How Technologies Influence Consumer Behavior and Shopping Experience

Businesses are starting to notice the role technologies are playing in influencing consumer behavior and are coming up with new and interesting solutions. New customer experience technology has empowered consumers allowing them to get virtually any information about a particular product to make an informed purchasing decision. Providing new and improved experiences has become more important than ever before, given that customer expectations are always increasing and the new customer experience tech will allow you to keep up. Today, we will look at some of the most effective customer experience technologies and tell you how they affect consumer behavior and overall shopping experience. 

Augmented Reality 

Augmented reality is a great tool for influencing consumer behavior because it allows you to create a strong emotional bond with consumers by superimposing digital images onto the real world. This allows shoppers to better identify all of the advantages of the product and imagine how better their lives could be if they had it. A great example is the AR mobile app offered by IKEA. It allows customers to visualize how a particular furniture item would look inside their home, thus removing any doubts about whether or not it would be a good fit. Finlandia Vodka has used similar AR solutions to promote a new vodka flavor by explaining some cool drinks that could be made. 

AR also enhances the shopping experience since it is an innovative technology for customer experience engagement. For example, it allows customers to try on products in AR, which is especially relevant nowadays in a time of a pandemic. This also dramatically adds to the shopping convenience since customers do not have to make a physical trip to the store and try on even very personal items, like shoes and makeup. All of this is very important for creating a unique and tailored customer experience. 

VR Shopping Experience 

Although the virtual reality shopping experience is still in its early stages of development, it already promises something new and transformative. It allows for an immersive consumer experience in VR where the customer can experience the item while shopping online. For example, a customer can put on a VR headset and walk around a mannequin in an online store, viewing the garment from any angle they wish. This would allow businesses to bring visual representations of goods more in line with their physical reality, thus influencing consumer behavior. They will have all of the information they need to make a purchasing decision. 

Such a virtual shopping experience is very customized since the consumer has complete control over the VR stores they visit and the product they want to look at and try on. The experience itself is much more personal, so companies are investing more and more into virtual reality development.

The AI Customer Experience 

One of the reasons AI and customer experience go hand in hand is that AI allows businesses to learn more about their customers. This allows companies to tailor the shopping experience for individual shoppers. In addition, unlike traditional data analytics tools, AI continuously learns from the data allowing companies to predict consumer behavior as well. This means brands can provide highly relevant content, increase sales opportunities, and improve the customer journey. It is also important to note that AI-powered customer experience management technology allows for real-time analytics based on the most recent data with almost no latency whatsoever. In fact, customer experience and AI are already used by many companies to complement one another.

This technology affects consumer behavior because you are able to provide customers with relevant product recommendations and content. Let’s explore the artificial intelligence customer experience with examples. A good example would be customized product recommendations. When customers see that you are offering exactly what they need, they will be more inclined to buy because they see that you understand their needs. This is one of the biggest reasons technology improves customer experience AI and machine learning are becoming so popular. 

Utilizing the Cloud 

We already talked about tech advances and consumer behavior, but all of the customer data needs to be captured, stored, and analyzed. This is where the cloud comes in since it provides the computing power for all of the various tools and apps to work. Even if we go back to consumer behavior and AI and other technology used by businesses to study consumer behavior, it all requires various cloud tools. AI can absorb mass quantities of consumer data, allowing the systems to learn and analyze all of the consumer actions paving the way for a better overall experience and influencing buying decisions. 

There are many benefits for businesses to develop cloud-based solutions since it also allows you to gauge the effectiveness of your efforts. For example, if you wanted to look at women and technology consumer behavior or how social media and mobile technology influence consumer behavior, you would be able to gather all of this information and analyze it thanks to the cloud. 

Trust Skywell Software to Create Customer Management and Experience Technologies 

Skywell Software has extensive experience creating retail software solutions for some of the largest brands in the world. This includes customer experience artificial intelligence solutions, VR customer loyalty programs, AR marketing campaigns, and much more. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.