We have entered the “age of trends” where most things are temporary, be it customer life cycles, product life cycles, business life cycles, and even whole sector life cycles. Every day new trends are established, existing trends evaluated for continuation, and a few vanish into thin air. The technology, accessibility, and information mix reaching almost everyone drove us to this point. If you are not too careful, your business could be one of the trends that vanish.

Whatever be the reasons behind such volatility that surrounds us, the most important takeaway here is nothing is a given. As an entrepreneur, you cannot afford to take anything for granted. Markets, customers, products, preferences, and competition are in a constant state of evolution. Change is the rule rather than the exception. Companies are working on being market disruptors while technology integration brings in competition from completely disconnected segments. 

For instance, oil companies that were major players in the last century are now competing against battery manufacturers as renewables become more cost-effective and reduce carbon footprint. Similarly, car manufacturers are now competing against Uber, a company that does not even own any vehicles, let alone manufactures them. So how can you create a business that grows and thrives in such an unpredictable environment? Setting your focus on creating great customer experiences is the most reliable solution to this problem. Let's look at a few ways to achieve that.

Data-driven approach

Creating wonderful customer experiences is all about delivering what is in the customer’s minds. It calls for a deep understanding of customer behavior patterns, preferences, and needs. How can you get your hands on such a treasure trove of information? From your customers themselves. That's right! Every opportunity a business gets to interact with its customers is a potential source of valuable information inflow. The handling and usage of the information separate the great companies from the good ones.

Helpdesk applications usually have capabilities to store, retrieve and manage information. Implementing a good helpdesk application at contact centers helps your customer service team record inbound information from the customer like customer complaints, suggestions, feedback, transaction records, customer information, and preferences. It creates opportunities to personalize services and upsell more products based on AI-powered recommendation systems. This strategy has been employed very successfully by e-commerce giants like Amazon and is now becoming common in the retail sector. Information drives the world, and not using it is akin to running blindfolded.

Personalization

Over 64% of customers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience. It marks a shift in the consumer psyche towards overall quality. A key ingredient in excellent customer experience is personalization which leaves its mark. Customers don't prefer introducing themselves and waiting for the designated agent to attend to their requests at the start of a call. Over 90% of customers will switch brand loyalty over such fuss. They expect to be recognized and for you to understand what they need upfront. 

Leveraging information is the key here to delivering personalized service. Automation that helps service agents like automatically pulling up customer information at the start of a call, recommendation systems that suggest possible issue resolutions to speed things up, and simplified interfaces help agents deliver a seamless customer experience over the interaction. Another aspect of personalization is analyzing customer behavior and recommending personalized products and services that better meet customer needs. Personalization of customer experience is an effective way to improve sales and customer loyalty.

Analytics

Analytics is your crystal ball into the future of your business. BI systems are becoming more and more powerful in delivering insights for critical business decisions. Combining customer data with powerful BI capabilities helps you understand trends, patterns, and the best course of action. Analytics is a huge part of business intelligence and customer experience. Metrics like Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), Churn rate, Retention rate, Customer Effort Score (CES), and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) indicate the vitals of customer loyalty.

Powerful BI capabilities built into modern helpdesk applications enable real-time monitoring of customer sentiment and customer experience metrics. Automated reports help you drive decisions and initiatives that impact the bottom line. An integrated data management and BI tool empower you to streamline data, identify trends, retain and retrieve history, and take corrective actions before things go out of line. Entrepreneurship is daunting. A crystal ball that can foresee a looming crisis in your journey is priceless.

Data security

We live in an information age that has pretty much organized itself around and inside voluminous chunks of data. We have come to terms with our information being out there for our convenience. But that trust is breached with cybercriminals stealing the data, leaving a black spot in an otherwise immaculate and convenient world. The threat is quite real and disruptive to your business. Over 90% of customers rate trust in a particular business as the reason for customer loyalty. Data theft is a serious threat to trust and customer loyalty.

Data security measures are imperative for all organizations today. Safeguarding customer data and business intelligence with the help of trained professionals and state-of-the-art tools is an absolute must. Most businesses are shifting towards the Cloud, and Cloud data security requires a new way of looking at IT infrastructure and data security. Fortunately, technology has kept pace with business needs and delivered reliable solutions in data security that have become industry standards over the years. Business information is your competitive advantage and not securing it properly is like handing over your business to competitors.

A few final words

Customer interactions present an opportunity to serve and understand your customers better. A company that understands it will never ignore the wealth of information inflow from customers and will make every attempt to capitalize on it to serve the customers better. Handling customer data, understanding trends and patterns deciphering consumer psyche, and charting business strategies help you build a resilient business around customer needs that will withstand the shifts in market trends.

At Wolken, we deliver IT solutions that help companies understand their customers better and the market trends enabling them to make better decisions. We are committed to delivering excellence in customer service through our IT capabilities and products that streamline business operations and deliver the best customer experiences. Get in touch with our team to explore how we can help your business.

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