The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends - Sitel Group
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In This Report… 1 A New CX Reality 03 2 Our Predictions for 2021 06 3 A Platform for Growth 17 4 About Sitel Group® 18 02 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
The pandemic has been the driving force behind new consumer trends that are already reshaping the way customers expect to interact with brands. As we move into 2021 and look forward to the prospect of a post-COVID-19 world, your business must rethink its customer experience (CX) in order to be ready for this new normal. 1 A New CX Reality For any organization, no matter how strong its However, thanks to the unprecedented events of products, services or brand promise, a little customer this year – the impact and continuing reverberations turnover is inevitable. But, imagine if three quarters of the COVID-19 pandemic – the pressure for of your customer base were simply a single poor organizations to think differently and act digitally customer experience away from severing ties with in order to maintain their customer base, address your business and taking their patronage elsewhere? disruption and safeguard the future of their business has intensified. As our research1 over the course of 2020 reveals, this is the reality among both U.S. and U.K. consumers. Regardless of business vertical and addressable market, What’s more, consumers are now basing their CX all organizations need to recognize how COVID-19 is expectations - and rating the service they receive - rewriting the CX rulebook. on the best experience they have ever had with any brand – whether it operates in your vertical or not. Furthermore, the type of CX against which all others are benchmarked is increasingly digital, omnichannel, personalized and, crucially, friction-free. 75% of customers are a single poor experience The Pandemic Ups the Pressure away from severing ties Even under normal circumstances, responding to these changing expectations would be a challenge. with your business. Source: Sitel Group For many organizations, it could mean embarking on a long-term digital business transformation with a clear roadmap for guidance. 1 COVID-19: the CX Impact (https://www.sitel.com/white-paper/covid-19-the-cx-impact/) 03 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
Customers Make Digital Demands Our research shows that while 76% of consumers According to McKinsey2 , brands’ response to were initially driven towards digital interactions with the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed forward the brands because of COVID-19-related restrictions; digitization of customer and supply-chain interactions 57% of customers are going to maintain this behavior by as much as seven years. Organizations with a because they appreciate the extra value. This extra mature digital presence had a head start, but it is value is born out of greater speed and simplicity, the businesses that moved quickly to understand plus immediate access to self-service or the choice where digital solutions could best be used to create of synchronous and asynchronous communication innovative, contactless experiences that created the - from chatbots and email to online chat - only strongest brand connections. a digitally focused omnichannel CX approach can deliver. Source: COVID-19: the CX Impact Study 2 How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever (https://www.mckinsey.com/business- functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed- business-forever#:~:text=their%20companies%20have%20accelerated%20the,by%20a%20shocking%20seven%20years.) 04 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
An Invitation to Innovate And it wasn’t just people’s health. Online pet-product retailer Chewy introduced televet appointments6 so A host of brands are demonstrating that with some pet owners could virtually check up on their furry careful thought, just one innovative step could close friends’ health and get expert advice. As a company the gap on digital leaders and bring them closer to new to this line of business, Chewy’s decision is a their customers. case study in understanding customer needs and adding tangible value. In retail, U.S. grocery chains have taken a leaf out of their European counterparts’ book and quickly rolled out buy online and pickup in store (BOPiS) as well as Thinking Like a Customer curbside pickup services. As comparatively simple as these examples may seem Even if fashion took a knock because people were on the surface, the reason why they have had such a staying at home, brands found novel ways of positive impact is because in each case, the idea was maintaining a connection with and even entertaining born out of more than just thinking differently, it was their customers. Ralph Lauren built Bitmojis hosted due to thinking like a customer. on Snapchat that could be virtually dressed in any of the brand’s clothing so that people could virtually Therefore, as we look toward a post-pandemic try clothes on their cartoon selves before they buy world, organizations have a small window to see their