Congratulations on successfully sailing through 2022. It’s now time to set your sights on the challenges and opportunities that 2023 has in store. A new year is an opportunity to reflect on how your business performed the previous year and consider what steps can be taken in the new year to enhance and strengthen those results.
Grading your company’s success can be based on several aspects, and not all of them are measured in dollars. Of course, you will always want your business to grow financially year after year, but growth can be measured in several other ways.
Has your business grown technologically to keep up with the changing ways your customers prefer to do business? Has your staff grown as a team, working positively toward business goals? Have you increased your customer database or increased the number of returning customers?
Based on growing demand for heightened customer service, 2023 looks to be focusing on the full digital customer service experience. If you are looking for ways to improve some or all the areas mentioned above, this year’s trend in customer service will help you succeed. Here are the top five ways you can improve your processes:
1. Present an Omnichannel Experience
69% of customers want a consistent experience with a company across all physical and digital channels. This requires businesses to use technologies that build more connected environments to handle this level of customer service. Imagine bringing together multiple departments of your dealership and communicating through one channel.
Staff can connect with a customer regarding a vehicle purchase, a parts order, a trade in appraisal, a service update or estimate. Continue to connect all the way through to sending video for review, scheduling a shuttle and final payment. Finalize that journey with service follow ups, satisfaction reviews and timely reminders of missed or deferred service. The streamlined and consistent experience your customers will encounter will be remembered and appreciated.
2. Getting Personal
Personalized experiences rank at the top with what customers find as an important decision-making factor when selecting companies they want to do business with. And the numbers speak loud and clear. 72% of customers say they only engage with personalized messaging. (Forbes) while 80% of companies report seeing an uplift since implementing personalization (Econsultancy).
Personalization in your messaging and timing of delivery is essential. Connecting at specific moments in the customer journey will increase overall satisfaction, reviews, customer retention and loyalty — and most likely ROI. Automation will be the key to enhancing personalization and increasing its power in the customer service experience.
3. Moving from CX to TX
2023 will see companies thinking about more than just the customer experience (CX) and moving towards focusing on the Total Experience (TX). It will become crucial to consider every part of the experience journey to provide a truly full and satisfying experience. 52% of consumers agree that as digital experiences with brands become more personalized, their satisfaction improves. (State of Personalization)
This level of personalization may require investing in innovative technology. Supplying options to support and engage your staff will make their jobs easier and more productive. Adding technology such as digital signage to inform and entertain your customers will provide an enhanced visual experience. Incorporating solutions and software to simplify processes, communicate in real-time and provide services to customers — regardless of where they are physically.
4. Transparency, transparency, transparency
To provide the ultimate customer experience, your team will need to be transparent in all their communications. 60% of customers say trustworthiness and transparency are the most important traits of a brand (Twilio Segment). Customers genuinely appreciate being kept in the loop regarding status of orders or service repairs. They value honesty and truth.
This can come in the form of timely updates for delivery or being transparent about delays or challenges you are experiencing. It can be a breakdown of pricing or providing videos highlighting areas for recommended service repairs. It is proven that providing information that allow your customers to make informed decisions, while respecting their time, will increase appreciation and loyalty.
5. Respecting Privacy and Security
In 2023 and going forward, businesses will need to keep up to date with providing secure and safe storage of customer data. More importantly, using their customer data efficiently, securely, and correctly. The average consumer is increasingly aware of how their personal data is handled and demands the highest level of privacy and security. Customers want personalized experiences and are willing to provide their data to get it.
Seven out of ten customers are comfortable with personalization, if brands use their own data. (The State of Personalization). Being able to send personalized messaging to mobile devices, with the ability to pay remotely, securely, and efficiently with safely stored personal data will provide the ease and assurance that customers are looking for in these fast-paced, mobile environments.
This year, as in previous years, customer service and customer experience are still top priorities for you as a business. Now, more than ever though, customers have varying levels of trust and expectations when it comes to interacting with businesses. Your dealership will need to ensure that you are putting their security, privacy, experience, and service first.
In summary, developing a strong customer experience strategy in 2023 means fully understanding your customers and their expectations. It will mean embracing and using innovative technologies and software that will provide the all-encompassing level of customer service that will make you stand apart from your competition. And doing so, will also help make it efficient and enjoyable for your staff to provide that experience. Find out how VenueVision’s software and digital solutions can help you stay ahead of the quickly evolving customer service experience trends.
