Customer Service
Immersive CX- the next big trend in CX for 2023
An immersive experience
Imagine a car racing simulator in the Mercedes Benz museum in Germany. The adventure, replete with sharp turns, and close brushes with the other autos (virtual cars, of course!) on the track, consume you. You can feel the speed! The experience would be exhilarating, to say the least. Today this customer experience it is a necessary strategy.
A tough road for businesses
Gone are the days when high quality was enough to sell a product. In today’s world of abundance, the competition gets stiffer. You need to do “more” to catch a customer’s eye, and if you do, you can’t rush to congratulate yourself. Retaining customers is a far more challenging task.
The “more” here refers to “immersive customer experience”. The moniker “Customer is king” got a whole new definition.
The power of immersive customer experiences is immense. If you want to wield it to woo your customers, check out this compiled list of approaches:
- Virtual reality thrills
- Augmented reality enhances
- Mixed reality elevates
- 360-degree video content inspires
- The digital twin clones
Virtual reality (VR) immerses users in a simulated environment, allowing them to experience the place as if they were there. The portal to the virtual world is a VR headset. It teleports users straight to the wild jungles of Africa or the warm beaches of South France. Cool, eh?
VR has been used by automobile designers to modify designs and simulate drive trials.
Augmented reality (AR) augments users' real-world views by adding information or images. Through object recognition, it pulls hidden aspects of real-world objects and displays informative content over them.
AR lifts a customer's shopping experience to a new level, influencing purchase decisions.
Mixed reality (MR), also called hybrid reality or sometimes AR 2.0, combines AR and VR. The real world is augmented by digitally overlayed virtual characters in order to elevate the sense of immersion.
MR allows the two worlds, real and virtual, to interact with each other, thereby giving a more realistic experience than either AR or VR individually.
360° content combines videos recorded from different angles, superimposed with educational content. This provides a comprehensive view of a product or place and makes it easier to walk clients through its features and applications.
The travel and tourism industry uses 360° media to give customers a feel for a certain place. With its views of the skylines and towns, the video is a surefire seller.
The digital twin is a digital replica of a structure or process, which gets updated in real-time and is powered by 3D modelling techniques.
Digital twins are ideally suited for quality assurance chores and for giving real-time insights into a product, thereby quickening decision making.
Satellite digital twins, for example, can predict hazards, fuel shortages, the horsepower of engines, steering controls, and other spacecraft-related information.
What does it take to make an experience immersive?
Smartphones or dedicated headsets are currently the most popular devices for enjoying immersive content. The software application for the devices can be hosted on the web (a universal solution since it can run on different devices), or on a native mobile/desktop/console.
As usual, technology is at the heart of an immersive experience. When it is combined with the optical, tactile and olfactory senses, the outcome is an imitation of the real-world.
Haptic accessories such as VR headsets, smart wearables or gloves work well to experience this world.
Uplifting customer experience
“Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.” ~ John Keats
Knowing your customer's pulse has become critical in the modern world. If you want to be successful, you must concentrate on two things: creating a fantastic product and making the pitch thrilling for clients.
Businesses must shift their focus from sales to customer needs. It's a subtle but profound change from product to experience, from mass market to individual.
Every time you come in contact with a consumer, you put your valued brand, the focus of your efforts and budget, at risk. Remember that you are dealing in an economy based entirely on experience. Your brand is only as powerful as the customer experiences you provide.
An immersive experience is both a stimulant for your customers and a ticket to your success.
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