online. business through their customers’ eyes and reshape their CX to put consumers at its center. Across the U.K. and Europe, meal delivery3 service Deliveroo introduced contactless delivery and then To help brands pinpoint where to start, we have compiled went one step further by offering free care packages a list of four predictions we believe are the key CX drivers for the elderly and vulnerable4 . for this year. In healthcare, doctors and therapists pivoted to telemedicine so patients could still make their appointments. One of the biggest such pivots was made by Maven Health, which is a B2B healthcare The COVID-19 pandemic provider focused on women’s health issues. It usually deals exclusively with companies’ HR departments. drove forward the Yet, in the face of COVID-19, Maven Health moved to being a direct-to-consumer (D2C) business5 digitization of customer specifically so that through video appointments, and supply-chain pregnant women continued getting the support they needed. interactions by as much as seven years. Source: McKinsey 3 Leave it on the doorstep: Deliveroo starts contactless delivery (https://in.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain-deliveroo/leave-it-on-the- doorstep-deliveroo-starts-contactless-delivery-idINL8N2B54HN) 4 Coronavirus: Takeaway firms JustEat and Deliveroo in talks with government on providing care packages to elderly (https://news.sky.com/story/ coronavirus-takeaway-firms-justeat-and-deliveroo-in-talks-with-government-on-providing-care-packages-to-elderly-11958494) 5 25 Of The Most Customer-Centric Companies From 2020 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/12/21/25-most-customer-centric-3 companies-2020/?sh=45d9994b884b) 6 Chewy launches virtual vet visits as pandemic fuels pet boom (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/28/chewy.html) 05 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
2 Our Predictions for 2021 Trend 1 The Bar for Digital CX Will Rise, But So Will the Ability to Reach It COVID-19 laid bare many organizations’ shortcomings. Moreover self-service offers organization a host of According to Salesforce7 , 88% of service teams potential choices and applications, meaning they admitted the pandemic had exposed gaps in their can begin slowly then build up a suite of solutions. technology. A well-maintained set of FAQs, customer forums, conversational or visual IVR system, or a dedicated This is why brands need to intensify the efforts they chatbot trained to respond to the most common have already made to close the gaps and meet their customer issues, can all quickly reduce live channel customers in digital channels. For some organizations contact volumes, whether they exist in isolation or as it will mean accelerating their existing digital business part of a dedicated customer portal. This in turn frees transformation process. However, for others it means up agents to focus on the most important customer understanding the existing customer journey and issues - issues that demand both knowledge and carefully considering where a digital intervention or emotional intelligence in equal measure. virtual touchpoint would make the biggest difference and result in the greatest positive CX impact. Self-Service Solutions One area where value can be quickly added and where return on investment easily recognized is self- service. Gartner data puts the average cost of a self- service customer resolution at $0.10 per interaction, compared with the use of one or more live channels on the path to resolution which can cost up to $8.01 per customer, per issue resolved. 7 State of Service: Learn how 7,000+ global service professionals are adapting during the pandemic. (https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research- reports/state-of-service/) 8 Gartner Says Only 9% of Customers Report Solving Their Issues Completely via Self-Service (https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/ state-of-service/) 06 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
Source: Gartner The Right Digital Direction Self-service is a perfect initial move into digital for when they have a problem rather than picking up the organizations who may have been more focused, phone10. As such, it’s an area of CX that is gaining in until now, on other forms of customer interaction popularity and therefore importance, particularly for and issue resolution – 86% of consumers, globally now brands that want to appeal to the next generation of expect a brand to offer a self-service option9. consumers and convert them into loyal customers. And, 35% of all consumers and 42% of millennials and Gen Z now actively prefer helping themselves 9 Global State of Customer Service (https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-09-25-gartner-says-only-9--of-customers-report- solving-thei) 10 COVID-19: the CX Impact (https://www.sitel.com/white-paper/covid-19-the-cx-impact/) 07 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
