CX 2019 Takeaways & 2020 Predictions

As CX matures and organisations begin to realise it is a defining factor in brand differentiation, Revium's CX team share their insights from the year gone and what 2020 will bring.

Customer Experience is no longer the ‘next big thing’ in Australia – That wave has come and gone, and now rather than being a looming megatrend, CX has become a critical part of business and brand strategy. In 2013 Walker predicted that ‘By 2020, Customer Experience will overtake price and product as a key brand differentiator’, 7 years on as we hit that seemingly futuristic milestone, we reflect upon where we have come from and what 2020 holds for Customer Experience. 

2019 was a true coming-of-age for many organisations who had put in the early groundwork around their Customer Experience strategies. Mature customer data collection frameworks married with qualitative research insights and artefacts have seen businesses who deeply understand their customer - what drives them, the role the business plays in their life, and what that customer wants next without having to explicitly ask for it. The payoff for this work is evident and measurable, organisations who are doing CX well and ‘walking the walk’ for their customers have seen uplifts in customer sentiment, market share and customer lifetime value.

Businesses aren’t the only beneficiaries of maturing customer strategies, as consumers we are finding ourselves better understood, offered the right products and services at an appropriate time, and making purchases with organisations is simpler than ever before. We have an ever-expanding array of businesses that we can spend our money with, but we are voting with our wallets for the brands we feel most respected by.

What Can We Expect in 2020 for CX?

As CX continues to mature into a critical part of everyday business in 2020 and beyond, we spoke to some members of our Revium CX team to hear their predictions.

Alex Kondys – CX Director 

Digital Experiences and technologies are being further embedded into our day-to-day lives (particularly our homes) at an exponential rate – In 2020 and beyond, organisations will need to seriously invest in building and maintaining customer trust to win and keep a place in a consumer’s life. Today’s consumer expects total transparency and confidence that the business will act in their best interests. The Australian governments ‘My Health Record’ debacle has been a great example of this, with lack of clarity around storage and data access, Australian’s moved in droves to opt out of the seemingly invaluable service. 

Jude Walta – CX Designer
A more holistic approach to Human Centred Design is on the horizon of 2020. As issues like climate change and equality are thrust into the mainstream, the design industry is starting to shift thinking to ask - how might we include an overlay of ethics in our solutions? How can we work across organisations and indeed verticals to solve societal challenges that benefit our community?

Stephen Luke – CX Designer

In 2020 we will see customers will begin to seek out businesses that they feel align with their belief systems. Humans the world over have become restless about perceived inaction of government on issues like Climate Change and social inequality, in part attributed to big business. Consumers will be looking to support businesses who support the community they operate in.

Building a deeper and more meaningful understanding of customers will be more important than ever. Brands who are serious about this shift will invest time and effort in understanding the varied values of their customers and align their business models to support and uplift the community. 

So, what can you do to prepare? If your organisation hasn’t nailed its Customer Strategy, or even made a serious start, there is no need to panic. The best place to get started is to conduct a Customer Experience Maturity audit of your organisation to gauge how your organisation is delivering on customer-centricity. With the audit as a baseline you will be able to better identify the opportunities and challenges in becoming a customer-obsessed organisation.

Driving better customer relationships isn’t a secret science, it’s about building your organisation to be fanatical about understanding your customers and working from there.