Improving Your Customer Experience With Technology – It’s Easy!

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EasyAs customer expectations get higher and higher – they want things faster, easier, how and when they want them – it’s the businesses that anticipate and exceed customer expectations that are the ones that are getting ahead in today’s crowded marketplaces.

Our research shows that a key ingredient of providing a great customer experience is ‘Being easy to buy from and deal with’ (It’s an ingredient of 3D Characteristic #3: Create Delighted And Devoted Customers). Sometimes it’s as simple as having responsive, empowered front line staff who engage with customers, a website that is easy to use or sales people who know what they’re talking about!

More and more, however, those things should be a ‘given’, and it’s the businesses that find better ways of doing it that will stay ahead of their competitors. So how do they do it? Well, here are 6 examples of how businesses can, and are, using ‘technology’ to great better customer experiences, particularly in the area of being easy to buy from and deal with.

They may seem a little ‘high tech’ and ‘sci fi’, but in this fast moving world, the ‘things way ahead in the future’ soon become the ‘things for today’! Have a look at these 6 examples of how ‘technology’ is being used to improve customer experiences and think what it means for you and, importantly,  your customers!


1. Just Eat’s Self Driving Delivery Robots…

Just Eat RobotJust Eat have introduced six-wheeled delivery self driving robots which trundle along at 4 mph to deliver meals to homes around London! They navigate their way using a GPS tracker coupled with on-board cameras and sensors, and when the robot arrives at its destination, the customer simply types in a code and this lets them open the robot’s lid to collect their food! There’s more information here.


2. Voice Recognition Eliminates The Need For Passwords 

Voice RecognitionEnd ‘forgotten password’ misery with  Nuance which recognises your voice and automatically ‘logs you in’!  As you speak into the phone, your voice is analysed for hundreds of unique characteristics that are then compared to your voiceprint on file and off you go!

It replace the frustration of passwords and PINs with the ease of Voice Biometrics and reduces unnecessary button-pushing and typing by starting every interaction – whether that’s on the phone, your website or mobile app! Apparently the technology also allows the receiver to tell what sort of a mood the customer is when they call too, so that helps prepare the ‘receiver’ too!


3. Contactless Payment Is Being Ahead Of The Kerv! 

kerv-ringRather than carrying your purse or wallet, as long as you have the Kerv ring on your finger, you’ll be able to pay contactlessly with your finger! Kerv can be used to make a payment anywhere in the world that accepts standard contactless credit, debit and prepaid card payments (The London Underground for example).

Simply wear the ring (there are lots of colours and designs to chose from!) and off you go. Swipe the ring over the contactless card reader and you’re sorted – now, that’s easy!


4. The Nymi Band Authenticates Automatically By Heart Beat! 

nymi bandThe Nymi Band is a wearable ‘authenticator’ that can be used with a wide range of applications and devices using ‘biometrics’! A recent pilot had them partnering with a group of leading financial institutions to bring to life the world’s first wearable, biometrically-authenticated payment system. That meant that once their ‘biometrics’ were authenticated by their electrocardiogram the pilot customers were able to make payments at existing contactless terminals around the world in a heart beat!!!

Actually, your heart rhythm should not be confused with your heartbeat, so the Nymi Band would still work if you had just run for a bus or train!


5. Pay Through Face Recognition With Selfiepay! 

Selfie-PayWhen you’re out shopping, there’s now no need to carry money, or try and remember your passwords when using a bank card! Selfiepay allows you to pay by, guess what, a selfie! It’s a mobile payment wallet where facial recognition is used for payment verification.

They say their goal is to create the ultimate payment experience for their users and make more secure payment easier to do. Their aim is to make daily transactions an unforgettable less than 5 second experience!


6. Control Your Phone Without Even Touching It! 

Google’s is experimenting with some technology that allows you to control your phone (and ultimately, other ‘gadgets’) without even touching it! Watch the video below to see what this looks like!


So, even if you think these examples don’t apply directly to your industry or business, it’s worth pointing out that they raise the expectations of your customers.

They may well be saying…. “If THEY can do that, why can’t YOU?”

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Andy Hanselman
Hi there! I help businesses and their people create competitive advantage by 'Thinking in 3D'! That means being 'Dramatically and Demonstrably Different'! I research, speak about, write about and work with businesses to help them maximise their sales and marketing, their customer service and their customer relationships.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Andy, interesting article and collection of materials. Just one thought/question: Doesn’t the exceeding of customer expectations accelerate these expectations in a way that a company that strives to ‘continuously exceeding expectations’ finds itself in a vicious circle?

    Cheers
    Thomas

  2. Thomas

    Wonderful to hear from you – and thanks for that. You’re absolutely right! In fact, it’s something I talk about a lot in my presentations. I challenge businesses to ‘exceed’ their customers expectations by surprising them with the level of service they provide – that’s ‘customer delight’!

    I warn them however that, by definition, those expectations will now rise….. the challenge for the business is to at least match those expectations and strive to exceed them. The result is ‘Devoted’ customers and these are the goal… They have ‘high expectations’ and consistently receive a ‘great’ customer experience (‘great as defined by the customer of course).

    The problem comes when customers receive a ‘poor experience’ (‘Poor’ again, defined by them and typically, compared to the ‘great’ experience they’ve had from you in the past) and these ‘Disappointed’ customers have to be dealt with. A real issue here could be that your ‘poor’ experience could actually still be better than your competitors ‘great’ experience, but that’s not necessarily what they are comparing it with, particularly if they have been only buying from you for some time!!

    You’ll see here an article from Customer Think that illustrates the 2 x 2 grid I use to demonstrate this…hope it makes sense!

    http://customerthink.com/want-to-increase-customer-loyalty-deal-with-disappointment/

    Any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch

    Best Wishes

  3. thanks Andy, If I understand you right you are basically trying to establish a kind of equilibrium?

    Cheers
    Thomas

  4. Thomas…

    I think it’s more of a constant driving forward, but you’re right, the ‘equilibrium’ is managing that balance between customer expectations and their experience. This varies massively from industry to industry…. the really scary thing is that in some sectors, you can get ahead of your competitors by simply calling customers back when you said you would….. or even worse, simply calling back!!!!!

    I think a key challenge for many businesses is building in ‘consistency’. If I have ‘High Expectations’ because of my dealings with one particular individual or department, I ‘expect’ that in other parts of the business too – it often doesn’t happen, and that’s where the ‘Equilibrium’ is lost!

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