2022 Experience Trends: What Employees & Customers Think About Evolving COVID Safety Measures
It’s never been more important to stay tuned into employee and customer experience trends. In the past few years, businesses have had to pivot countless times in order to adapt the experiences they provide customers, employees, and the greater market. But keeping up with quickly evolving employee and customer expectations is easier said than done.
This is where Pearl-Plaza’s newest report comes in. The “2022 Experience Trends Report: Four Trends That Are Changing Customer & Employee Experiences This Year” just dropped, and we wanted to give you a sneak peek! But before we dive into the data, we wanted to tell you more about how the report was created.
About the 2022 Experience Trends Report
Pearl-Plaza’s Strategic Insights Team collected data from both consumers and employees of brands across North America from 11 different industries including retail, financial services, entertainment, grocery, healthcare, hospitality, insurance, restaurants, and more.
Previous Pearl-Plaza Trends Reports have focused primarily on the customer experience (CX), but today, businesses have more experience stakeholders than ever before—including your employees and even the folks who may not have made a purchase, yet have an impression of your brand.
This report encapsulates the perspectives of all of these experience stakeholders so you can use these trends to shape your strategies for customer experience, human resources, digital, marketing, and more!
Using Pearl-Plaza’s Market Pulse™, the team asked strategic questions around three key topics:
- The future stakeholder journey: Customer and employee expectations for 2022; what are the new drivers of loyalty, retention, and acquisition?
- The ‘new’ world of experience: Understanding how brands across industries need to adapt the digital and in-store experience.
- Emerging internal and external personas: What will emerging customers and employees look like? How can brands meet their needs?
The report also includes insights from both indirect and inferred data to provide a holistic view of the state of customer and employee experiences. It also cross references data from previous iterations of Pearl-Plaza’s previous annual trends reports.
So without further ado, let’s dive into the findings of the first of the four trends we revealed in the 2022 Experience Trends REport!
Trend #1: Experience Standards Are Changing… Again
A Word About COVID
We know: everyone is tired of talking about the novel Coronavirus. But if we didn’t mention it, we’d be remiss, especially since mask mandates and other safety measures are still common. What we wanted to know is how experience stakeholders feel about the possible loosening of these protocols.
We found that 1 in 2 consumers and employees were comfortable with the possible reduction of COVID restrictions and precautions in the coming year.
And when we dove deeper, it became clear that both consumers and employees were excited at the prospect of COVID becoming less of a factor in their experiences, especially compared to a year ago.
Check out the differences in the comments from the beginning of 2021 versus the end of the year:
How You Can Take Action
Now that you understand the changes that are coming to your experiences, we have a few actions you can take to adapt and succeed next year:
Adapt Quickly and Early
It seems like “agility” has been the MVP in the past few years. With ever-changing restrictions and safety measures, you’ve had to keep your finger on the pulse to meet customer and employee needs. But don’t stop now! With journeys evolving at a fast pace, you need to avoid a “set it and forget it” mentality. Make sure you are continuously coming back to your customer and employee feedback so you can keep up with their expectations.
Above All, Be Human
If we’ve learned anything in the past few years, it’s that your customers and employees need you to truly care about their experiences, and even moreso, the role your brand plays in their lives. Customer response to options like “buy online and pickup in store” are great examples of this; brands understood that safety was the number one priority for customers and provided safe ways to engage. This kind of understanding is essential for moving forward.
Want to read more about the trends impacting the employee and customer in 2022? Click here to review more findings in our interactive report!