Source: COVID-19: the CX Impact, Sitel Group, 2020 Trend 2 Androids Will Dream of a Better CX Artificial intelligence (AI) has been on executives’ came to the realization they needed to invest more agendas for the past several years, but the pandemic in the fundamentals of AI and in proofs of concept. has brought into sharp focus how this technology In fact, 42% of leaders admitted they were now should be applied to delight customers and deliver reexamining use cases while 23% were in the process brand differentiation. PwC data11 shows that in of running small pilots with a renewed focus on 2019, 20% of organizations said they were on track leveraging the technology for delivering on customer for an enterprise-wide AI roll out. However, at the experience. When interviewed, 35% of executives start of 2020, this figure had fallen to just 4%. Over said automating tasks and 31% said supporting the course of those 12 months, many businesses employees to make faster, better decisions were their top AI priorities for the year ahead. 11 2020 AI Predictions: Five ways to go from reality check to real-world payoff (https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/artificial- intelligence-predictions-2020.html) 08 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
of executives report automating tasks as 35% a top AI priority for the year ahead. Source: PwC The Intelligent Application of AI COVID-19 brought even greater clarity around The pandemic has been potentially the biggest the use and application of technologies. It is proof of concept for AI solutions in recent history. helping organizations guide their AI spending and Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the development, and in particular around the design number of U.S. organizations planning to invest over and deployment of intelligent virtual agents to $5 million on AI development12 over the next financial serve customer needs and on chatbots and other year has doubled since the start of 2020. intelligent automation services to provide consumer- facing employees with extra support. The number of organizations set to invest over $5 million on AI development over the next financial year has doubled since the start of 2020. Source: Appen 12 The 2020 State of AI and Machine Learning Report (https://appen.com/whitepapers/the-state-of-ai-and-machine-learning-report/) 09 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
With AI being deployed as a means of CX innovation and differentiation, we predict that in 2021: Accelerated access: Thanks to the ability to intelligently AI agent assistance: AI will not only be used as a route customers based on immediate need and customer-facing tool. We will see contact center complexity of interaction, AI will help drive customers staff increasingly being supported by AI to deliver a along the fastest and simplest path to resolution. Self- more accurate and more efficient experience. BCG service will take over simple scenarios such as order research15 reveals that 45% of call time is taken up by updates, status tracking, physical store information the agent searching for information while the caller is or appointment scheduling. The MIT Technology on hold, or while a caller waits to be transferred. In Review “Humans + bots: Tension and opportunity,”13 2021, AI, including real-time speech and text analytics, shows that 90% of organizations that have used AI will be key to solving this problem. It will support for CX operational improvement have improved their agents, prompting them with the relevant information, speed of complaint resolution and 80% have achieved suggesting the next best action and automating enhanced call volume processing. customer record updates. Consumers will benefit from a more engaging and streamlined experience, Due to the progress many organizations made over while agents have fewer tasks to complete enabling the course of 2020 to automate services to remove them to focus on truly understanding and meeting the pressure from their employees, these features are customer’s need. going to be table stakes in 2021 and brands that don’t start developing these solutions now are going to be Automatic for your people: Robotic Process left behind. Automation (RPA) will become the go-to solution for optimizing back office processes. Customers are ready to converse with chatbots: Digital agents have proved their worth and can only McKinsey data16 compiled at the end of 2019 shows continue to grow in popularity for consumer-facing RPA is already the most commonly deployed form brands as more business leaders realize their ability of AI technology within enterprises. One third of hi- to deliver a personalized customer service. Business tech companies, 30% of telecoms, 33% of travel and Insider data14 forecasts the chatbot market will be transport, 36% of financial services and 21% of retailer worth $9.4 billion by 2024 (up from $2.6 billion only organizations are currently leveraging RPA. a year ago). Consumers will increasingly anticipate the ability to interact with digital assistants that deliver a The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the business unique brand-led experience and seamlessly handle continuity risk associated with having to rely on requests using natural language. To have the greatest large operations teams