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As you’re checking off your list of holiday presents this week don’t forget someone important — your customer. Technology-enabled customers have high expectations. They are accustomed to seamless experiences across multiple devices, boundless amounts of information at their fingertips, and instant fulfillment of their needs. The first step to delighting your connected customers this holiday season is understanding their behaviors. Luckily, Salesforce Research surveyed more than 7,000 consumers and business buyers on customer expectations to help you do just that.
Here are five experiences your customers are looking for, based on the “State of the Connected Customer” report:
Today real time is no longer a commodity, it’s the norm. For most consumers, the technology-driven world has eliminated the concept of ‘waiting’. Whether it’s for a package, a service request, a sales quote or tweet — customers expect quick interactions without lag time. In fact, 64% of consumers expect companies to respond and interact with them in real time.
To understand the impact mobile has had on our daily lives, one only has to look around a typical morning commute to see a dizzying number of thumbs scrolling across portable screens. Put simply, customers expect the same mobile-first experiences from the companies they purchase from as they have with their personal lives. Fifty-seven percent of consumers say it’s absolutely critical or very important for companies to provide an easy-to-use mobile experience and half will actually switch brands if a company doesn’t provide one.
We now live in a world of many channels, one of the more dominant of these channels is social media. Today’s consumers spend a large portion of their day browsing across various channels. As a result, they look for businesses that actively engage with them on social and expect easily-available information about brands wherever they choose to look. Fifty-two percent of consumers say social media has given them more power as a consumer and 75% percent agree they expect companies to provide a consistent experience wherever they engage (website, social media, mobile, in person).
Perhaps the most prevalent trend is the customer’s desire for personalized experiences. Personalization has always been a desire of customers, but now they expect deeper recognition from brands across even more touch points. Customers don’t want to just feel like a data point, they want to continue to feel known and understood. Two-thirds of consumers say they’re likely to switch brands if they’re treated like a number instead of an individual and 51% agree they expect companies to recognize them wherever they engage (website, social media, mobile, in person).
Increasingly, customers want companies to go a step further than just understanding them. Many connected customers expect the businesses they purchase from to go a step further and predict their future needs — like a local pharmacist that has your prescription ready for you at the counter. Fifty percent of consumers say they’re likely to switch brands if a company doesn’t anticipate their needs. The smarter experience is the magic ingredient to truly delighting your customer better than your competitors this holiday season.
Is your company positioned to exceed customer expectations this holiday season and beyond? Learn more about the connected customer and how businesses can leverage experience as a key competitive advantage in the new year. Download the full “State of the Connected Customer” report.
