Customer experience trends to watch out for in 2020

2019 has been yet another year of change for all businesses, regardless of size of sector.

Whether its enhancing client communications, streamlining processes or boosting productivity, it seems as if technology now plays a part in every task we undertake in the office.

With technology now infiltrating every aspect of our lives – both personal and professional – and with the decade drawing to a close, it’s time to reflect and think about what the next chapter of customer experience might look like.

While there’s no doubt things are set to continue to change and progress, there are multiple scenarios of what the future might hold.

With this in mind, ClickZ spoke to Nali Giliana – Vice President of Digital Experience, OpenText to ask what five trends he predicts next year will bring:

Hyper-personalization driven by data democratization will reach new heights

2020 will be the year of hyper-personalization across the consumer journey.

The implementation of data democratization strategies will be one of the main focal points for marketers in 2020.

This will see brands leveraging predictive analytics, utilizing data from throughout the business – across departments, partners, suppliers and customers – to build marketing strategies which will allow for contextual and hyper-personalized experiences relevant to the target audience.

Leading brands will also push beyond the customer experience, and look into delivering individualized products, services and pricing.

There will be a rise in multi-sensory brand experiences

In 2020, the ways in which customers will engage with brands will transcend the usual digital and physical touchpoints.

We can expect to see the user experience undergo a significant shift in how customers perceive the digital world and engage with brands.

Key technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) will shift the horizon of experience design by combining perception and interaction models to help create a multi-sensory approach to brand experiences.

As a result, customers will look beyond products and will be loyal to brands that can deliver consistent experiences across all the sensory touchpoints.

The increased use of IoT devices will help to drive this shift

Internet of Things (IoT) will be a critical component in the creation of hyper-personalized experiences driven by data.

By 2020, there will be 20.4 billion connected IoT devices – each capturing a wealth of valuable consumer insights that marketers will leverage to deliver custom, contextual messages in real-time and provide personalized customer experiences that will guide the way customers interact with a brand.

When organisations adapt to a multi-sensory experience culture, IoT will also continue to help brands bridge the gap between the digital and the physical to create personalized connections with customers across all sensory touchpoints.

Furthermore, we will see new and unique IoT implementations focused on the user experience that will further enhance how brands develop, market and deliver their products to their customers.

Voice search will become a key component of the customer experience

In 2020, as much as 80% of total customer interactions will be made by artificial intelligence.

Data generated from these interactions will help marketers a great deal in creating more authentic digital communication experiences beyond traditional digital channels.

Voice search, in particular, will see significant uptake next year due to its simplicity, and with the adoption of AI-supported intelligent assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa slated to expand, brands will face added pressure to change the design of their customer experience to include voice search.

Transparency and privacy concerns will gain steam

While demand for hyper-personalized customer experiences is increasing brands’ dependency on data, consumer concern about the control of their personal information is also increasing.

This dynamic is making organisations more aware of the importance of securing and managing personal data, and governments are implementing strict legislation to ensure organisations do so.

In 2020, enterprises will be called to place greater emphasis on transparency and traceability to support digital ethics and privacy needs through the implementation of practices designed to address regulatory requirements, preserve an ethical approach to the use of advanced technologies, and repair the growing lack of trust in companies.