How Technology is Redefining the Connection between Businesses and Consumers

The world of customer relations is constantly changing. New tech gives businesses better insights into consumer behavior and shifting preferences redefine the way marketers approach potential clients.

Emergent technology gives consumers greater control over their experience, too. This is particularly important today, as 66% of customers expect companies to understand their needs while a further 82% say they expect retailers to accommodate their needs.

Clearly, consumers show a strong preference for authentic connections and personalization. This means that consumer-oriented businesses must get up to speed with the latest tech like AI-powered chatbots, metaverse branded experiences, and predictive analytics programs.

AI and Customer Service

The recent rise of artificial intelligence has been heralded as the start of a new era for customer service. Programs like ChatGPT boasted a 100 million active monthly user base just two months after launching and competitors like Google Bard are quickly catching up.

Natural language processing (NLP) models are not just for public use, either. Advanced large language models transform the connection between consumers and businesses by significantly improving customer service. Modern businesses use AI to provide prompt, accurate support to folks who log on to their websites.

AI analytics can improve the in-store experience, too. Smart retail is revolutionizing the consumer experience by improving product research and streamlining operations. Over 50% of stores say they soon use some form of “smart” inventory management and 38% are adopting AI in-store. This can build cohesion between brands’ digital and physical points of sale.

Advanced Chatbots can be programmed to understand tone and brand expectations, too. For example, subscription services like GPT4 have been used to mimic human-like interactions on popular applications like DuoLingo and the Khan Academy. These same NLPs can be trained using pre-existing conversations by real agents to better address consumer’s needs.

Firms who do decide to proceed with AI-enhanced customer relations can free up time for customer service agents. This is particularly helpful if agents spend most of their day responding to FAQs, but could better spend their time answering more complex queries.

Marketing

Artificial intelligence can be used to better understand consumer trends and predict fluctuations in the market. For example, companies that measure consumer engagement can garner data-driven that help them measure and track the efficacy of their marketing campaigns.

The data businesses collect can also be used to optimize future campaigns. For example, companies that track consumer acquisition cost (CQC) in real-time can tell when exactly their marketing spend pays off. Using this insight, firms can find ways to improve their ROI and produce more profitable marketing campaigns.

High-tech businesses can also use social listening tools to detect conversations about the brand online. This is particularly important for businesses that are concerned about protecting their brand reputation as a swift response can curtail costly customer complaints. Advanced social listening tools trawl the web in search of brand mentions and notify marketers whenever someone mentions their brand.

Metaverse

The metaverse currently has 400 million active users and a global market value of $82 billion. However, many businesses and brands are still unsure of how to interact with consumers in the virtual world.

Event-based marketing in the metaverse can be particularly powerful for progressive brands who want to connect with young consumers. Digital events give businesses a chance to interact with potential consumers and can give folks personalized attention. 

Some brands, like Nike, are even using the space to sell their wares directly. The athletic-wear titan uses augmented reality (AR) tech to make shopping that much easier. Folks who visit their virtual store can “try on” clothes to see how they would fit before actually making the purchase. This gives folks more time to find products that suit their style.

Personalization

Modern consumers demand personalized brand experiences. Put simply, folks don’t want to feel like a cog in the wheel and are looking for businesses that make them feel important. Until recently, however, most brands could not authentically claim to provide personalized marketing.

Today, advanced data analytics empowers personalization efforts. High-tech data collection programs allow brands to wield big data and refine their approach to customer engagement. This means that marketers can create more accurate consumer personas while tracking metrics like conversion rates and customer satisfaction scores.

Ideally, personalization should be part of a wider Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy. This ensures that everyone understands their role and increases data utilization. Using the right CRM can make importing data easier, too, meaning all departments can contribute to producing an accurate understanding of consumer needs.

Conclusion

Emergent technology is redefining the connection between businesses and consumers. No matter the technology, businesses can personalize the consumer experience and garner brand loyalty. In the future, we can expect even more enhanced customer experiences as these same businesses figure out which technologies and tactics work best for customers and how to adapt.

6 Customer Service Trends to Lookout for in 2023

Contributed Article by Manpreet Singh Chawla

The customer service industry is constantly evolving and looking for the best way to serve customers efficiently. With customer experience becoming more critical to today’s business, new technologies are emerging to help customer service stay ahead of the latest trends. 

According to research from the Temkin Group, firms with annual revenue of $1 billion are expected to generate an additional $700 million within three years if they invest in customer experience. The revenue of SaaS companies is expected to increase by $1 billion.

These numbers make it abundantly clear that providing a positive experience for consumers leads to increased revenue from those customers. In fact, research shows that 86% of purchasers are prepared to spend extra money for an exceptional client experience. Let’s explore new customer service trends in 2023.

