Well, if the customer is going to be the center of attention, the key is to find out what they want. More importantly, companies must find out what the customer wants. and deliver it through a superior customer experience (CX). The first step to delivering a superior customer experience is determining who specifically interacts with your customers. The answer?
Everyone in your company.
Which brings us to another recent trend: gamification. Gamification, while still on the rise, is maturing now that companies are beginning to understand its true potential. In 2018, gamification will become less gimmicks and more value. This is especially true for customer interactions, which everyone in your company has on some level.
Companies must ensure that all employees represent and sell the organization, regardless of their title. And gamification of processes helps companies take big steps toward customer service readiness. Let’s take a look at the state of gamification in 2018 and some of the ways organizations are using it to improve their CX.
Human Resources/Learning and Development
Marketing
If 2018 is going to be the year of the customer, then marketing is going to have a big year too. However, what will start to look a little different is a shift in focus from brand awareness, which is currently done through social media, towards customer retention. Companies will look for an increase in brand loyalty and customer engagement. Expect to see more gamification to support these shifts in focus as businesses learn to engage with their customers in new ways.
Augmented and Virtual Reality
As the use of augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) continues to increase, we can expect gamification to play a role within it as companies try to gain greater access to customers and personalize their experiences. The use of gamification within AR and VR aims to track user statistics so that, over time, the customer has the exact experience that meets their preferences, habits and needs while at the same time pursuing the commercial objectives of the company.
Mobile technology
Greater platform options
—
As we move into 2018, what is clear about the state of gamification is that it is moving from a “fun thing we should try” to a serious added value that goes far beyond a marketing trend. Yes, HR was one of the first to get on board, but gamification has gone beyond a useful way to learn and now integrates ways to improve employee satisfaction and engagement.
We can expect to see this same level of maturity with gamification in other areas of organizations. Marketing will move from brand awareness through social media to customer loyalty and engagement through the use of game mechanics. Mobile apps will continue to drive this upward trend this year. We can count on 2018 as the year of the customer, so companies will use thoughtful and intentional ways to build brand loyalty and engage with shoppers in new and meaningful ways we haven’t seen before.
Jessica Barrett Halcom is a writer for TechnologyCouncil.comwith specializations in human resources, health and transportation. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay and currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