to run processes. With social impact on CX, digital agents will need to be carefully distancing in place, organizations needed to think integrated into a wider omnichannel experience so differently and automate repeatable tasks, such as that live agents can still seamlessly take over and data entry. Now organizations have experienced the resolve a customer issue when necessary. benefits, which include speed, accuracy and scalability there will be a continued push to continue on this The chatbot automation journey. market will be worth $9.4 billion by 2024. Source: Business Insider 13 MIT Technology Review: Humans + Bots: Tension and Opportunity (https://www.genesys.com/en-gb/resources/mit-global-research-humans-bots- tension-and-opportunity) 14 The latest market research, trends, and landscape in the growing AI chatbot industry (https://www.businessinsider.com/ chatbot-market-stats-trends?IR=T) 15 Redefining Customer Service for the Future (bcg.com/publications/2020/redefining-customer-service-for-the-future) 16 Global AI Survey: AI proves its worth, but few scale impact (https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/artificial-intelligence/global-ai-survey-ai- proves-its-worth-but-few-scale-impact) 10 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
Source: McKinsey Trend 3 Consistent and Personalized Converse in Any Channel Omnichannel Experiences A greater use of online chat is key to delivering on these expectations. Its application among large Will Delight Customers organizations globally is increasing by 32% year over year according to the latest Salesforce data17 and it’s easy to understand why. As the use of automation, chatbots and self-service alongside traditional voice channels clearly illustrated Online chat can be used as a customer engagement in 2020, having an omnichannel approach to customer tool in any digital channel. As well as on a website experience is now a must. As well as providing page, chat can be embedded in a confirmation email, customers with a selection of communication means, an SMS notification, a mobile app or self-service organizations must now go a step further and ensure portal. Likewise, organizations that are leveraging those channels are uniform in quality and speed of visual IVR technology can integrate an online chat service. option to reduce call volumes. 17 State of Service: Learn how 7,000+ global service professionals are adapting during the pandemic. (https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research- reports/state-of-service/) 11 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
Omnichannel is No Longer Optional The importance of an omnichannel customer Effective use of data can make customers feel truly experience cannot be overstated. While some understood and create the personalized experiences consumers do opt to shop solely instore or online, that consumers value most. Get this right and the vast majority – 73% according to Harvard the resulting 360° customer view will help forge Business Review18 – choose to use multiple channels stronger relationships that will lead to personalized during their shopping journey. More importantly, experiences that increase loyalty and lifetime value omnichannel customers spend on average 13% more while minimizing customer turnover. This is why 2021 than single channel customers. will be the year of analytics as organizations work to break customer data out of silos and unlock the real- However, uniformity of quality and a wider choice of time insights that will drive interactions and create channels is only a first step if organizations want a stronger, long-term customer connections. larger wallet share from their customer base. For an omnichannel platform to function, there also needs to be a uniformity of customer recognition and information. Omnichannel customers Understanding History to Know the Future spend on average 13% Three in four consumers expect to be able to pick more than single channel up where they left off as they move from channel to channel19. Microsoft data20 shows that for 32% customers. Source: Appen of consumers, globally, the most frustrating aspect of CX is having to repeat the same information a number of times. As customers move from channel to channel, it’s crucial that their data and history also 32% of consumers find moves from channel to channel; so that whether an agent is virtual or physical the issue can be resolved most frustrating aspect swiftly and with a minimum of customer effort. of CX is having Indeed, 75% of customers now expect a live agent to not only know who they are but also be aware of to repeat information. their complete purchase history. Source: Microsoft 18 A Study of 46,000 Shoppers Shows That Omnichannel Retailing Works (https://hbr.org/2017/01/a-study-of-46000-shoppers-shows-that- omnichannel-retailing-works) 19 Create Continuous Customer Experiences (https://www.accenture.com/cn-en/_acnmedia/PDF-59/Accenture-The-Big-Read-Full-Report.pdf) 20 Global State of Customer Service (https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-global-state-of-customer-service.html) 12 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
