5 Insights to Improve Your Customer Experience (CX) from Online's CTO

Over the past few years, the concept of Customer Experience (CX) has undergone a significant transformation. We've seen a shift driven largely by technological advancements and the rapid digital transformation necessitated by the pandemic. At Online, we've been at the forefront of these changes, leveraging new tools and methodologies to enhance the way we interact with our clients.

One of the most notable shifts has been the move towards a more integrated approach to CX. The cloud has played an essential role in this evolution, allowing us to unify various systems—such as CRM, contact centers, product management, and marketing tools—into seamless platforms. This integration enables us to offer a cohesive experience that covers the entire customer journey. 

Despite these advancements. 

Many organizations still face significant challenges when it comes to CX. Data silos remain a major bottleneck, making it difficult to provide a comprehensive view of the customer. Additionally, the demand for AI and advanced personalization has increased, requiring sophisticated technology and robust data analytics. And with customers rapidly changing expectations companies must continuously adapt and prioritize their CX strategies.

I recently met with one of our clients to discuss many of these challenges. Their challenges are not unique, and I wanted to share the highlights of the conversation with you today in case it helps you shape the future of your CX.

Watch Tim Siemens, Online's CTO, discuss some of the main challenges our clients face in customer experience. (3:25 min)

Insights 

1. There’s a strong focus on migrating to Cloud Technology

There’s a reason why migrating to cloud technology is essential for enhancing customer experience, especially in customer service. Many tasks, such as password changes and routine support, can be automated—these makeup about 70% of interactions. By using intelligent virtual agents and other automated systems, these simpler tasks can be handled more efficiently, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex and meaningful interactions. 

At Online, we’ve developed a strong partnership with Five9, a leader in cloud contact center solutions. This partnership allows us to leverage extensive consulting expertise in this area, helping our clients implement Five9 product solutions for their contact centers and significantly improving their CX. 
 

“The role of human interaction is changing as we embrace more advanced cloud technologies.”

When customers face complex issues like travel bookings or billing questions, the human touch is essential for empathy and problem-solving. By migrating to cloud technology, you can automate simpler tasks with AI and intelligent virtual agents. These tools handle routine tasks, allowing human agents to focus on more complex interactions, thereby enhancing customer service and enriching agents’ work experiences. 
 

2. User-centric digital products are being created to enhance experiences

A user-centered approach allows you to develop digital products quickly and efficiently. Here’s how you can achieve this: 

• Engage Users Early and Often: Involve users from the initial design stages and gather feedback throughout development to keep your product aligned with user needs. 
• Use Prototyping and Testing: Develop prototypes and conduct usability tests to identify and fix issues early, saving time and resources. 

• Leverage Data and Analytics: Analyze user behavior and feedback to drive meaningful product improvements, tailoring the product to user preferences. 
• Ensure Cross-Functional Collaboration: Foster collaboration among design, development, marketing, and customer support teams to create a cohesive, user-friendly experience. 

If you have a digital product idea or your products could use a tune-up, take a look at our webinar “Creating Digital Products That People Care About.”

3. Companies are delivering personalized experiences to meet customer needs

Organizations today face the challenge of delivering personalized experiences to enhance Customer Experience (CX). Managing and tailoring a vast amount of customer interactions across multiple channels can be particularly difficult.  

Understanding specific customer behaviors and preferences to personalize these interactions further complicates the task. 

We have helped organizations address these challenges by implementing Salesforce. Salesforce captures all customer interactions, enabling organizations to tailor experiences using AI components like Einstein. By analyzing telemetry and customer data, we gain insights into spending patterns and interaction quality. Additionally, we help our clients implement Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which tracks and analyzes the customer journey, providing actionable insights to refine customer interactions. 

By adopting these solutions, organizations can significantly enhance their CX. Automated tools handle routine tasks, freeing human agents to focus on more complex and meaningful interactions. This leads to improved customer satisfaction as experiences are tailored to specific behaviors and preferences. The insights gained from data analysis help refine strategies, increasing customer retention and conversion rates. 
 

4. Prioritizing security and privacy is a top concern for businesses

Remember what I said earlier about the importance of migrating to the cloud and integrating systems?  

It's not just about systems and technology working seamlessly and being ready to scale. It's equally important to have adequate cybersecurity measures in place. 

We have seen that a well-structured cybersecurity framework is key to ensuring successful trust in CX. 

Enhancing cybersecurity is crucial for building trust in customer relationships and differentiating your customer experience. As interactions move to digital platforms and customer data to the cloud, as we previously discussed, customers expect their private and sensitive information to be handled securely. An adequate cybersecurity posture ensures a worry-free customer experience. When customers trust their data is protected, they focus on interacting with your services and products with fewer concerns for privacy.

This trust is essential for increasing customer experience adoption and usage. 

Regularly seek security advisements and assessments to keep your systems secure from design through ongoing operations. With evolving technology and sophisticated attack methods, maintaining a strong security posture is very important. 

We ensure our clients find the right security posture, providing continuous guidance to keep their data safe and customer relationships strong. 
 

5. Embracing AI and emerging technologies is driving innovation and creating customer value

Last, but certainly not least, the final insight for improving CX is embracing AI and emerging technologies. Staying ahead in customer experience requires adapting to rapid changes, and AI has the potential to be a game-changer. Our team is working with clients on a number of different GenAI initiatives directly tied to customer experience. If you don’t have anything planned, you should start. Consider looking at one of the following: 

• Leverage Generative AI: Tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT can facilitate advanced, real-time guided conversations, reducing latency and improving interaction quality. This technology is evolving quickly and will become even more seamless in the next few years. 
• Implement Guided Interactions: Use AI to help customers with complex tasks like process planning and support. AI can guide users through detailed interactions, providing context and solutions tailored to their needs. 

• Advanced Summarization: Utilize AI for summarizing calls and interactions. Creating a meaningful knowledge base from these summaries can enhance service quality. 
• Explore Digital Avatars: Digital avatars can offer personalized, multimodal interactions and maintain a long-term memory of customer interactions. 
  
  

If you want to learn more, visit our Generative AI Resource Center to increase your understanding and use of emerging technology.

Improving Customer Experience requires a strategic and comprehensive approach. By integrating touchpoints, leveraging cloud technology, utilizing data analytics, adopting advanced personalization, ensuring consistency across channels, and prioritizing security and privacy, you can significantly enhance your customers' experience.  

It's my hope that some of these insights/ideas were helpful. We are here to support you wherever you are at in the journey. Please reach out to us if you have questions or are simply interested in exploring these topics in more detail.