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The future of customer interactions has been transformed with AI innovations such as conversational AI, virtual assistants and voice-activated devices. In many instances, customers never have to speak or chat with a human. This can have many positive impacts on the customer journey across industries, with results such as lower wait times and higher customer satisfaction (CSAT). It may even be tempting for some organizations to imagine a world where the human touch is not required at all. However, even as brands continue adopting the latest in CX solutions, forgetting about the power of human touch is a grave mistake. The customer journey is the most effective when both digital and human elements work together to create the best customer experience.
The Power of Human Connection
Empathy and emotional resonance will always be vital for the customer experience, and as much as technology can create a genuine connection with customers, there are certain things that require the human touch. For example, chatbots are great at managing routine questions, and many also are able to deliver a degree of human empathy with the right technology. But if a customer abandons their shopping cart because a complex product requires more guidance, human assistance can make the difference in better-informed buying journeys. This helps brands build meaningful and positive customer relationships.
Luxury brands provide another great example. While luxury goods are often expensive and exclusive, dedicated customers feel a strong connection with their favorite brands. One reason for this is that luxury brands offer highly personalized human experiences in their stores, and they also work to nurture that connection further on digital channels, like their exclusive apps. These luxury brands maintain human elements in these digital experiences as well so that customers continue to grow their connection with the brand.
The ability of human connection to create customer satisfaction and loyalty cannot be overstated. The main goal of essentially every marketing team is building and maintaining excellent customer service, but great CX is fragile. A strong customer connection can break easily if something goes wrong during the buying journey. That’s why it’s important that companies continue to invest in their human talent that can give customers what technology simply can’t. Without the opportunity for customers to have a meaningful conversation with a person when they’re stuck in their buying journey, CX will ultimately suffer.
Combining Human and Digital Elements
The human touch is the secret ingredient that helps technology solutions make a true difference for CX. Technology alone will not accomplish this. According to a recent PWC survey, 82% of customers want a seamless blend of digital and human interactions. That’s why a hybrid chatbot model that combines innovative technology and human interaction is a must for even the most technologically advanced organizations. Whether customers are asking product questions on a conversational commerce platform or reaching out to customer service, they’ll have a better experience with the hybrid model.
Intelligent chatbots can be empathetic to a degree that many customers find sufficient, but some customer interactions are more complicated than that. An automated conversational solution must be able to quickly and seamlessly find an available human agent for customers with more complex or emotionally charged challenges. Hybrid conversational solutions are the best choice for companies that want to combine efficiency and human touch in this way. Technology combined with the benefits of human connection creates the best possible CX for customers.
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For example, American Express uses this human-centric approach in its technology strategy. As a result, the company has accomplished a balance between automated and personalized interactions that has pleased customers and improved CX.
Start Taking Action: How Companies Can Achieve This Balance
CoreMedia recently published a whitepaper, “Navigating the Future: Maximizing the Top 7 Trends in Customer Experience,” and a major theme they explored was the importance of innovative technology and human connection — especially in an environment where excellent CX is such a vital competitive advantage for brands. Some of these trends include an increase in conversational interactions, more seamless customer journeys and the importance of human touch. This paper also shares the major steps companies can take to harness the power of these influential CX trends.
The first step organizations should take is to infuse as much empathy and personalization as possible in their digital experiences. For many customers, this will help to increase feelings of connection with a brand – which leads to higher conversions, better customer satisfaction and loyalty in the long term. Next, they should make sure to give human agents the tools, resources and real-time customer information needed to fully understand a customer’s experience and respond in an appropriate, empathetic way. Promoting a culture of empathetic customer assistance among agents is a key part of this step. Finally, companies should invest in a hybrid solution that combines these elements seamlessly so that the customer journey is as smooth as possible.
Embrace the CX Priorities of the Future
The future of CX will be more immersive, more conversational, more automated, more relevant and more seamless. Excellent CX is key for the success of any brand, no matter the industry. AI can help even the playing field by giving any company the ability to create vast amounts of content, personalize experiences to increasingly narrow degrees and scale to large numbers of customers. But when every company can take advantage of AI in CX, the true differentiator will be how effective, empathetic and impactful human agents are. Forward-thinking marketing teams will realize this and continue to invest in the human aspects of customer experience, even as they put time and energy into the latest CX technologies.
Learn more about the major CX trends brands should follow in the link below!
Download “Navigating the Future: Maximizing the top 7 trends in Customer Experience” here!
To help companies address these CX trends and rising customer expectations, CoreMedia extended its CMS and DXP offerings with a Cloud Contact Center to facilitate automated personalized conversations with a human touch, from one single platform. Get a demo to learn more.
