While most people think that the metaverse is still a quirky new concept, companies who understand the first-mover advantage aren’t waiting for it to become mainstream. Many businesses already recognize it as a potentially game-changing medium and are, therefore, taking steps to establish a presence in this new virtual space. Some of the savviest businesses are beginning to factor in the metaverse as a major customer experience touchpoint in their customer journey. This blog examines how the metaverse is an exciting new opportunity to connect brands with their audiences and create significantly better experiences.
Ways Brands Can Leverage Metaverse for Customer Experience
Businesses are always on the lookout for new and potentially lucrative markets to tap into. Though different from the conventional marketplace, the metaverse can offer businesses access to audiences, customers, and general users within its virtual spaces. Businesses that are positioned early on, in terms of customer experience management and streamlined communication, stand to gain the most.
The virtual space that the metaverse offers to businesses and customers is (from an interaction and communication perspective) somewhere between the digital world and the physical one. Instead of a chatbot or a real person, for example, a customer’s avatar can speak to a contact center services agent’s avatar. In other words, the metaverse can bridge the gap between the need for convenience and the need for personalized experiences.
Here are four key ways that brands can leverage customer experience tools and features specific to the metaverse:
Direct2Avatar and Digital Twins
Digital avatars have, until recently, been a quirky way to communicate on some social media channels. But in the metaverse, they offer significant potential as customer experience tools. The avatar is how a user will appear in (and interact with) the virtual metaverse. But that is just one-half of their value. The other is the modern use of digital twins. Digital twins are a digital representation of a real aspect of the physical world. It can be a brand, a product, or even a workplace. A user’s avatar can interact with these digital twins. So, theoretically, an avatar can walk into a digital twin of Starbucks, purchase a digital twin of a coffee, and then land in a digital twin of their workplace. In each instance, the branding, product sales, and workforce management possibilities are virtually limitless.
NFTs and Purchases
The metaverse can be a new sales channel, not just a medium of interaction. But for that to happen, brands and users must be able to buy/sell within the virtual space. While e-Commerce and online shopping have been around for more than a decade, the virtual world is slightly different. Customer experience analytics are usually more favorable when the experience itself is a seamless one.
Supporting technologies come into play to create that seamless experience in the virtual world. Non-fungible tokens or NFTs help attach the ownership of a digital asset to the buyer’s avatar. And thanks to blockchain technology that enables the use of NFTs, these transactions can be far more secure than even the physical world. Cryptocurrency, another blockchain-based disruptive technology, can allow buyers to purchase both digital twins as well as their physical counterparts. All without having to leave the metaverse. All brands have to ensure successful customer experience management in the virtual world.
Virtually Enhanced Buyer Engagement
In the metaverse, an enriched virtual environment can deliver enhanced buyer engagement. Customer care in metaverse, experience analytics will undoubtedly play a big role in building the best environments. Using information gathered from their virtual visitors or buyers, sellers can create highly personalized and intuitive environments. For example, a virtual space that showcases a brand, its products, or even a virtual attendant. If a customer has a query or complaint, they can speak to an avatar of a real agent at the brand’s omnichannel contact center.
The engagement doesn’t have to be limited to consumer businesses either. B2B brands, like those offering outsourcing solutions, can also interact with virtual representatives of existing or potential clients. This could lead to exciting new developments in long-stagnated fields like business development and customer relationship management.
Data Pastures and Data Ownership
Data ownership has been a sore point for several years when it comes to users and digital platforms. On one hand, the gathering and use of data enables buyers to get in touch with advertising brands based on their intent. A user that shows interest in BPO services would be able to see ads from companies that offer those services, for example. On the other hand, there have been concerns about the ethics of selling data to third-party platforms for purposes that may not be clear to the user. This, in turn, makes users who value privacy remain vary of digital interactions. Many social media users also feel that they should have some ownership of that data. Since the platforms use their data, and they invest the most time and effort on the platform, these are all valid concerns.
The metaverse can help users (and brands) overcome this obstacle with an entirely different approach that early social media channels lacked. For example, the user data that once existed on platforms like Myspace or Friendster is more or less lost. This old data may not hold value for modern brands but may still have some sentimental value for the users themselves. But while old social media platforms may shut down their servers after a decline in users, in the metaverse “data pastures” can preserve them. This allows brands to leverage user data ethically and empowers users with the freedom to retire or build on old personae.
Frequently Ask Questions
What is customer experience?
The satisfaction and positive outcome that a customer care in metaverse perceives during an interaction with a brand.
How to improve customer care in metaverse experience?
Pay attention to customer care in metaverse, solicit feedback, and address issues in existing experiences.
How has technology impacted the customer service experience?
Technology has and will continue to, change behaviors, and create new expectations among customers and businesses.