Why Customer Assumptions Are Ruining Your Customer Experience

You know what they say about making assumptions, right? Well it’s true in life and in customer support. For years, marketers and customer experience leaders have leaned on traditional assumptions of customer needs and preferences when identifying when and how to engage with consumers. The problem is that these types of assumptions oversimplify who the customer is and completely miss the complexity of their preferences.

So, what should brands be doing instead? Identify ways to personalize the experience to the specific customer rather than an assumed perception of that customer. Creating that personal connection encourages a customer to invest in the brand whether through additional purchases or brand advocacy. In fact, Accenture recently found that 75 percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a retailer that recognizes them by name, recommends options based on past purchases, or knows their purchase history.

Being able to personalize the experience for every single customer can feel like an impossible task, but it isn’t. New advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics are helping brands offer better, more personalized experiences.

Communicating the Way Your Customers Do

Customers want to connect with a brand in their preferred communication style. Even when using a chatbot, natural language processing (NLP) makes it possible for consumers to ask a question in a way that's natural to them and still receive an accurate answer. This is important because customers feel that the brand understands their needs and is able to quickly and efficiently help them resolve them.

Meeting Your Customers Where They Are

In today’s digital world there are a number of channels your customers want to connect in. Be careful about assuming that customers will only reach out in certain channels. Focusing all customer service resources on one or two channels risks shutting out customers who prefer to connect via a different channel.

Instead, brands can ensure customers receive support, regardless of channel, by implementing an omnichannel strategy. The key here is to address both “old school” and “new school” channels. Don’t assume the mobile shopper won't want to connect via email, or the desktop user via social media. Leveraging AI, brands can ensure that all channels are maintained and offer consistent, up-to-date information.

Helping You to Really Know Your Customers

Data analytics is critical to moving toward personalization and away from inaccurate assumptions. To create a successful data analytics initiative for customer experience, brands need to understand how to derive insights in real time to make a significant impact.

Data insight enabled by AI and virtual assistant technology empowers brands to make big shifts to their customer experience as well as identify ways to personalize each individual engagement. Capturing data from customer interactions, brands can leverage new technologies to identify any bottlenecks or missing information in their current service offerings. Identifying these in real time enables the brand to quickly adjust any issues immediately, reflecting changes in consumer behavior and showcasing that the brand is listening to customer needs. Leveraging data on the customer's purchasing preferences or history, brands can offer an “Amazon-like” ease to the customer experience.

Digital communication has created new opportunities for people to connect, engage and establish deeper relationships with brands. However, when brands lean on broad assumptions to interact with today’s consumers, they exhibit a tone deafness that leads to lost sales and customers. Instead, by leveraging new customer experience technologies such as AI and virtual assistants, brands have the opportunity to redefine personalization, building intimate and meaningful connections with customers.

Dave Campbell is the vice president of customer engagement and support solutions at LogMeIn, a provider remote access and remote desktop software.