Top Customer Service Trends to Lookout for in 2023

Omnichannel support 

Omnichannel customer support is an integral part of delivering superior CX in today’s digital world. The days of contacting brands through telephone and fax are long gone. The most recent trends in customer care enable you to select your preferred method of reaching a support representative – phone, email, live chat, SMS, social media, etc.

Following the trend of omnichannel customer care, businesses can build a seamless customer experience and achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction.

Benefits  

1. Omnichannel support ensures a consistent customer experience across all touchpoints.
2. Improved customer engagement can be achieved through real-time support options such as voice and video chat.
3. Personalized experiences can increase customer loyalty.
4. Centralized management of interactions streamlines operations and increases efficiency.
5. Seamless communication between customers and support leads to increased customer satisfaction. 

Real-time co-browsing and video chat support

Advanced technology and new marketing methods give opportunities to engage with people and make goods and services visible. What if clients browse your website’s services or price page before buying?

Video chat or live chat is the best technique to assist a client through services and give real-time support. Real-time support for your company’s customer service trends is beneficial.

Benefits  

• Instant customer service
• Agent and customer save time
• Increases sales possibility
• User-friendliness
• Increases customer satisfaction 

Automated AI chatbot support 

One of the most noteworthy service marketing techniques is the increasing usage of bots to manage large-scale customer care without human intervention. The advent and continued growth of customer service bots or chatbots enable businesses to offer round-the-clock support through automated responses that immediately aid the customer in diagnosing the technical issue.

The most prominent benefit is that they relieve agents of some of the incoming support tickets so that they can focus on more critical, complex tasks. 

Bot-driven automation can surely close the gap in the customer service hierarchy and guarantee value since 50% of consumers no longer care whether they are speaking with people or AI-enabled assistants. These easy-to-use chatbots are a cost-effective way to answer customers’ typical questions. Given their current growth report, CNBC  predicts that chatbots will reduce company costs by $8 billion by 2023.

Self-service support 

As opposed to engaging with a customer support agent, 69% of consumers want to address as many problems as possible via customer self-service techniques. By providing customers with solutions to their concerns, banks and credit unions may simplify interactions and enhance the entire experience.

As customers seek more immersive ways to connect with companies, augmented reality (AR) may become an increasingly important component of self-service alternatives. More than 90% of consumers want businesses to give self-service options, such as a call center knowledge base, product FAQs, tutorials, AI-powered chat and messaging, and automated contact centers.

Automation helps consumers discover relevant information without ever having to communicate with a person, thanks to natural language processing and conversational intelligence improvements. 

More personalized customer service 

Given the quantity of personal data collected by companies, it would be irresponsible not to use it. 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions with companies after providing them with personal data. It involves providing customers with the help options they find most convenient, replying to their mail on an individual basis, and giving tailored recommendations. In addition, it may include recognizing their noteworthy accomplishments, distributing content pertinent to their needs, and enhancing the usability of self-service portals.

Every channel in your service mix, such as the website, social media platforms, email marketing, and help desk software, provides a vast array of choices for personalizing the customer experience. The optimum level of customization increases long-term customer loyalty and accelerates growth.

Proactive support

Consumers have enjoyed proactive support for decades. With automation on the horizon, team members proactively contact customers and give assistance, which is why it will be a robust 2023 customer service trend.

Research conducted in the United States by InContact reveals that 87% of people stated they welcome proactive business contact.

Proactive support helps avoid problems before they happen. It also deals with any concerns before they get worse. This shows that the company cares about its customers and helps keep them loyal. It is important for a company to ask about any issues their customers may have and address them proactively.

Facts at a glance   

• 59% of consumers are more concerned about customer service in the post-pandemic era.
• 79% of organizations reported an increase in customer loyalty, sales, and income after using automated chat.
• 61% of consumers would now switch to a rival after a single negative experience. 

Takeaways

Managing customer experience is a difficult endeavor that requires a thorough understanding of the client’s wants and expectations. In recent years, it is not surprising that there has been a significant shift in the behavior of both consumers and companies. If companies want to succeed, they must invest in the right technology to deliver customer-focused solutions.  

In 2023, CX will undergo significant changes. To meet the ever-rising customer expectations, a number of companies need to implement new technology, such as artificial intelligence, automated procedures, and a multichannel strategy.

8 Ways to Use ChatGPT to Grow Your Business this Summer

Contributed Article by Ray Blakney, owner of Kairos Venture Studios (which specializes in launching new online businesses in the Latin American market).

There’s no doubt that ChatGPT has been one of the hottest topics in the business world ever since OpenAI launched it at the end of November. Enterprises are now excitedly researching how they can use this powerful text-generating AI chatbot to automate tasks, streamline operations, and amplify work output. There has also been a lot of buzz over whether ChatGPT’s ability to write comprehensive content might cause many people to lose their jobs.   

