Digital Customer Experience Trends 2024

How powerful is one second? Could it cost you $1.6 billion in sales?

Well, research on U.S. online users’ habits suggests that if this sentence takes longer than a second to load, many netizens will have clicked elsewhere already. The study found that the tolerance levels for slow webpage speeds were very low for the average U.S. web user.

As it turns out, Americans demand a quick online experience. For example, one in four people abandon surfing a website if it takes longer than four seconds to load. Four in ten Americans give up accessing a mobile shopping site that won’t load in just three seconds – the time you probably took to read this statement!

What does this mean for businesses? For a visually dependant audience, shopping sites are image-centric – but alas, it takes time to load – losing the oh-so-precious shopper.  

In fact, Amazon calculated that a page load slowdown of just one second could cost it $1.6 billion in sales each year. 10 years ago, they found that 0.1 seconds in site latency cost them 1% of their sales and understood the need for speed and scale. They not only dramatically enhanced their Digital Customer Experience but are the pioneers in it – so, what will the leaders in customer experience be doing this year?

Last year, we saw the rise of emotive tech, blockchain and progressive web applications changing the face of CX. We businesses deep dive into social media for customer care and video marketing booming. This year, some of these trends continue to boom whilst others have faded.

So, let’s uncover the top 5 trends in Digital Customer Experience for 2024!
 

Trend 1: Social Media Creators Will Help Foster Engagement And Trust With Businesses

Creators and influencers can help establish and build trust, grow communities and drive awareness and excitement for brands' products. How? Well, through amazing content that leverages social media! We mean, who doesn’t love social media content creators? In 2024, they will be an important part of the media puzzle for many businesses, having big implications for the future of customer outreach.

With the idea of consumers switching up their identities through social influence and exploring interests in both the real and virtual world, brands could potentially reach new audiences in a highly engaging way through social media creators. So, why is such content important in 2024? Well, 65% of American consumers say that a link in a social post led them to a product they weren’t originally interested in purchasing.

Moreover, brands like Ikea and H&M have partnered to launch their ‘idea factory’, inviting creatives, designers and small-scale manufacturers to submit new product development ideas. This kind of engagement over social networking platforms enables businesses to organically reach out to consumers for higher engagement and loyalty.

TechDogs’ Takeaway: To leverage this trend, a vastly underutilized resource is tapping into viral user-generated content (UGC) and using it in campaigns. Earned media is a powerful tool to enhance your bond with your consumers and showcase brand engagement. Next, showcase your customers as experts as many consumers begin to explore and express their views online. This could mean tapping into content creators, influencers, reposting organic content and so much more. Leading brands are powering innovations by turning their customers into co-creators and taking the ‘sell them’ mentality to create value with them. Finally, another great example is the use of testimonial videos as digital assets for your website, YouTube channel and social media campaigns.
 

Trend 2: Users Will Continue To Browse, Discover And Buy Through Social Surfing

Social media is more than just sharing your cat blooper videos! Today, social search is skyrocketing and leading to more opportunities for sellers. A recent study shows consumers are using online channels to window shop too – who says it’s just a problem for retail stores? This is leading to abandoned carts – and businesses will look to tackle this issue in 2024 by making social surfing easier, leading to better digital customer experiences.

Think of this: 88% of shoppers agree that YouTube makes it easier to decide what to buy. Translate this to social networking platforms with commerce features and soon you have a social outlet to allow consumers access to social surfing and shopping! To keep up, you will need to develop engaging, attention-grabbing and valuable social media content that not only appears in social searches but is relevant and gets your audience clicking and sharing.

How does leveraging social search matter? More than 50% of Gen Z and millennials look towards social media platforms for information and user reviews. The lines between social media and Ecommerce are blurring quickly, with 32% of consumers finding new products through short-form videos on social sites. In fact, that number has jumped to 47% across Gen Z audiences, making it imperative to integrate social surfing within your DCE strategies. As Brian Solis, a digital analyst and author, says, “Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.”  

TechDogs’ Takeaway: Starts by optimizing for social search to create engaging content that resonates with audiences. Use SEO to determine what content to make by conducting keyword research to identify popular, relevant terms or questions users search on social media. Next, as users spend hours on smartphones, optimizing your site for mobile is a quintessential step. Finally, ensure your pages are responsive, adhere to speed and are optimized across different screen sizes. To do this, enhance your keyword search and implement AI for social listening to address consumer needs and attention on social media.
 

Trend 3: Bargain Hunting Will Help Users Thrift Proudly And Shop Smart

We bet you know that digital consumers have more budgeting tools at their disposal than in the past. Now, consumers are more cautious with spending given macroeconomic instability and indulge in second-hand buying and selling more than ever. This trend is on the rise in part due to economic woes and companies are investing in concepts such as group-buying services to appeal to online consumers, making it a major customer experience trend for 2024.

