Meet the New Type of Digital Native

Since the advent of the Internet, the public has demanded more of digital customer experiences. For the past decade, the “must-have” medium for companies has been a native app. Today, more than half of smartphone users don’t download any new apps per month. The CX norm is shifting to effortless, on-the-go support experiences that leverage existing phone browsers or chat. 

The current health crisis is speeding up the increase in customer expectations. Digital CX standards will soon be higher than ever. This is because as people practice social distancing, they’re also becoming more tech-savvy.

The Key Role of Digital Natives

Before the health crisis, the group exerting pressure on CX teams was primarily digital natives. These are individuals who have grown up with the internet, usually millennials and members of Gen Z. Digital natives are constantly plugged in across every area of their lives, from social media to online dating, to mobile food ordering and managing finances. 

This group is averse to calling 1-800 numbers, waiting on hold, and asynchronous communication … in short, all the traditional contact center staples. Digital natives welcome intuitive, digital self-service options, such as Netflix and Amazon provide.

Now, as many people are quarantined, vast numbers of digital natives are being “born.” Individuals who weren’t tech-savvy or were simply used to doing things in person are now finding ways to connect and solve problems online.

Health Crisis Spurs Change

While the strict definition of a digital native involves having grown up with technology, the main differentiator is a high level of comfort with online tools. Today, people across the world are finding it necessary to learn how to “go digital”. Here are just a few examples.

• Everyone is getting more comfortable with video-conferencing. Consider that Zoom’s daily active users jumped from 10 million to more than 200 million in only three months.
• Parents are learning to homeschool and help kids learn online as 80% of school-aged children worldwide are out of class due to COVID-19. 
• Both the CDC and WHO are advocating for telemedicine, and more healthcare providers and patients are taking advantage of this option.  
• The fitness industry is going digital as people experiment with home workout programs.
• As more people stay indoors, online video game usage has gone up 75% during peak hours. Even physical board and card games are going digital! 
• Food delivery services are seeing a dramatic increase in demand. As of March 15, Instacart had a 218% surge over the average number of daily downloads in February. 

These examples illustrate the potential for big changes across multiple industries. Moreover, as customers learn new skills and form new digital habits, CX expectations will stay at a higher level across the board.

It’s Easy to Get Left Behind

Keeping pace with customers’ expectations of digital CX is no easy task. For companies, scaling operations by adding support employees in the contact center is a tricky balancing act. As a business grows, it can be hard to find the budget for personnel increases. This, in turn, makes it difficult to maintain a strong customer experience over time. 

Technology is a potential solution to this tension, especially since user-friendly tech tools garner favor with digital natives. Instead of scaling with more headcount, companies can expand support capabilities and continue to delight customers using automated digital experiences. 

Creating or updating a native app or launching a whole new type of digital customer journey requires dedicated engineering resources, however. This is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive.

Low-Code is the Future

To keep up with CX expectations without adding personnel or breaking the bank, businesses have started turning to low-code solutions. Experts predict the total market for low-code development platforms will hit $21.2 billion by 2022, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 40 percent. 

A low-code or no-code platform is adaptable, changing with each company’s needs. This tool allows non-technical people (such as customer support and CX teams) to create digital experiences that are ready to launch in days instead of months. This means securing engineering resources is no longer a roadblock. 

A low-code CX builder is the best of both worlds. It helps companies handle higher call volumes without increasing contact center headcount while simultaneously delighting customers. Digital natives are used to solving problems themselves using technology, and smart, automated customer journeys allow them that freedom.

This type of fast, inexpensive, and adaptable tool could very well make the difference between winning and losing in the post-COVID19 landscape. 

To start building your own low-code customer experiences with Airkit, see the platform in action here.