Customers expect the new convenience they’ve experienced to continue
During COVID, we’ve seen unprecedented digital adoption. People are getting used to being virtually connected to their doctors, attending classes, working out on home gym equipment with virtual trainers and working from home while collaborating with others. Customers have gotten used to the habit of convenience and they will continue to demand it.
“We’re adapting rapidly to introducing formats and focusing on enhanced digital, pick-up locations.”
Action Points:
Use this as a trial run on digitizing your customer experience
Many new services were spun up very fast to deal with the crisis and may not be sustainable as the lockdown wanes. Use this re-opening period to learn from how the services work and start modifying and improving the services so they are ready for prime time.
Include input from real customers in the process.
Find out which services are the most important to customers and how they need to evolve going forward. Include feedback in the process, including from social media, to continuously improve each process.
Focus on the steak, not the sizzle
Many customer pain points relate to data infrastructure. Friction in transactions, knowing the availability of products and services, delivery times etc all are driven by the “back end” that’s never seen directly by customers. It’s time to focus on these infrastructure issues because customers’ expectations have reached the tipping point.
“I’m very curious to see how perks and benefits evolve. Packages like commuter benefits, coffee, snacks, free meals etc. will need to evolve as staggered work schedules and WFH become the new norm. A brand-new suite of benefits will need to be created in the coming months and years.”
Chieh Huang, Boxed CEO
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