Are You Listening? 5 Urgent Demands From Your Customers

We may be living in the most creative and disruptive time since the dawn of the Internet. Nearly everything we do is becoming easier, faster, more consumer-friendly than before. It’s a delightful time for consumers, and a challenging time for brands.

Yet there is great opportunity for brands that listen carefully to the changing expectations of their customers. They’re telling us a lot of things right now, but they’re telling us some more loudly than others and a clear picture of the future is emerging.

Here are the top five that we’re hearing:

Automate it.

We’re more time-starved and overwhelmed than ever. We need you to do it for us. Alerts; reminders; auto-renewals; auto-pay; auto-everything. It’s how we get through the day now. You can even manage our retirement portfolio. As long as it’s in our best interest and saves us time. That’s how far we’re willing to take this.

Make it more personal.

You know who I am, what I like, what I do and where I am. So why do you keep showing me things I’m not interested in? Cut out the noise and win my heart. Google is increasingly reading my mind. Uber, Yelp and Tinder are building helpful experiences around where I’m standing now. This is what you’re up against.

Make it more mobile.

In a short span of time the “second screen” became the first screen and now increasingly it’s the only screen for just about everything. Are you all in?

Collaborate. With Everyone.

Have your own payment system? Proprietary loyalty program? You’re making this too much work. If Mint.com can bring nearly every financial institution into one tiny little app, why can’t you play nice? Even the ultimate close-system operator — Apple — is finally lowering its drawbridge. Now more than ever it takes a village to deliver great experiences.

Don’t make us think.

Don’t make me choose. Don’t ask me to compare. Don’t make me go elsewhere for more information. Tell me what to do instead. Just make sure you’re telling me the right thing. Or else.

The message is clear.

If we want to keep more of our customers’ waning attention and loyalty in this accelerating world, we’ll need to find ever more creative ways to ask less of them while doing more for them at the same time. It’s not an easy challenge, but nothing less — or more — will do.

Customer Experience & ROI

73% of consumers like to buy from brands that personalize the shopping experience...

Source: Accenture Interactive