How Will the Customer Experience Change Following the Coronavirus Pandemic?

There’s a classic icebreaker question: “if you could live during any time in the past, when would it be? “Typically, answers range from Victorian England to the disco era. But it’s doubtful people ever clamored to relive the Black Plague or the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918. While you may not have chosen to go back to that time, we’re currently living during a remarkably similar pandemic a hundred years later. COVID-19 has swept the world and required a lot of individuals and companies to do some soul-searching. When non-essential businesses were told to close and people were forced to stay in their houses, the world of commerce and customer service was dramatically altered. And we’ll continue to feel the effects of this for the foreseeable future.

Companies have transitioned to primarily digital platforms. While storefronts are starting to reopen, virtual communication through call centers and email campaigns may be the new normal for a while. So how do you prove you’re still on the side of the consumer and provide a quality customer experience when there is no longer any face-to-face interaction? That’s the big question you have to answer while you explore how the customer experience will change in a post-COVID world.

Respect Your Customers

The first step is to gain the trust and respect of your customers. This starts with understanding their needs and choices. This has been a traumatic time for the whole world. People are dealing with many different grievances in many different ways. Your customers may have lost a loved one, they may be going on four months without employment, or they may be suffering from anxiety and stress of being cooped up at home. Respect their trauma and know that they may not be rushing out to your store for their own safety. Continue to offer online options even as fear of the pandemic dies down. Appreciate how your consumers are coming from different places and meet them where they need to be.

Remote Communication

With most of the workforce suddenly having to work from their home office, communication shifted to remote call centers and virtual meetings. Not only did this change for office staff, but for how they reach the public. There’s never been a better time to employ a virtual call center. Rather than a traditional call center, virtual call center employees get to work from home answering phone calls for contact centers throughout the world. The post-coronavirus world will involve many more inbound calls and remote communication channels that offer customer support through multiple channels all connected through the cloud. Virtual call centers give customer service representatives flexibility to work from anywhere while maintaining a high-quality, virtual experience for your customers.

The New Normal

Everyone keeps waiting for life to go back to normal when you really should be preparing for a new normal. Safety concerns may keep people out of shops for longer than just a few more weeks or months. The world of retail is adapting to encourage digital shopping or curbside drop off.

For those who are choosing to shop in person, the landscape is going to look a little different. Businesses are taking extra precautions, and asking consumers to do so as well. Masks are now required while shopping in most locations. It’s time to find a good fit for your face mask since it’ll be a part of your wardrobe. NxTSTOP offers comfortable bamboo face masks that are breathable and comfortable. You can also buy in bulk if you have needs for your whole family or even staff at your small business. Masks are a part of our post-coronavirus world, so get a face mask that will be comfortable and a good fit for you.

People Over Profit

Overall, consumers will stay loyal to companies that value them. Be sure you’re putting empathy and care for your customers over making a profit. Down the line, your patrons will remember how you helped and made them feel safe during this time.