Data to Deflect Contact Drivers Delving Deeper One of the most innovative and effective applications But this is just the tip of the iceberg. With access to of speech analytics in the face of the pandemic has information across an organization, data analytics can been quickly understanding and triaging different unlock a treasure trove of value. For example, four in contact drivers so that organizations can quickly five complaints customers make when engaging with segment and steer customers to the appropriate a contact center agent are about interacting with channel and appropriate resolution and in doing so other elements or touch points within the enterprise, optimize how live agents are deployed. rather than about a product or service21. Because speech analytics automatically captures and Yet, with the right application of analytics, analyses every conversation - whether by phone, organizations can identify and remedy these friction chat, email, SMS or social messaging - an organization points along the customer journey. Likewise, they can has with a customer – businesses can extract real- uncover the behaviors and signals of intent that lead time, actionable customer insights. to customer churn and actively counteract them. While in terms of security and risk management, This enabled businesses to rapidly build out self- analytics is capable of automatically flagging potential service portals and FAQs directly addressing the fraud or attempts at social engineering. most common COVID-19-related contact drivers and reduce live channel contact volumes. At the same time, the insights were applied to supplement agent training and scripts to improve customer experience and issue resolution. 21 Build your Case for a Proactive Contact Center: Leverage Analytics as an Early Warning System (https://www.niceincontact.com/call-center-resource- finder/see-how-analytics-make-it-possible-in-this-new-ebook) 13 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
of organizations Only report their data is 27% fit for purpose. Source: Accenture Applying Analytics and recommendations25. Without free flowing, operationalized data, everything from business It’s little wonder that CX practitioners rate data intelligence and customer insights to intelligent analytics as the most important CX trend of 202122, contact routing and developing intelligent chatbots or that according to Gartner, that by the end of 2020, will be out of reach. According to Gartner26, these 40% of all data analytics projects will relate to some data issues can cost businesses anywhere between aspect of customer experience23. $9.7 million and $14.2 million annually. All of which is why data cleansing and standardization will be a vital component of any data analytics or customer Disparate Data Diminishing Development insights initiative undertaken in 2021. However, due to siloed or in incompatibly formatted data, on average as much as 73% of data within an enterprise cannot be used for analytics24, while only 27% of organizations say their data is fit for purpose and analytics is delivering truly actionable insights 22 The Global State of Customer Experience 2020 (cxnetwork.com/cx-experience/reports/customer-experience-2020) 23 Gartner Says 25 Percent of Customer Service Operations Will Use Virtual Customer Assistants by 2020 (https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/ press-releases/2018-02-19-gartner-says-25-percent-of-customer-service-operations-will-use-virtual-customer-assistants-by-2020) 24 Hadoop is Data’s Darling For a Reason (https://go.forrester.com/blogs/hadoop-is-datas-darling-for-a-reason/) 25 Closing the Data-Value Gap: How to become data-driven and pivot to the new (https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/pdf-108/accenture-closing- data-value-gap-fixed.pdf) 26 Why Bad Data Could Cost Entrepreneurs Millions (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/332238) 14 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
Trend 4 Trust Will Be King Throughout 2020, customer service was increasingly the benefits of a more engaged workforce and being delivered remotely by agents working from brands are reaping the benefits as more engaged their own home “bubble.” Even brands in industries agents deliver a better customer experience. Our own that had previously shied away from remote work data reveals 32% lower absenteeism and 27% lower were forced to reconsider the possibilities, or accept attrition amongst work at home agents compared that the work would not be done. to counterparts working in a traditional brick-and mortar environment. Agents have overwhelmingly enjoyed the home working experience. Outsourcing providers have recognized Work at home solutions deliver 32% lower absenteeism and 27% lower attrition. Source: Sitel Group 15 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
