The internet has changed consumption—whether it’s news, music, films or consumer goods in general. By being exposed to a broader selection of media and products, people are now freer to pick and choose what’s relevant to them.
This trend reflects the revolution that is happening in user experience (UX), the consumer journey and the consumer experience (CX) as a whole. It’s become somewhat of a paradox in that, as people rely more on technology, the more they seek a personal, more organic touch.
Consumers now have the ability to shape their own digital realities, thus shifting the balance of power to the people when it comes to product and UX design choices.
As technology becomes more sophisticated, so does the consumer and one of the fears for a brand is to be outpaced by change. In an increasingly saturated and digital-savvy global market, how does a company set itself apart?
Technology drives best practices in UX
As daunting as it may seem, it is important to understand that the consumer grows with the technology—and brands should be able to keep up with this growth by empathizing with the consumer. At the heart of the good design is being able to address pain points and reflect it on the consumer experience.
Many companies at present have taken a more proactive stance in keeping pace with consumer trends by adding value for prospects and existing customer-bases through UX. And this is largely enabled by technology such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, augmented reality and mixed reality.
Subscription-based media platforms such as Netflix and Spotify have epitomized personalized experiences largely through big data analytics and machine learning.
Spotify changed the music industry forever by curating user dashboards based on listening activity, giving artist and song recommendations and “Daily Mixes” unique to a user. This takes a lot of effort and guesswork out of one’s listening experience and music discovery.
Netflix, which dubbed itself as the world’s leading Internet television network, did a similar thing for movies and tv shows.
The company has invested heavily on machine learning, constantly optimizing its platform to give accurate, individualized recommendations on its landing page. Netflix has also used big data to understand what makes a good film or tv show, providing valuable insight when investing in content for its subscribers.
When e-commerce goes mainstream
By 2021, E-commerce will balloon to a USD 4.9 trillion global markets with more than 2 billion online shoppers accounting for 17 per cent of total retail spend. Even now, this exponential growth has pressured businesses both new and established to innovate their digital storefronts to attract prospects and keep repeat customers coming.
Southeast Asian e-commerce giants Lazada and Shopee have created curated storefronts based on individual user purchase and product browsing habits to make relevant recommendations on the best deals and platform-wide sales.
Both apps have also gamified the buying experience, scheduling special events and contests in-app to boost traffic and engage users.
AI is also seeing success in e-commerce. Brands like Lazada, Sephora and H&M have increased customer service efficiency by providing 24/7 chatbot support, able to answer inquiries and provide recommendations.
Banking payments benefit from CX and technology convergence
During this time, it will become vital for traditional businesses to bolster their digital transformation with an omnichannel approach if they have any hope of fending off new players from disrupting their specific industries.
According to Business Insider, 97 per cent of millennials already use some form of mobile banking, for instance. This means that legacy industries such as banking have to follow suit in the trend if they want to stay relevant.
Very recently, the United Bank of India (UBI) added voice transactions to its digital banking platform, enabling customers to talk to a Voice Assistant. The new “Voice Commerce” will not only improve the individual experience but also the security of the bank’s mobile users.
In terms of customer experience, the feature allows account-holders to have more personal, context- and location-aware transactions compared to the traditional mobile banking experiences. This gives them access to a wider range of UBI’s services with a more organic customer journey, in the same vein as transacting with an actual bank teller.
Voice Commerce also gives financial institutions and businesses an added layer of security with multi-factor authentication which includes voice recognition.
The service was powered by Financial Software and Systems (FSS), itself a global leader in helping financial institutions and commercial businesses transform the consumer experience.
The company envisions a more personalized, omnichannel banking experience that unites physical and digital channels into one seamless, frictionless system to cater to the specific needs of users.
This partnership seems to be on-trend when it comes to AI and banking which, Business Insider Intelligence forecasts as a USD 450 billion opportunities for banks, allowing them to grow their businesses and cut costs from the front office to the back office.
In the future, many existing industries such as banking indeed will have to become either digital-first or digital-only if they would like to stay relevant to the increasingly tech-minded consumer who values personalised experiences, speed, efficiency, convenience and security.
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Image Credit: Joanna Kosinska
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