3 resolutions for creating the best possible CX in 2024

It’s no secret that as the digital advertising ecosystem has evolved, the end experience of the customer has often been forgotten.

 

But according to a survey from customer experience (CX) platform Disqo, people report that their experiences with a brand or its products and services influence their perception of a brand the most. Attributes like value, quality, trust and customer service are most influential.

 

As a result, CX “holds a lot of power for brands seeking sustainable growth,” according to a report

 

Nevertheless, brands are not putting enough emphasis on CX. A separate Forrester report found even though CX will improve in 2024, executives will still have to navigate some turbulence — including how to use gen AI to enhance CX and how to meet consumers where they are amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

 

Forrester also predicts that CX leaders’ ambitions for inclusive design will be undercut by internal policies, CX teams will be overwhelmed by their workloads and only a few companies will connect CX metrics to financial outcomes.

 

For brands and marketers looking for a CX roadmap for 2024, here are three resolutions and brand examples for inspiration:

 

Resolution 1: Get the fundamentals down

According to Leah Leachman, senior director analyst at Gartner, most brands are still establishing their CX strategies and don't know what their customers really need.

 

“There's a lot of talk about customer obsession [and] differentiating a brand, but it's really uncommon for these statements to go beyond lip service,” she said.

 

In fact, many organizations don’t even get the basics right. That includes CX management tactics like customer research, persona creation/targeting, journey mapping and social listening.

 

Often, brands get distracted by new technologies instead of “focusing on the fundamentals that are going to get them to differentiate from other brands, full stop,” Leachman added.

 

It’s classic Shiny Object Syndrome.

 

Instead, Leachman recommends brands focus on “what customers need or what their objectives are before [they] decide what channel is the best way to meet them where they are or [deliver] what they need.”

 

Brand example: Saysh

 

She pointed to sneaker brand Saysh, which was launched by Olympian Allyson Felix.

 

“It was founded [based on] the problem that most shoes are made for male runners,” Leachman said. “[Felix] decided to focus on ‘How do I support the needs of the female athlete and support them through certain barriers?’”

 

Born out of Felix’s own experiences, Saysh delivers a unique CX that solves for the pain points she encountered as a runner. For instance, Saysh allows pregnant women to exchange their shoes for a new size for free, recognizing that foot size often changes during pregnancy.

 

“One thing that really stands out to me is that she really speaks to her values,” Leachman added.

 

Leachman called this “an example of how your policies and procedures can actually enhance the customer experience versus detract from it” and noted “it's important to focus on unique factors like that.”

 

Resolution 2: Think beyond personalisation

Thanks in part to their experiences with platforms like Amazon and Netflix, customers have come to expect tailored interactions with brands.

 

“That's what I would call table stakes for 2023 in the B2C space: the drive towards personalisation,” said Bradley Rogers, global president of MRM.

 

Christine Lane, head of innovation and experience at DDB North America, agreed, noting brands will be able to develop lots of personalized content in many formats — and do this cheaper and faster than ever before — in 2024, thanks to the rise of generative AI.

 

“[Consumers] will expect brands to better know what appeals to them and [they will] reward brands accordingly,” she said. “The question is, at what point will the effectiveness of personalization flatline due to ubiquity and overexposure? What will consumers actually engage with when every experience is tailored precisely to their needs?”

 

Lane believes in this scenario,consumers will choose brands that double down on creativity and purpose.

 

“Yes, we need personalization at scale, but it needs to be deployed in a way that feels creatively novel while reinforcing not just what the brand has to offer, but why,” she added. “Consumers don’t just want to buy things that reflect their wants and needs … they want to buy things they can also buy into. That means an experience that feels unequivocally on-brand in a way that is surprising, fresh and delightful.”  

 

Brand example: Delta

 

Citing a “movement towards really prioritizing the customer above all else,” Rogers called Delta “probably the pinnacle right now in their industry of being customer obsessed.”

 

For instance, the airline began offering free Wi-Fi on flights in February 2023.

 

“That [costs] millions and millions of dollars [for] them, but they know it’s the right thing, because it's going to be the best experience possible,” he said.

 

Rogers also pointed to the ability for travelers to order coffee from Starbucks within the Delta app upon check in and can pick up it as they walk through the airport to their gate.

 

“The quality of experience is a whole lot better, that's for sure,” Rogers said. “There's people who are just relentlessly focused right now on the customer and then leapfrogging their competition and getting ahead because, at the end of the day, we all want that seamless experience, that simple experience.”

 

Resolution 3: Experiment with AI

According to the Forrester CX report, 50% of large brands will experiment with customer-facing AI in 2024.

 

“I think that will help from a personalisation standpoint. It will help with a dialogue and … the ability to create a relationship that can be more conversational with an individual,” Rogers said.

 

At the same time, there will be “more risk,” as AI is still a work in progress.

 

“Some will get it right and some will get it really, really wrong,” Rogers said. “Our role as an agency is to work with our clients to be experienced enough with those tools and those ways of working to ensure that the brands we work with get it right.”

 

Another ongoing impact of the pandemic is what Rogers described as “a stretched, underpaid, demoralised workforce.”

 

As a result, he expects to see more experiments with AI to help alleviate some of that burden on human workers in 2024 as well.

 

Brand example: E-commerce platforms

 

Fraud detection platform ClearSale points to delivery apps like Rappi and Postmates as companies that utilise AI to “dynamically change product recommendations based on the time of day, the weekday and other customer behaviors.”

 

This is a common tactic among e-commerce platforms that consumers have gotten used to.

 

“Mass merchants like Amazon are creating custom content and profiles to understand their customers’ tastes,” said Victor Islas, ClearSale’s regional director of Latin America. “Depending on their searches and demographics, users are shown highly curated recommendations pages with a selection of products that caters to their specific needs.”

 

But not all generations prefer this level of personalization. While younger consumers expect it, older shoppers can consider personalization to be a nuisance, ClearSale found in a recent report.

 

The key is to “[add] personalisation to the shopping experience in a way that appears entirely organic,” the report added.

 

It’s important to get CX right because while rising costs continue to influence purchase decisions, Leachman noted consumers will eventually regain some flexibility. When they do, “they're going to really think differently about which brands they’re a customer of and if that brand promise is actually supported by its CX capability.”

 

This means companies must also empower employees to deliver experiences based on their brand promises.

 

“We can talk about AI and we can talk about other things, but if organisations don't get that right, then everything else is just going to be a temporary Band-Aid,” she added.