Four ways how technology can improve customer experience

For organisations of all sizes and shapes, playing into changing consumer behaviour trends is key for maintaining a satisfied customer base and hence a competitive edge. Jade Teunissen, a consultant at The Next Organization, shares four ways how companies can use technology to improve the way they connect with consumers.

1. Personalisation

Personalisation occurs when companies use customer behaviour insights to show their ads only to consumers that are more likely to be interested in the company’s product or service. Personalisation increases relevance. The more relevant the message, the more valuable it is for the customer. This ultimately leads to higher customer satisfaction and more conversion. 

Personalisation can also make consumers feel special, which has a positive effect on the long-term relationship and loyalty between customers and the organisation.

Spotify is a great example of a company that personalises its offering. Based on the data of music you listen to, Spotify uses an algorithm to create a new list each week (discover weekly) comprising songs that match your music taste.

2. The design of an online platform or physical store

People’s behaviour is increasingly stimulated by external factors (i.e. recommendations, references or music), as opposed to internal factors (i.e. own opinion and attitude). Therefore, external factors such as the layout and design of an ecommerce platform or physical store are rising in important. When these external factors are more noticeable or present, consumers are more likely to adjust their behaviour to these factors.

Zalando’s webshop is a well-known example. When you click on a product you are interested in, you see the rating given by the reviews of others in extra-large fonts and when you scroll down you see recommendations in again a very large format – on some screens the message can even take up more than half of the available space. 

3. (Micro-)Moment optimisation

With the arrival of the smartphone and therefore the micro-moments, the customer journey has changed enormously. Consumers make decisions faster than ever and can today find their desired information with the blink of an eye. Customer journeys no longer follow the traditional, lengthy journey from A to Z via B, C, D etc. 

Instead, the journey now consists of hundreds of different moments in which people visit apps, social media and websites. For an organisation it is key to identify these moments and make use of a moment specific impulse and need of a consumer.

Take the website of supermarket Albert Heijn (AH.nl) as an example. When you visit the site, you also are provided access to many recipes in addition to the option of (purchasing) products. When you find a recipe that you would like to prepare, you have the option to add the products of the recipe directly to your shopping list, order them immediately and have them delivered. 

4. Experiences

When customer experiences are better than expected, enthusiastic customers tend to buy more products, become less price-sensitive, leave positive reviews and become more loyal. It has become a decisive factor for customer retention and growth. This provides a great opportunity for brands and organisations to excel and differentiate themselves from the rest.

The fast growing Coolblue is a nice example when to it comes to building an experience. All communication and processes are aimed at giving customers a positive feeling, from the own website all the way through to the delivery of products and the after service.