Articles

Prior to Covid- 19 pandemic period digital customer experience used to be a competitive advantage in both consumer and business-to-business markets. Today the consumer communication habits have changed due to the amount of time spent indoors isolation. The pandemic had a huge impact on consumer habits as accelerated the evolution of digital user interfaces. This resulted to a greater need for customers to communicate online as physical contact and presence in stores was reduced to a minimum or ceased.

With physical store locations closed or semi closed, most of the business interactions are now exclusively online. Take a moment to think how many times since the beginning of the pandemic until today, you have contacted a business regarding a product after seeing it displayed on social media. According to Forbes (2020) article: 

This sums up in two lines why this is such an important time for brands to get CX right.

What was previously considered to be a great customer experience is no longer good enough. Businesses of all sizes are now focusing on maintaining customer relationships by creating a virtual, personalized experience.

A great example is seen by Gucci, where the brand set up a "faux luxury store” as its Gucci 9 hub in Florence where staff can live- stream from a replica showroom, pulling items to bring to the camera based on customer requests.

One more example was seen when online craft marketplace Etsy introduced a ‘See it in AR’ feature that allows buyers to see what home furnishings would look like in their rooms by laying a 3D model over their smartphone’s camera view.

Digital or not customers expect companies to be there for them anytime and in every way, they expect consistency across all channels and throughout the entire consumer journey with your brand. For business, a purchase has to considered as journey with various stages and let customers think that it is only one part of the experience with your brand.