It is important to understand that ChatGPT won’t necessarily replace people’s jobs; it will change processes to the point where employees will need to use AI/ChatGPT to do their tasks. Those who lose their jobs will be those who haven’t yet adopted the use of AI/ChatGPT. In my journey as the owner of Kairos Venture Studios, which specializes in launching new online businesses in the Latin American market, I have seen firsthand the many benefits of ChatGPT. 

Here are just a few ways to use ChatGPT to grow your business this summer and beyond:

Content Creation, But Not for the Website 

You may think it would be efficient to use ChatGPT to write informative blog posts and copy for product descriptions on your business website. However, don’t do this, as Google has already stated that AI-generated content is against their terms and conditions. Using ChatGPT to generate text for your website can cause it to be penalized and lose its ranking in the Google search engine, which can result in a major drop in business. 

Instead, I recommend using ChatGPT to write Twitter tweets, Facebook posts, and other text-based social media content. It can take a lot of time to come up with social media posts each day, which is why so many businesses hire specialists or employees to handle social content creation. However, if you don’t have the budget to hire someone to create text-based social media content, ChatGPT can take care of it. You can even train ChatGPT to write in your voice from analyzing previous emails, your other blog posts, etc. 

Creating an Outline for an Online Course

As a business owner, you likely have a ton of valuable expertise on a certain subject. For example, do you own a private investment firm that helps clients grow their wealth? You can launch an online course all about investment strategies, tips to ensure more financial freedom, and more. Launching an online course is a fantastic way to generate passive income for your business, so have ChatGPT help you get started! You can use ChatGPT to create the full outline for your online course, then you or an employee can fill in the course and build it.

Brainstorming Ideas for the Problems You Face

Are you struggling to get a major client project moving forward? Have your sales been declining for a while? Trying to figure out how to grow your social media presence? ChatGPT can help you brainstorm solutions for the challenges you face in your company. You can ask ChatGPT to come up with a list of solutions for a specific problem and then take the time to think over all of the options it generates. To be fully transparent, a lot of the presented ideas can be bad, but sometimes an AI-generated solution can lead you down the right path.

Generating Summaries of Video & Phone Calls

Do you usually have a team member write summaries of weekly video meetings and phone conference calls? This can take up a lot of valuable time, which costs your business money. On top of this, it can be easy for your team member to forget a major point that was made in the meeting, which can result in a lot of time-wasting back-and-forth emails. That said, I recommend using a transcription service like Otter.ai, as you can then copy the meeting summary into ChatGPT and ask it for a bulleted list of what was important during the phone/video meeting.

Generating Job Descriptions to Make Better Hires

If you really need to hire a new team member, writing the perfect description for your job post can be half the battle. If you get the wording wrong or don’t sell the position well, you can turn away the best candidates for the job. So let ChatGPT generate the job description for you! I recently did this for my own business and it helped me attract excellent candidates for the position I posted. You will likely need to tweak the description based on your company’s goals, but this will free up time for you to focus on other areas of your business. 

Customizing Customer Outreach Emails

Email marketing plays a vital role in the sales funnel — sending out weekly or monthly promotional emails to customer leads and checking in with current customers on a regular basis can help you land new business and enhance brand loyalty. That said, do you pay someone to write all your company’s email blasts, or do you handle this time-consuming task on your own? Let ChatGPT generate your outreach emails! Simply tell the chatbot exactly what to write about and it will come up with a full email blast for you. Then just copy, paste, and send!

Creating Copy for Google Ads

The first place most people go when searching for specific products and services is Google. Therefore, a robust Google ad campaign can really make or break a business. While it is paramount to target the right keyword phrases in Google, having messy, confusing, or grammatically incorrect ad copy can really turn away potential customers. So use ChatGPT to write succinct and attractive copy for all your Google ads. You may realize that changing your Google ad copy was all that was needed to supercharge your sales!

Writing Podcast Episodes

Podcasts have exploded in popularity over the years and are now a top source for information on all kinds of topics. Therefore, hosting a podcast all about your business’s industry can help you land a lot more customers! If you are finally ready to launch your podcast or already have one but are struggling to stick to a consistent recording schedule, use ChatGpt to write entire podcast episodes. Tweak the episode so it contains exactly what you want discussed, then you can feed the copy into a voice generation service. This will create an entire episode for you — NPR just did a whole show like this!

To Wrap It All Up

ChatGPT is revolutionizing the ways that businesses operate, so use this dynamic chatbot to bring your own enterprise to new heights. For example, use ChatGPT to write content for social media posts, create an online course, and brainstorm ideas for the problems you face in your company. You can also use ChatGPT to generate summaries of phone/video meetings, create descriptions for job posts so you attract the best candidates, and write podcast episodes. These are just a few ways ChatGPT can help grow your business this summer and beyond.