348: Predictions for 2019

Jeannie and Adam dust off the crystal ball and have some fun bringing you their expert customer experience predictions for 2019. What are our top predictions for 2019? It’s that time of year again, when we look back at the year behind us and speculate about what’s to come. It’s been an amazing year for trends in business technology, organizational leadership, and customer expectations, so where are we headed based on these?  Here’s a peek at what we’re talking about: 1. Artificial experiences get real Artificial Intelligence has made leaps and bounds in 2018, but we’re not quite ready to let the machines take the wheel in most cases. Is that about to change? We see some exciting things about to happen! 2. Whose role is it anyway? More companies have created executive roles focused on customers, and for the most part, we think that’s a good thing. On the other hand, some have not done a great job at defining those roles. How can leaders avoid creating more of the interdepartmental friction and other side effects of expanding the C-Suite? 3. Is the retail apocalypse still happening? With the exodus of Toys R Us and many other age-old brands, the death of retail has been a hot topic this year, leaving many retailers scrambling for ways to hang onto their customers. Will the older retailers learn their lessons and adapt to the new retail landscape, or will they succumb to the underdogs founded around more experience-focused practices? 4. Going old-school 2018 has seen a resurgence of retro apparel, decor and even food...and the hipsters have been doing that since before it was cool, amiright!? We don’t think they’re going to stop there. In fact, they’re about to amp up their fascination with embracing the old as new and begin demanding retro experiences. Can you and your staff handle it? 5. Bleep, bloop, beep! Customer Experience Maturity has been all abuzz in 2018 as well. But with the flurry of new tech and mind blowing ways to analyze data, we’re challenging what “maturity” really means here in terms of WHY all this fancy tech is being used. 2019 will be a wake-up call of sorts when it comes to leveraging this tech, but it requires a shift in perspective. We had a lot of fun recording this episode, so we hope you’ll have as much fun listening! And here’s a bonus prediction for today: You will download this episode, then rate and review Crack the Customer Code today. (Can’t blame me for trying, right?) Listen in! Related Content 360Connext® post, What You Need to Know to Reduce Customer Effort in 2019 Customers That Stick® post, The Fusion of Brand and Culture with Denise Lee Yohn Episode 214: Who Drives Customer Experience? Episode 300: Celebrating 300 Episodes (with live guitar) We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices