Think about how trips to modern Walmart and the Walmart of the past differ. Twenty years ago, you wouldn’t expect Walmart and other supermarkets to have the options of online pickups, mobile pay, or deliver groceries to your home. Now, it would be hard to shop at a business that doesn’t offer these options. When you go to Walmart, you can order your purchases online and have them delivered or pay automatically in-store with your phone. These expectations for the customer experience are now the norm for consumers. As Connected Customers’ expectations evolve, businesses should transform to best serve their customers.
Every modern consumer is a Connected Customer. Since your customers have a majority of their customers’ experiences digitally, it’s important to engage with them on their terms. Say you’re an airline that does not offer mobile check-in, but your competitor does. Because mobile check-in is expected to be offered by airlines, most consumers will purchase tickets through the competing airline for the ease of the customer experience.
As technology evolves, Connected Customers use their mobile devices more and more. An example of the importance of mobile devices to the modern consumer are the digital wallets offered through Google and Apple. Customer experiences are simplified with this technology, since instead of digging for a physical wallet at the moment of payment, customers can just tap or hover their phone, which is already on-hand, to instantly pay. By building your business's technology around your consumers’ use of mobile devices, you make their interaction with your company easier and connected, as well as engaging with what they want.
By engaging customers through their mobile phones, you can serve their needs in a way they want. Your business can take this another step further by allowing your customers to personalize their experiences with your business. Take Amazon’s recommendations for example. After looking and shopping around for various projects, customers notice that Amazon recommends similar products based on your previous searches. Personalizations like this make your customers feel seen, keeping them connected to your business.
Since customer expectations are always transforming, it is important to listen to your customers and implement feedback that you receive. Doing this allows your business to stay on top of what your customers want. This flexibility and ability to transform will keep your customers coming back for more.
Changing your business to meet your customers’ needs is a great practice for your business. Positively interacting with and listening to your customers builds your customers’ loyalty and strengthens your reputation amongst your industry. Making your customers the center of your business allows your business to excel in the ever-evolving markets.
