The rapid development of digital technology has brought about so many new things that we never thought possible before. Today, you can buy almost anything online and have it shipped to your house overnight. You can send feedback to businesses and actually have them make changes to improve. You can even return items for free without having to go through a tedious process.
The bottom line is that businesses today provide more convenience and are more customer-centric than ever before. A big part of that is thanks to the development of digital technology. In this article, let’s point out some of the specific ways technology has impacted customer expectations.
Customers want speed in almost all aspects
As modern technology develops, our patience as users shortens. Remember when fast Internet wasn’t the norm, and you had to wait for five to ten seconds for a page to load? Such a loading speed won’t cut it in this modern world. Today, viewers expect web pages to load within the first three seconds, or they’ll find somewhere else to shop.
Having slow loading speeds is the most common mistake that businesses make; any digital marketing company will tell you that. In a world where convenience is expected, people won’t remain patient with a website that takes forever to load, much less give them what they want at that exact moment.
And it’s not just slow loading speeds; it’s also the speed of delivery, customer service, returns, and almost every other aspect of business operations. With automation, machine learning, and customer service technology, customers expect businesses to reply to or fulfill their requests within twenty-four hours or even sooner. They know modern businesses can do it, so they don’t expect anything less than speedy service.
Customers are in control
With the modern tech that we have today, if a customer is not satisfied with a company, they can easily find somewhere else to do business with a few taps of their fingers. This is the main reason why it is more difficult to gain the loyalty of the younger generations compared to baby boomers. For the older folk, they grew up sticking to the brands they knew because finding other competitors was not as easy without technology. But for millennials and Gen Z, they don’t feel the need to put up with unsatisfactory service because they can find somewhere else to shop within the same hour.
Hence, it goes without saying that businesses must put customers first and know what they want when they want it. There is no longer tolerance for subpar service because there is always a competitor who can do better. If companies want to stay competitive, they have to put customers at the forefront.
Customers expect their opinions to be taken into consideration
Social media, consumer-to-consumer dialogue, mobile technology, and other modern innovations have made it easier for customers to share opinions with an unlimited number of people. Before, customers could only complain to the business and share their negative feedback with the people they meet in real life. But today, customers can convey their opinions on social media posts and reach multiple parts of the Internet. This is another reason why customers hold most of the power nowadays, not the companies.
It’s not just negative feedback, too. Customers can rave about how awesome a product or service is on social media and help the company gain more business. Mouth-to-mouth marketing is also more powerful thanks to instant messaging, where people can easily share products and services with a press of a button.
With all these things in mind, businesses must listen to their customers’ feedback and consider it. Many customers expect their opinions to matter. If a company does not even do as much as acknowledge their message, it can make them feel that the company does not value what their customers are saying, which is a huge red flag.
Customer insights play a significant role in a company’s direction. That said, it only makes sense for businesses of all types to listen to what their customers are saying and actually put their opinions into consideration.
The modern customer is more digitally adept and conscious than ever before, which means that they have higher expectations for every company they come across. Hence, if a business wants to remain relevant in a highly digital world, they have to meet or go beyond these expectations for years to come.
