What does the future hold for your customer engagement strategies in 2022? In this blog, we’ll be exploring the top consumer trends to keep an eye out for in the retail space, so you can maintain customer satisfaction levels, boost their interactivity with your company and more.
In 2021, retailers focused on adapting to continued growth throughout the e-commerce space due to the ongoing implications of the global pandemic. However, with the world returning to a new sense of normality, we’re now seeing a shift from companies adopting online processes to differentiating their customer engagement strategies in 2022.
Here are the retail trends you need to keep an eye out for in the new year:
Brands who can humanise their customer interactions will thrive
An omnichannel experience is critical for customer engagement
Digital transformation is key to survival in 2022 and beyond
Through effective collaboration with your marketing and insights, you can provide customer-focused campaigns that dial in to their needs, and clearly explain how your offerings can help solve their issues.
For instance, sustainability awareness has been a growing retail trend, with a recent study finding 50% of consumers who desire responsibly resourced fashion are more likely to buy clothes from companies who are committed to working sustainably. Take this insight to drive campaigns that focus on activities relating to the theme of sustainability, leading to further engagement with your brand.
Additionally, an effective insights-led engagement strategy can help you become more customer centric. It’s found that customer centric companies are 60% more profitable than those who don’t focus on customers. Therefore, by following this retail trend in 2022, this should increase your current retention to boost customer loyalty.
Here are some ways you can do this:
As more and more consumers use e-commerce platforms, this has increased the number of online interactions through the use of intelligent AI. Research shows that last year, 51% of e-commerce players have implemented automation technologies, with chatbots responding to 85% of customer interactions.
Some benefits of effectively implementing AI such as a chatbot include:
See the full list of benefits of how a chatbot can improve your customer engagement here.
You should also be aware of how customers interact within your physical stores and how AI is being used to benefit offline customer engagement. Last year, Levi’s introduced stores where customers can personalise, tailor, and explore outfits based on their clothing choices, all throughout their retail outlets.
By offering advanced AI for both offline and online purposes, you will keep on top of and stay ahead of trends. That’s how you futureproof your engagement strategies for 2022 and beyond.
By establishing deeper connections through a variety of platforms, this can improve your customer relationships, with potential to increase customer engagement and loyalty in turn. As a retailer, a way you can create an authentic experience is through active use on social channels.
Fashion brands, for instance, can use hashtags and photos of their clothing, allowing customers to freely share their opinions in the comments on the latest ranges and what they’d like to see in future launches. By having this open feedback source, you can effectively bridge the gap between your brand and your audience, as this creates the opportunity to respond authentically to individuals.
This is how you can continue to keep customers continuously engaged with your brand - even during a crisis.
2021 showed us that customers crave a relevant, personalised experience, and due to Google switching off third party cookies from 2023 onwards, companies need to shift their full focus on collecting first party data.
Here’s how you can personalise customer experiences to boost engagement:
From in-store to online interactions, customers can engage with your brand in many ways, placing the need for a consistent, fluid omnichannel experience. You can create an effective omnichannel experience by:
In 2021, we saw that retailers globally are reaching a balance between online and offline shopping experiences, with a rise in store openings over the year. Despite the growth of brick-and-mortar stores, the evolution of digital processes still remains essential to enhance customer engagement.
Here are the key steps you can take to digitally transform your business:
From exploring the customer engagement trends in 2022, you can see how critical it is to have a digital transformation plan in place. But where do you start? Our guide below on successful digital transformation in B2B e-commerce covers:
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