For my weekly CX mail, I was googling some curated sources to see what they are saying about the trends in Customer Experience for 2023.
I reviewed sources like McKinsey, Deloitte, Forrester, Forbes, Bain and Accenture just to name a few.
And then I got a bit depressed…
If automation and self-service is still the number one trend in CX in 2023 (Forbes) – which has been a trend for almost the last 20 years – then what is happening with CX?
The Metaverse (Deloitte)? Come-on, how many organisations do you know will actually have relevant, customer-valued innovations using the metaverse in 2023 or ever?
Forrester predicts that 1 in 5 CX programs will be shut down, because too many CX professionals are struggling to prove their added value to the core business of the organization. Although I fully agree with that last point, it’s also not really a positive momentum for CX in 2023.
Customer Experience Paradox
The interesting paradox that I see, is that Customer Experience is becoming more and more important, while at the same time the added value of CX is being questioned more and more – and rightfully so.
After this moment of tiny depression, I thought to myself, let’s have some fun…
Everyone is playing around with Chat GPT, let me see what they had to say.
So I asked:
Using sources from McKinsey, Forrester, Forbes, Deloitte, Bain, Accenture, what are the 5 shared key insights to be the best at customer experience?
- Prioritize the customer journey: Understanding the entire customer journey and identifying key touchpoints is crucial for designing and delivering a seamless, positive customer experience.
- Use data and analytics to understand customer needs and preferences: Gathering and analyzing data about customer behavior and feedback can help businesses gain insight into what customers want and need, and make informed decisions about how to improve the customer experience.
- Foster a customer-centric culture: Creating a culture that places the customer at the center of everything a business does can help drive better customer experiences. This includes empowering employees to make decisions that benefit the customer and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
- Invest in technology to enhance the customer experience: Leveraging technology such as artificial intelligence, chatbots, and mobile apps can help businesses provide more personalized, convenient experiences for customers.
- Continuously collect and act on customer feedback: Listening to and acting on customer feedback is crucial for continuously improving the customer experience. This includes collecting feedback through a variety of channels, such as surveys, social media, and customer service interactions, and using that feedback to make ongoing improvements.
To me, although it’s not super sexy and new, these 5 points make more sense to adhere to in 2023 than any of the other trends I have seen.
The key here?
HOW you map the journeys
In 2022, how many CX projects have you heard of that mapped the journeys, had beautiful reports or even persona’s and then got stuck and failed to actually improve the journeys?
HOW you collect data
In 2022, how many surveys are all about asking 1 question with some open text failing to find what really drives customers ánd a great experience, let alone make an impactful business case?
HOW you create this customer centric culture
In 2022, how many organisations had a goal like “be the most customer centric company” and never operationalized it?
HOW you implement technology
In 2022, how many times have you shouted at a chatbot that completely did not get what you were asking?
HOW you continuously collect and act on feedback
In 2022, how many times have you been asked to please rate a 9 or 10 because the person’s bonus was depending on it?
Let’s decide to make 2023 all about creating high impact CX, meaning hard measurable results shown in increased NPS, satisfaction and financial benefits, employees that embrace your CX insights in their day to day work because it add value to them and a board that embraces CX and leads by example.
No Metaverse, no Web3, no annoying chatbots, just focusing on truly understanding what customers want, inspiring the whole organization to improve based on these insights and keep experimenting, learning and proving that top quality CX enhances the bottom line.
That’s human centricity in action.
