How Customer Engagement Will Evolve In The Coming Years

We can apply this to our businesses in a way that delivers value for our customers and our organization. As we look ahead, it’s clear that the companies that thrive will be those that successfully integrate these cutting-edge technologies into their customer engagement strategies. We must navigate the complexities of data security, workforce upskilling and the ethical implications of AI, all while striving to deliver seamless, personalized customer experiences. Customer data platforms to organize, sort, and manage data will continue to be key.

What Real Engagement Looks Like

7) Balancing Quality and Growth – In order to scale, a small business will have to find a way to balance Quality and Growth. As a small business grows, it is important to remember that not every email can be personally hand-written, not every widget can be hand-inspected. Tasks will have to be automated and processes will have to be put in place to handle this. We are living in exciting times when the very nature of business is undergoing a paradigm shift due to the empowerment of the Customer. Business executives are increasingly moving to an IT environment that is no longer focused on big, long projects but shorter, more sustainable efforts to drive change and innovation. What we have found in developing this as a forward-looking innovation-sharing event is that our customers get a better sense of where industry developments are headed and how best to plan today to get to the future on time, if not early.

What is Customer Engagement?

In the last two years, we have seen a digital transformation happen at lightning speed. Everything from technology adoption to shifts in digital strategy has happened in record time as we shifted how we work, live, and interact with each other — and companies had to respond in kind. Digital engagement has the potential to deliver material value for customers and the organizations who serve them.

Customer engagement: digital and physical

• In order to achieve SPA status, we need to understand your customer’s goals, needs, uses cases, and intent.
• The key is to integrate engagement into every step of the customer journey, rather than treating it as an add-on.
• A desirable outcome for companies based upon investment in technology and practices that leverage a customer-first approach coupled with the continued application of data and technology to improve CX.

Artificial intelligence is transforming every sphere of life, and customer engagement is no exception. Twilio’s State of Personalization Report found that 92% of companies are already using AI to power personalization to some degree. When customers feel invested, they educate others through authentic reviews and peer validation. This shortens the sales cycle and opens new doors for upselling and cross-selling through natural interactions.

If a customer finds phone calls annoying or anxiety-inducing, you won’t get very far by calling them. Similarly, if they don’t use social media, it’s going to be hard to engage them in that avenue. Think about your customer base, and try to pick a platform with diversified communication tools. By involving customers in product development and getting their input, you can offer exactly what your target market craves.

Customer Engagement Software for Small Businesses

Under no circumstance should a customer have to repeat information that he has already provided. In this shifting landscape, businesses are increasingly embracing the concept of Customer Engagement and building processes and strategies to engage the empowered customer at every stage in the customer journey. I think it is this magic — the intangible feeling you get when someone has anticipated your needs and provided for it, when they didn’t really have to but cared enough to do it anyway –that forms the essence of ‘Customer Engagement’. Once a business is able to form that emotional connection with a customer, the relationship is transformed from being a ‘business-to-customer relationship’ to being a ‘human-to-human relationship’. To me, that is the holy grail of Customer Engagement for any business, big or small.

There is no sustainable market for vendors who simply package up their Same old ‘X’, as a Service (SoXaaS). Adding a digital connection and a subscription model isn’t enough to create a true XaaS proposition. This is the secret sauce of XaaS and it defines the next 25 years of digitally connected business. The richness of the connection to customers continues to evolve along with the technology. There have been several notable developments in the years since we first published The XaaS Effect.