A low-touch customer experience involves minimal human contact between the business and the customer.
2020 was arguably the most low-touch year in modern history. Businesses rushed to provide low-touch contactless buying to address consumer health concerns.
By 2023, three quarters of grocery ecommerce orders are predicted to be picked up kerbside or in store. Consumers who valued the personal touch are now happy with self-service. Contactless payments have boomed. Most retailers expect to offer at least two contactless payment options by 2023.
Here are five examples of great low-touch customer experiences:
1. Booking hospitality online.
Pubs and restaurants widely offer online booking solutions that display real-time availability of tables and offer instant confirmed bookings. Automated and personalised confirmations and reminders through the customer’s channel of choice help to make this truly low touch.
2. Real-time loans and mortgages.
Banks and financial services apps and websites, fuelled by the open banking freedoms, are growing in sophistication. Today, customers can do more than check their balance and send payments. Payments and transaction data are combining to give banks new opportunities to offer low-touch, real-time loans and mortgages based on the individual financial circumstances of their customers.
3. Buying high value and bulky products online.
Consumers have got used to buying groceries and clothes online. A low-touch approach to selling larger or higher value items such as cars and furniture is the next big thing.
Car supermarket group Big Motoring World sold the same number of cars during November 2020 as it did in November 2019, with 1600 click and collect sales.
Customers are much more likely to make this leap if they feel they can communicate with you easily and trust you.
Video and virtual reality technologies are being used to give customers a much better idea of what the product will look like in real life and are set to grow in popularity as new, faster networks like 5G make them a more seamless experience.
4. Remote monitoring for a better utilities service.
Sensors embedded in objects such as utilities installations can communicate with central operational solutions. This means you no longer need to rely on engineers turning up to keep a check on things. Machines can talk to each other and fix any issues without the need for human input, keeping the lights on and communications networks up and running.
5. Low-touch health and social care.
This sector has people at its heart. It might seem to be the very last sector in line for the benefits of low-touch customer experience, but as sensors and wearable tech support caregivers by identifying health issues relating to cardiovascular, diabetes or asthma patients, they can save lives in the process.
Working with UK charity Mencap, we’ve created an application that helps people with learning difficulties to be more independent. Paired with smart home tech, like CCTV or window latch detectors, the solution can support residents with learning difficulties by only letting them access the parts of their accommodation that are safe. This frees up caregivers’ time so that they can focus on the more complex needs of patients.
Moving forward, those businesses who get the most from introducing low-touch customer experiences will be the ones that combine the most effective technology solutions with human value.
When contact centre agents and sales teams are freed from the routine admin of their jobs, they can add greater value to the business and better support customers.