Home Working Becomes Habitual malware attacks, more recently their focus has shifted. In the first half of 2020, Microsoft26 reported Home working is not new in the contact center that up to 70% of cybercriminal activity consisted industry, but home working on the levels seen in of phishing attacks designed to obtain people’s 2020 were unprecedented. As COVID-19’s impact is credentials. mitigated through the rollout of effective vaccines, some contact center staff will move back into office The combination of increased home working and environments. However, significant home working in increased activity from cybercriminals places the contact center industry is here to stay because it additional emphasis on the need to protect customer is a win-win for agents, operators and brands alike. data. This is why 2021 will see a renewed emphasis Our own data suggests that up to 70% of agents from organizations to secure their customers’ around the globe will remain working from their personal information. Indeed, expect data protection own homes at least some of the time. Home working to become a new element of CX differentiation. delivers many benefits particularly around business Those brands that apply data security to build trust continuity planning and resilience, but it can also will be repaid with an even stronger brand status and bring new data security risks that must be mitigated. even greater customer loyalty. For this reason, data needs to be at the top of the Keeping Cybercrime Under Control agenda when organizations are selecting partners for achieving their CX goals. As the pandemic hit, it created fear and panic, exposing emotional pressure points that criminals could exploit through social engineering. In response, opportunistic cybercriminals ramped up their efforts to misappropriate customer data. While in the past In 2020, 70% of cybercriminals have largely focused on orchestrating cybercriminal activity consisted of phishing attacks. Source: Accenture 26 Microsoft Digital Defense Report (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/security-intelligence-report) 16 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
3 A Platform for Growth While 2020 will be remembered as one of the most extra resilience to incorporate into existing business disruptive years in history, the past 12 months have continuity planning. Expect 2021 to be another year demonstrated how by putting themselves in their of rapid change. But thanks to the foundations they customers’ shoes, brands can innovate to continue have put down over 2020, brands can build for the meeting CX expectations. Further, organizations future with greater confidence and greater agility. have discovered how the work-at-home model can increase employee engagement while providing 2021 CX Trends The Bar for Digital CX Will Rise, But So Will the Ability to Reach It Now is the time to get ahead of customer expectations since COVID-19 highlighted many brands’ CX weaknesses but it also accelerated their digital adoption. It’s time to maintain that momentum. Androids Will Dream of a Better CX AI has arrived. It’s time to embrace it for customer and agent support and to make for faster, better real-time decisions. Consistent and Personalized Omnichannel Experiences Will Delight Customers Customers want (and expect) the same level of friction-free service from brands no matter how or where they reach out for support. Trust Will Be King As home working becomes part of the norm across industries, so should working with a partner you can trust when it comes to working with and managing you customers’ data. 17 The Race for Customer Loyalty: 2021 CX Trends
About Sitel Group® As a global leader in end-to-end customer experience services, while boosting efficiency, effectiveness (CX) products and solutions, Sitel Group® partners and customer satisfaction. EXP+ creates a robust with the world’s best-loved brands, from Fortune ecosystem by harnessing the power of four 500 companies to local startups, to design, build connected product families: Empower, Engage, and deliver a competitive edge across all customer Explore and Evolve. touchpoints. With our award-winning culture built on 35+ years of industry-leading experience and commitment to With 90,000 people working across the globe – at improving the employee experience, we improve home, in contact centers and within MAXhubs – we business results by pairing innovative design securely connect brands with their customers over thinking and digital solutions – including self-service, 4.5 million times every day in 50+ languages, driving artificial intelligence (AI), automation and data- our clients’ digital CX strategies forward. Powered by driven analytics – with the expertise, emotion and our global strength, local expertise and proprietary empathy of our people to Create Connection. Value technologies, we deliver tailored solutions to fit Conversation. clients’ needs through a consultative, customer- centric approach. EXP+™, Sitel Group’s Enterprise Experience Platform, is a flexible solution with complete cloud capability, designed to simplify the delivery of end-to-end CX Learn more at www.sitel.com and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter Sitel Group, Sitel and the Sitel mark are registered trademarks of the Sitel Group Companies. EXP+ is a trademark of the Sitel Group Companies.
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