions. Consumers are often willing to share information in return for an incentive or as part of a gamified experience.

One of the best examples of “personalisation-done-properly” is Manchester-based pet retailer yappy.com, who personalise every part of the customer experience to feature your pet, from product images, to web banners, emails, website navigation, campaign imagery and more!

Empowered decision-making through predictive analytics

Traditional data-collection methods are key for businesses to gauge and understand customer preferences, but they don’t rise to meet the varying data demands of businesses today. Not to mention , collecting this type of data requires a degree of attention and incentive.

Predictive analytics help brands and retailers to quickly and accurately capture unbiased data about customer interactions to predict their future behaviour like - what is this user interested in? What is the next best channel to communicate with? What message will help this user to convert?

Taking advantage of predictive analytics allows CX leaders to meet customers’ needs and build an accurate view of their customers quicker than solely relying on collecting data through surveys alone. 

Sincere data privacy to build trust

2021 has seen a number of legislative and industry changes that affect marketers’ ability to collect and use data - like Apple’s iOS15 update and the anticipated eradication of Google’s third-party cookies. Customer concerns around the ways businesses process and use their data are continuing to grow. Businesses should be working towards building a first-party and invited personalisation strategy with CX leaders building a transparent relationship with customers in regards to data collection. Setting clear security principles and safeguarding measures will help to earn customer trust and provide a solid foundation for data collection.

Offering online experiences & subscription models

Ever wondered where Netflix sprang up from? Or who is buying pasta via a subscription service rather than going to the store? Ecommerce professionals should be constantly looking at revolutionizing how consumers interact and purchase your products and services. The power of offering a unique digital experience...and being first to the plate cannot be underestimated.

Subscription services offer a great way to retain customers, develop a predictable line of recurring revenue and garner customer loyalty and lifetime value. They are sustainable in the long run, offering great convenience for customers, and helping businesses scale growth by understanding customers over time from data gathered during their subscription run.

Aiding customer service with chatbots

Chatbots have revolutionised the way businesses interact with their customers since the start of the pandemic, with adoption rates averaging 40% since the start of the pandemic. Offloading a proportion of your customer services operations to AI-powered chatbots can help businesses deliver a better, round-the-clock customer service experience, whilst significantly reducing operational costs.

Investing in chatbots helps brands to improve the self-service experience, delivering the convenience and fast problem solving that customers crave increasingly. The result? Faster decision-making, higher brand indexing and an improved NPS.

Improved CX through improving EX

It is no secret that the companies with the happiest employees also have the happiest customers - it has been statistically proven! Leaders in every department should look to provide a satisfying and engaging employee experience, keeping wellbeing front of mind. This will go a long way in keeping company morale high, ultimately leading to better work, better products, better interactions with customers, and improved customer experience.

The bottomline

Customer experience is evolving, and- so are their expectations...and it’s not all down to the pandemic. Emerging consumer cohorts and younger generations alike are showing a revived willingness to embrace and buy into new forms of engaging and purchasing products and services. In 2022, CX must not only deliver on convenience, it should be hyper-personalized, gamified and feel seamless across all channels, with first-party customer data providing the fuel to powering these experiences.