What Are Customer Expectations, And How Have They Changed?
by Hannah Jones
Personal Assistant & Marketing Coordinator
The Customer Experience Advantage
In my work with David Avrin, CSP, I've gotten to follow along with his deep dive into customer wants, needs, and expectations. While I'm not the customer experience expert that he is, I do act as a bit of a human archive for David's work in customer experience and I wanted to compile some of my favorite resources for you to explore. So, today we're answering the question: what are customer expectations, and how have they changed?
In short, customer expectations refer to everything your customers assume will be in place for them throughout the buying process. Everything that they are used to, and everything that they want. What is especially frustrating is that your customers' expectations for their buying experience don't change based on your limitations or your staff's resources. Customer expectations change only with time, meaning that you have to keep up with the rest of the world or get left behind in the ever-growing graveyard of iconic brands that couldn't prioritize pleasing their customers.
"In 2022, not only can we find anything, learn about everything, and buy in profoundly different ways, but how we communicate about what to buy and how to buy is unrecognizable from just a generation ago.
Our customers today are educated, connected, savvy, impatient and well aware of all the choices they have. The world has become vast, flat, and very, very convenient."
- David Avrin, Winning Customers In 2022: The Complete Guide
David's work as a professional speaker centers around familiarizing companies and associations (including Toyota, Johnson & Johnson, ReMax, etc.) with the Customer 4.0. This refers to the idea that today's customers are fundamentally different from those of the past, and with changing customer expectations comes the urgent need to change your business's strategy of meeting those expectations.
"Winning customers in 2022 is more about the customer experience they want to receive and less about the customer service we are used to delivering."
- David Avrin, Winning Customers In 2022: The Complete Guide
So, now let's get into the nitty gritty. How have our customers' expectations changed specifically? And what does that mean for your business?
In David Avrin's blog post, What Are Customers Looking For In 2022?, he outlines a few major shifts of the past few years to give us a timely overview of our new generation of customers.
Customers want companies to pivot well.
A pivot is when 99% of your customers used to walk into your bank branch at least once a month to deposit or cash a check, transfer funds or withdraw money. Now of course, very few of them do as we conduct most of our banking on our smart phone or computer.
They have had to rethink how they forge and foster relationships with their customers and clients. How do they attract new customer and reinforce customer loyalty, when they rarely see them face-to-face or have the chance to ask them: “So, got any exciting plans for the weekend?” Our customer experience is now with the app…not with the bank teller.
- David Avrin, What Are Customers Looking For In 2022?
Customers want to be put first.
We’ve often heard: “Our employees are more important than our customers. It’s very simple: If we treat our employees well, they will treat our customers well.”
You’ve got to be kidding right? That is about as pithy as: “Everything you want in life is on the other side of fear.” Oh, that’s so deep! Go embroider it on a pillow. Most of what you want is on the other side of hard work.
To assert that our employees are more important to our business than our paying customers sends the wrong message to our team. Their focus needs to be outward — to serve and please our paying customers and clients. Our customers are the most important thing — albeit in a long list of very important things that include: our employees, business ethics, cost structure, logistics, supply chain, profitability, safety and more.
But at the top of that list is our paying customers. They are the sole reason we exist and the only reason we get a paycheck.
- David Avrin, What Are Customers Looking For In 2022?
Customers want to see a large number of stellar online reviews
Consumers are weaponizing review site like: Yelp, Glass Door and TripAdvisor. Online communities can conspire to destroy a movie by coming together to post negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes — even before the movie comes out! Do these sites have too much power? In a word: Yes. But that’s the reality we have to live with today, and to be honest, our competitors have to deal with it as well.
The worst part about the power of the internet and online review sites, is that there is no “truth-test” and we have very little power over their policies. But make no mistake, we have great influence over the people who might post negative reviews.
- David Avrin, What Are Customers Looking For In 2022?
Changing customer expectations, while daunting, should feel more like an opportunity for success than a looming threat. Disruptions in the marketplace are how companies grow and get better. The key to using these changes as an opportunity to win business lies in how you innovate.
If there's one thing I've heard David say more than anything else in his work, it's that “the answers are often already in the room.” That's why he's dedicated his career to interactive, thought-provoking presentations for companies in all circumstances.
To learn more about David's keynotes and strategic sessions, head over to his speaking page or, for a wealth of online resources to bring your team together, explore the Morning Huddle Membership.