5 Consumer Trends to Consider
Confused as to what to consider when designing your new product or service? Here are five consumer trends that will surely impact services and businesses of the future.
Whether you’re in hospitality, transportation, or education, consumers across all industries are increasingly demanding more of their service providers. They’re expecting more of the experiences, and they absolutely want better/more powerful products. We’re finding that consumers are asking for flexible, relatable, and global services that can support them wherever they are. They like personalized experiences like custom recommendations or choose-your-own-features that make them feel valued by their service providers. Consider these trends and you should be on the right track to forge ahead.
Higher Standards
Customers are holding companies accountable for their actions - they want to see them moving from prioritizing profits to focusing on true holistic value delivery. They’re using digital tools to raise awareness, meaning that an event can quickly become an international issue. Causes like sustainability, social justice, and inclusion are of particular importance to customers today. As another angle of raised standards, we see higher expectations for enjoyable and flawless experiences.
→ GENUINE DEDICATION TO CAUSES (ETHICAL, SOCIAL)
→ AUTHENTICITY & ACCOUNTABILITY
→ LESS FORGIVING CLIENTELE (EXPECTATIONS OF FLAWLESS SERVICES)
→ INCLUSIVITY & OPENESS
Global & Nomadic
People are less anchored to the neighbourhood, city, or country in which they grew up. For many of us, we travel around internationally and may not necessarily know in which city we’ll find ourselves in 5 or 10 years. Customers expect their services to follow them around the world, whether they’re traveling for a short time or relocating for good.
→ NEED FOR BORDERLESS, INTERNATIONAL TOOLS
→ DEMAND FOR FLEXIBLE SERVICES AND PRODUCTS
→ 24/7 & FULLY DIGITAL ACCESS
Friendly & Understanding
People want to understand their services. They want them to make sense - I mean, who wouldnt? They want industries to drop the jargon and explain things in everyday terms. They want to feel understood and valued by friendly service agents and/or programs.
→ MORE CASUAL AND INFORMAL BRANDS (LESS FORMALITY AND PRETENTIOUSNESS)
→ FRIENDLY LANGUAGE, JARGON-FREE TEXT
→ EMPATHETIC AND RELATABLE MESSAGING & TONE
Useful Features
People are living busy lives, they want it to be simpler than ever to accomplish things. Less time-consuming and more automated when and where it makes sense. They want features that will simplify their lives - like easy, foolproof deliveries or one-click purchases.
→ MORE TIME FOR WHAT MATTERS
→ MAKING SERVICES FEEL LIKE LESS OF A CHORE
→ VOICE-CONTROLLED FEATURES
→ AGGREGATOR SERVICES
Personalized Experiences
Customers want tools that can help them to achieve the goals they want. This is very much linked to the aforementioned trend of ‘Useful Features’ but takes it one step further by focusing in on the abilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver personalized recommendations, experiences, and assistance.
→ PERSONAL ASSISTANTS
→ CUSTOMIZED & RESPONSIVE EXPERIENCES
→ MODULAR SERVICES/PRODUCTS/TOOLS