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Influential CX Trends for 2023

2023 is shaping up to be a tough year for many enterprises. This will elevate the importance of delivering an outstanding and personalized customer experience (CX) as organizations position themselves to maintain their profitability and retain their customers. Economic uncertainty is taking a toll on consumers, who are reducing their spending to conserve capital. Confronted by a unique economy, facing both inflation and recession, enterprise leaders know they need to concentrate on the fundamentals that matter most to their customers to come out of this period strongly. Below are 11 of the most important CX trends for enterprises to plan for and address in 2023.

  • Consumer expectations for a great and personalized service experience are higher than ever – Customers and prospects expect the companies they do business with to make it easy for them to take care of their needs.
  • The demands on CX organizations are growing in most of the touchpoints – Customer interactions are increasing in volume and scaling in complexity in both digital and voice channels.
  • Economic uncertainty will slow IT expenditures overall, but will increase investments in solutions that improve productivity, reduce operating costs, and enhance the CX and employee experience (EX) – Enterprises will reduce optional spending and cut back IT budgets as they strive to retain cash; however, they will prioritize and make investments that have a strong return on investment, particularly if they also help to improve the CX and boost employee engagement.
  • Companies must understand the complete customer journey in order to improve the CX – Executives appreciate the need to take an enterprise view of how customers interact with their organization but have not been willing to “shake things up” to enhance it. In order to deliver an outstanding and personalized customer experience in all touchpoints, companies need a way to identify and resolve issues and bottlenecks throughout the service delivery process. 
  • Self-service will continue to grow in importance – Self-service is increasingly the channel of choice for consumers, as long as it works well. Make the investments needed to enhance your self-service solutions to enable your customers to help themselves, as this will improve the CX, reduce operating costs, and can enhance quality.
  • Companies need to blend automated and live employee resources to deliver an outstanding CX cost effectively – The volume of customer inquiries is growing so rapidly in digital and voice channels that companies need to utilize automation just to keep up.
  • Digital-first will continue to pick up momentum, but voice is not going away – Customers want to interact in whatever channel is most convenient for them at any given moment. Increasingly, they are gravitating to digital channels, but when something is time sensitive, highly emotional, or involves a long explanation, they are most likely to call. 
  • Practical applications of AI will make demonstratable contributions to most aspects of the CX – Innovations in the science and use of AI have greatly advanced many aspects of the CX in the past couple of years. Companies should look for ways to take advantage of these enhancements as they will elevate the operating environment while reducing operating costs and improving the CX and EX. 
  • Predictive analytics is pivotal for the future of the CX – Contact center, marketing, and sales systems are going to become increasingly reliant on predictive analytics to drive their decision-making capabilities and improve the performance of the departments they support.
  • Capturing first-party data is a company priority – Customer-facing departments need to work together to collect first-party data so that this information can be used for marketing and sales initiatives that are essential for corporate profitability.
  • The challenge and cost of recruiting, hiring, and retaining skilled CX professionals will continue to increase – Employees in many CX functions, particularly customer service, contact center, and marketing, have been undervalued and underpaid for years; the Great Resignation awakened the market to these issues. Companies that want to hire skilled CX resources must increase salaries and pay a competitive wage, or they will lose the talent to Amazon, Target, Walmart, and other organizations that have responded to changing market dynamics. 

There is no proven formula for succeeding in a tough economy but prioritizing your customers and giving them an outstanding service experience that keeps them coming back will put your company in the best position to meet the challenge. Paying attention to the CX trends above will help. What are your organization’s top CX technology and operational priorities for 2023? Take our quick 2-minute survey and let us know! We at DMG Consulting wish you and your families and friends, health, happiness, peace, and success in the New Year!