Customer Experience Beyond the Metaverse

The metaverse took center stage this past year, even though there’s no clear consensus on what shape Web 3.0 will take. Will the ultimate consumer experience be immersive through augmented- and virtual-reality technologies? Or will the experience be more simply an evolution of the current internet with more authentic engagements?

Regardless of what form the metaverse takes, digital business models are evolving, and with them so are customers’ expectations. In the meantime, businesses of all stripes — including brick and mortar brands — are seeing themselves as digital companies looking to build deep, direct customer relationships.

Acxiom has captured a 360-degree view of customer and brand engagement with Web 3.0 tools, surveying 200 businesses and 2,000 customers in the US and UK, resulting in five trends that should be top of mind for marketers heading into 2023. These findings help answer a basic question: “What services should brands offer consumers?” The answer: everything should be a service. Consider:

• Everything-is-an-ad-network: As the privacy landscape evolves and the foundations of digital advertising reform to focus on first-party data, many brands will deploy their own advertising networks.
• Anything-as-a-Service: Building off the SaS model, brands will further explore how a shift from selling goods to offering products as-a-service can extend their customer relationships beyond the point of purchase.
• Seamless Service: Brands will increasingly combine automated tools and technologies with human-centered approaches to deliver best-in-class customer service and support.
• Intuitive Technology: Intuitive technologies that can interpret and understand intentions will begin to shape how customers interact with products and services.
• Immersive Shopping: Immersive shopping uses simulation-based technologies such as augmented and virtual reality to create interactive and highly personal shopping experiences. If collecting and acting on first-party data is the gold standard, every company today must see itself as a digital company, even if its product is very much physical. That’s why brands must consider everything they do a service. Of those surveyed, 84% of businesses believe companies in their industry will be more likely to offer service-based products in the next five years. Businesses who embrace these opportunities will generate valuable first-party data that enables them to better understand the customer and offer personalized experiences across all channels.

If collecting and acting on first-party data is the gold standard, every company today must see itself as a digital company, even if its product is very much physical. That’s why brands must consider everything they do a service.

Of those surveyed, 84% of businesses believe companies in their industry will be more likely to offer service-based products in the next five years. Businesses who embrace these opportunities will generate valuable first-party data that enables them to better understand the customer and offer personalized experiences across all channels.