Over 80% of U.S. consumers sign up for email offers specifically to receive discounts and 67% of U.S. consumers have made a purchase they weren’t planning on after being offered a discount. This highlights a growing demand for bargains and discounts as a form of enhanced and personalized customer experience.

In November 2023, the discount penetration was 44%, considerably above the 2023 average of 34%, as retailers faced a more price-conscious consumer. While we see consumers spending more, we also see cautious consumers actively looking for group buying and bargain hunting – a concept that retailers and online sellers will need to adapt to in 2024 and beyond.

TechDogs’ Takeaway: To be successful in this model, start by implementing software that tracks and implements machine learning on your sales platform to track consumer behavior. Apart from this, you can launch a loyalty program as it has been shown to create long-term growth and loyalty, as giving back to customers is likely to build positive emotions toward your business. Next, identify your brand’s scope in re-commerce (or reverse commerce) by introducing incentives for clients to repurpose their goods. Finally, address the consumers’ concerns about the economic impact of rising prices and inflation by revamping your business models to support both the consumers’ demands and your balance sheets.
 

Trend 4: Brands Will Tap Into E-customization For Personalization

We bet you know this but offering customization is among the latest customer experience trends. It helps brands overcome the consumers’ reluctance to share their data that can be used for personalized outreach. In most industries, brands are responding to the consumer desire for greater personalization by giving them a broader range of customization options for products, goods and interactions across all services.

However, consumer attitudes towards customization vary greatly by country and age group. Hence, using online customization options will be a great way to incentivize consumers to share personal data. Brands today are decoding big data using artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide enhanced customizations. Think of this: 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that provides tailored experiences and more likely to share their data if they see a value exchange in the transaction.

For example, Gobble added a ‘Personalize It!’ feature, which allowed subscribers more flexibility in customizing their meals with their preferred nutrients or to mix and match extra toppings, sauces, salads and side dishes. This led to an uptick in consumer interaction and loyalty, validating the rising need for customization across digital channels.

TechDogs’ Takeaway: Start by tailoring your customer communications across the customer journey with automation, such as through data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented analytics. It’s impossible to cater to each consumer and provide custom responses without it. Secondly, tap into Augmented Reality, depending on the category, as generating custom visualizations of products consumers is now possible to scale. To achieve personalization in categories like home and apparel, digital fit solutions such as AR/VR can help create value-added experiences. Lastly, give a breakdown of possible customizable options to consumers to create fluid and tailored experiences, as limited or complex personalization options can have a negative impact.
 

Trend 5: Consumers Will  Feel The Rise Of Sensory Experiences

‘Ta-dum!’ Does this remind you of Netflix and buttery popcorn? Well, consumers are hungry for immersion and are shepherding in the multi-sensory era of online experiences. After all, humans have five senses and marketers are tapping into each one to enhance the Digital Customer Experience. This will be of increasing interest in 2024 for businesses looking to enhance their customer experiences.

The desire for immersive shopping is becoming particularly important for certain products and the increasing comfort offered by AR, VR and Web 3.0 is reshaping the market by stoking consumer appetite for sensory experiences. Chief Marketing Officer of fintech firm Klarna, David Sandstrom, validates by saying, “The first wave of e-commerce was all about convenience. The next wave of e-commerce is going to be about experiences and social interaction.”

Brands are embracing sensory interactions to provide more immersive digital experiences. Take Visa for example. They use a suite of digital elements, including a combination of animation, sound and haptic vibration, when customers complete a transaction. This creates a sense of security and consistency across every touchpoint in the customer interaction with the brand.

TechDogs’ Takeaway: Start by honing a sensory brand experience that resonates with your product. Sensory branding across digital channels, such as multi-gesture features, can drive conversions online. Next, consider digital sensory branding with sound as countless brands have an ‘audio’ mark to accompany their visual identity, including specific music and sound clips played in stores, jingles and even social media posts. Finally, you can build sensory branding digitally using consumer preference and taste, a new technique that’s gaining popularity in industries such as hospitality (digital menus) and retail (AR-based simulations).
 

To Sum Up

Consumers are evolving as buying power increases. With the digitally-driven generation of audiences on the rise, the expectation for an immersive and highly personalized experience will only increase too. Depending on the product, marketers and brands should create compelling, tailored and immersive content for a well-rounded Digital Customer Experience. We hope this list of the top Digital Customer Experience trends of the year will help you succeed in the year ahead and beyond!