In an increasingly digital world, when it comes to customer experience (CX), companies want to become modern digital businesses that personalize CX much like mom-and-pop companies of the past.
As I was preparing a presentation for a New York City Forrester event on customer experience, I reached out to my son, who had worked at disruptive companies like Dropbox and Lyft, for a younger perspective on the future of customer experience. I expected he would talk about virtual and augmented reality or the Internet of Things, but what he said instead surprised me.
His first words were, “Make it the usual, Betty.” He was referring to the need for digital interactions to be like they were in the ‘50s though he wasn’t even alive in the ‘50s. He mentioned that CX needs to be as personalized as in the past when you walked into a diner and asked Betty for the usual. He mentioned his favorite coffee spot in San Francisco. When he walks in every morning, they know he is a regular, they call him out at the back of the line, direct him to the front (personalized routing), and greet him personally with “Hey, Andrew, the usual?” It’s exactly the kind of experience I remember as a kid, going into my grandparents’ local hardware store.
The future of customer experience is all about personalization, but with all the existing technology, why is it not happening? Dimension Data states that the next wave of customer experience after omnichannel experiences is personalized and predictive service.
Read my most recent ebook for the seven barriers to personalization along with some ideas for breaking through each barrier.
About the author:
Previously Ted worked at Genesys where he led North America Marketing with over 15 years in the customer experience industry. Prior to that Ted worked for startups and enterprise software and hardware companies in all marketing functions. In addition to his CX experience, Ted has a background in business intelligence and large scale computing systems. Ted is a graduate of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan with a marketing and finance background.
