Attention-seeking. Attention-saving.
Yes, it’s the eternal battle to attract, and retain, customers, but made even more challenging in today’s environment: there’s no shortage of stimuli competing for your customers’ attention.
On the attention-seeking side, personalization is back in a big way. Deliver the right message that meets the right need at the right time: this should be even easier with your existing customers whom you’ve already got a trove of information on, right? Don’t build new features like bots to be flashy or edgy – build them to meet real customer demands.
When it comes to attention-saving, expectations are higher then ever, yet again: everything should be frictionless, to the point of being automated and unnoticeable, in so many cases. An understanding of the customer journey is critical, analyzing all pain points and ways that they can be eliminated or immediately relieved. (Trendwatching cites attentive chatbots that can avoid pitfalls as a good example of the former and Qatar Airways’ loaner laptops for customers for the latter). Make multitasking easy, but always be benevolent – don’t abuse data or be a pushy salesperson.
The full piece is worth a read; find it on Trendwatching’s site here.