3 Trends Driving Customer Experience in 2023 from Movable Ink

As the remote work situation continues, customer experience is top of the mind for nearly every brand. So, what trends are driving customer experience and engagement this year? We had the chance to discuss with our partner, Movable Ink, what they are experiencing in the market, and share some best practices.

In this interview, Shannon Cook, Movable Ink’s Director of Go-to-Market Enablement for Mobile Channels, shares customer engagement insights and strategies for marketers to take advantage of to improve their brand’s customer experience in 2023.

Personalization continues to be a hot topic. What sort of strategies should marketers explore for 2023 to enhance customer experience?

There are two significant trends in personalization we are noticing this year. The first one pertains to mobile usage and applications. 53% of brands use rich push notifications to send personalized messages to consumers. There is an opportunity for brands to pioneer what rich push looks like as consumers become more comfortable with E-commerce and mobile shopping.

The second is around API integration with email and mobile personalization. 2020 was all about supply chains and erratic inventory across the country. Industries such as essential goods, outdoor brands, and electronics experienced incredible growth. Herein, APIs can help marketers with real-time personalization stories that keep consumers up-to-date on store inventory, popular items, or the latest product reviews.

While that’s a straightforward way brands can integrate APIs into personalization, it does show how better use of marketing technology can build trust between brand and consumer.

Mobile is becoming increasingly important. What tactics will brands explore this year to improve customer experience?

Mobile marketing is making it easier and more efficient for brands to personalize their notifications and in-app messages. Those that have not incorporated non-text elements into personalized notifications will catch up this year. Consumers are also getting smarter with their mobile shopping and expecting a customer experience unique to their needs.

There are two elements to remember when considering 1:1 notifications and in-app messages. First, bring your product team and your brand’s app developer into these conversations. Often, marketing prioritizes personalization and assumes everyone else in the organization feels the same way. But if your mobile marketing plan doesn’t include early discussions with every stakeholder responsible for the app, those plans could be a moot point. You don’t want to hit major internal roadblocks before deploying a new strategy.

Data integration is the second interesting aspect of mobile marketing for a stellar customer experience in 2023. In the past, marketing teams could not connect their martech stack and customer data with the app platform. That’s getting a lot easier as the tools utilizing disparate data sources become more sophisticated.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed customer engagement and customer experiences?

The last two years were incredibly hard. However, we look forward to an economic bounce-back. That being said, consumers are still wary of overspending. Most consumers will rely on the brands they know, the ones they trust. Whether industries like streaming platforms that saw a boom last year or hotels that struggled to stay afloat, almost every brand will rely on existing customers to help them bounce back this year.

We expect to see a groundswell of loyalty/rewards program communications. Rewarding valuable customers for their continued allegiance is a safe way to ignite an economic recovery. Personalizing the programs that incentivize customer spending makes everything feel more like a partnership than a transactional relationship.

Conclusion

Consumers have high expectations from brands. Each engagement with a consumer is an opportunity to demonstrate that you understand them to earn their loyalty and trust. Brands’ focus on the customer experience is not going away. If anything, it IS becoming even more of a priority for 2022. Marketers must prioritize creating the optimal experience for each customer and putting the customer first in their engagement strategy.