Future CX event explores future of engagement

2019 will be a year of new customer experience trends. An event hosted by digital engagement platform Orlo explores the future of brand communication.

Speakers from top brands including online supermarket chain Ocado, Virgin Trains, Microsoft and LinkedIn all came together in a London-based ‘Future CX’ event, exploring the future of customer experience in the coming year.

“Emotion drives behaviour.” This was the general consensus, as speakers detailed their own experience with customer engagement and communication. The influential gathering revealed that we may be about to step into an ‘age of experience’, moving forward from the Information Age: customers now wish to be actively engaged, expect brands to be present and active at all times, and are getting used to online experiences that can inspire positive emotions.

As an increasing number of large organisations starts to place the most focus on customer experience, it looks like the biggest digital winners are the ones with deep human focus: names like Airbnb, Spotify and Pinterest were mentioned, as brands that managed to turn their valued customers into ‘advocates’ for the company. Relationships and experiences can change behaviours.

Another big trend in customer experience seems to be the use of web chats. Ocado provides an example of this kind of interaction: the company guides their customers by making web chats more visible on the website and focuses on positive web conversations to drive memorable experiences in the eyes of consumers.

The event touched a number of other topics, such as AI’s integration with human contact, the importance of experience-led social media strategies, and the impact the latter can have on business outcomes – with more than 74% of consumer-buying decisions influenced by social networks.