May has unlocked thought-provoking topics such as product flows vs product tours, fireside chats with customer success experts, and the future of automated customer service. We’ve also seen how metrics such as churn and customer acquisitions cost (CAC) continue to be useful. We’re happy to say that the topics that we’ve loved the most are also the focus of conversation within the customer success community.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and customer journey mapping represent only a few of the trends that promise to stick around for a long time. Thankfully, we think they are here to stay and will help boost business growth and support your customer success strategy.
Is AI taking over?
When your day involves collecting, structuring, and finding customer data that are spread throughout several tools and databases, we wouldn’t mind a robot or two taking over! However, far from Isaac Asimov’s threatening robots, Artificial Intelligence is helping businesses in every way. “Throughout the business world, every company these days is basically in the data business and they’re going to need AI to civilize and digest big data and make sense out of it — big data without AI is a big headache”, says Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine.
But it’s not just about increasing your team’s productivity, AI has also contributed to online shopping and, in turn, customers’ trust in this process. If you’re an eCommerce in retail, you’ll probably like these statistics.
What’s more, Businesswire claims that the global eCommerce market is expected to reach US$6.07 trillion in 2024. Another key driver of this exponential growth has been the use of smartphones for online shopping, especially among millennials, who also use these devices to research products. So, what are we trying to say here? Well, if you want your customers to enjoy the AI-based experience they’re seeking, you need to bring your A-game to every stage in the customer journey. And, by A-game, we mean voice-shopping, but that’s something we’ll explore in an upcoming post (stay tuned)..
AI has played a key role in customer service through advanced support technology, such as live chats. These help speed up the process of collecting customer information to help your team not just reply quickly, but also with a true solution. The result is 24/7 availability through automated messages that can be personalized, through platforms such as FROGED. So, are you ready for AI to take over?
Automation is self-care
It’s no wonder that with the increase in AI, there has been an increase in automation software. It’s safe to say that you don’t need to be in eCommerce or cybersecurity to benefit from implementing AI technology in your business. If sustainable product-led growth is your thing, then you need to add automation software to your 2023 martech stack.
As we mentioned in a recent article, automation should never replace personalization. In fact, successful implementation of automation involves drawing up a strategy where this type of software will make sense for your business. What’s more, you’ll need to undergo in-depth research to find an affordable all-in-one customer success platform. If you’re looking for a customer success platform to personalize your message through live chat, customize your knowledge base, and develop product flows that will guide customers throughout their entire journey, then we have to talk.
Goodbye to multichannel, hello to omnichannel
A multichannel strategy is based on multiple marketing channels that work independently; however, when these channels collaborate, that’s when you can offer the omnichannel customer experience. Considering that coming generations have taken their first nap wrapped around a tablet and not a stuffed toy, you’ll want to make sure that they can tune in to your brand whenever they need to. And quickly, if possible.
If you type in “omnichannel software” in your preferred search engine, you’ll get quite a few trillion hits. And this is great news! Omnichannel platforms can integrate thousands of apps to offer a customer-centric experience. This also means that your customer service team no longer has to search for customer data on one tool and then go back to an active conversation on another. An omnichannel platform will make your team happy, and your customers even happier!
Customer Value is everybody’s business
There’s a new sales process in town, and it needs both sales and customer service teams to work together in harmony, from pre-sales to post-sales. Having everybody on the same page might be a challenge at first, but it will help you define your product value from the very beginning. Think about it, the sooner a prospect understands the value of your product, the longer and more valuable the relationship will be.
Customer success will no longer fall on the shoulders of CS teams, it is now a company-wide strategy.
Map that Customer Journey
Customer journey mapping will continue to be a booming trend for 2023. Understanding all the touchpoints with your customers is the best way to identify where they can be reached and how for better conversion. The great news is that these touchpoints involve smart technology as we mentioned before, so gathering insights is now easier than ever.
Nate Brown — CX expert, director, influencer, and FROGED super fan — consider customer expectations to be crucial “because those expectations are what will reflect down the stream of the map as potential pain points.” We were lucky enough to pick his brain in this Fireside Chat.
We hope that you love these trends as much as we have. Then again, we’re suckers for anything related to customer success! As a SaaS company that is product-led, we can say that companies from all types of industries are becoming more aware of the importance of fine-tuning their business strategy around their product and customer success. What’s more, they are realizing that all-in-one product success platforms are the best solution — sometimes the only one — that guarantees customer success. If you want to learn more about customer success, check out FROGED’s Ultimate Customer Success Handbook.