The pandemic has radically impacted life as we know it—not only for individuals, but also for businesses. All of a sudden, we had to change the ways we connected with our family and friends, and businesses had to adapt to an environment where there was little to no face-to-face interaction. With customer behaviours shifting in irreversible ways, companies were forced to rethink the concept of customer engagement.

Based on a report by GlobalData, 87% of businesses indicated that customer engagement and preferences have changed significantly over the past year. To thrive in the new normal, businesses must understand these needs and be prepared to leverage opportunities to connect with consumers in new and powerful ways.

Meet your customers where they are

For a start, the new way of working spurred a rapid rise in shopping on online platforms, including e-commerce, social media, and mobile apps. The change also saw an increase in low-touch digital platforms across multiple categories, such as food and grocery, apparel, household, and fitness. Customers needed digital, at-home, and low-touch options, and companies that innovate quickly to help them navigate the uncertainties safely and effectively gained a strong advantage over the others.

With digital being the only way that businesses could connect with consumers during the pandemic, companies quickly realized that they had to embrace digital technologies to engage customers more effectively. In fact, many companies have accelerated the digitisation of their customer interactions by three to four years, and these businesses have fared better during the new era of work than those that were slow to move to digital and relied more heavily on legacy technology.

With digital engagement here to stay, it is not enough to simply integrate digital channels. Customers are dictating where, when, and how they want to engage with brands, and businesses need to be able to orchestrate and integrate customer interactions through various channels. Besides traditional channels, such as voice calls, SMS, and email, consumers are increasingly using social media platforms, chat applications, and even videos.

Here’s a food for thought: how do you combine all these capabilities under one platform while ensuring that customers receive a consistent and seamless experience?

Customer loyalty is up for grabs

Since 2020, over 75% of consumers have tried new brands, places to shop, or methods of shopping. With the pandemic causing global supply-chain disruptions, customer loyalty is up for grabs; shoppers who can not find their preferred product will switch to competitors without hesitation. Unfortunately, not only has the new world accelerated the shift to digital, it has also accelerated the erosion of brand loyalty. More than ever before, consumers today are going with brands that are convenient, reliable, and have their best interests at heart. This means that businesses need to rethink strategies for customer loyalty.

One sure-fire way to keep customers coming back to you is to offer highly personalised customer experiences. Engage your customers with products, offers, and communications that are uniquely relevant to them—but don’t stop there! Show your customers that you know them well by personalising the multiple interactions that they have with you at various touch points on various channels, and ensure that their experience is seamless and consistent.

It's a no-brainer that businesses with digital platforms that leverage analytics and data to deliver personalised omnichannel experiences are the ones that will gain new fans and kept the old ones.

The customer experience must be human-centric

Building a human connection has always been at the heart of the customer experience. However, 2020 led to a renewed emphasis on the human experience. Fifty-nine percent of today’s disconnected consumers prefer an empathetic customer service experience over a speedy resolution, and 82% want more human interactions from brands.

The need to be human-centric is even more imperative, since the customer experience has become largely digital. Businesses need to put the human into digital interactions, and this can be as simple as speaking to the customer over the phone when they need support (as opposed to a chat bot), or having a video call to walk a customer through documents (rather than sending emails back and forth).

The numbers speak for themselves: 83% of respondents in an Edelman report want compassionate connections with brands, including messaging that communicates empathy with and support for the struggles they face. If you are still not investing in tools that provide your customers with a human connection, what else are you waiting for?

The possibilities of improving customer experience are endless

Businesses have been forced to rethink their business models, and it is evident that they need to embrace digital technologies to truly engage customers. In the quest to elevate their customer experiences, these businesses are increasingly adopting communications platforms and API solutions. In fact, GlobalData indicates that these platforms are a very high priority for 77% of businesses’ overall business transformation and customer engagement initiatives. And you do not want to be the remaining 23%.

That's why 8x8’s embeddable communications APIs were designed to be easy to integrate and use, while empowering businesses to scale customer engagement. It's simple to get ahead! Reach out to us at hello-cpaas@8x8.com to find out more.