10 customer behavior trends you need to get ahead on

The CX Network Weekly is the LinkedIn Newsletter from CX Network . Each week we share our take on a key development in experience management, with links to CX Network resources that can inform, inspire and help your organization’s response.

This week’s edition takes a look at the customer of 2024 – what they want, what they’re up to and how that could impact your approach to loyalty.

A few weeks ago we dedicated this newsletter to the fact that customers are not entirely in love with AI . However, our research confirming this development identified nine other customer behaviors that CX practitioners are also focused on right now.

Here’s the full list of customer behaviors influencing the role of the CX practitioner in 2024…

?The question is: What do these leading behavior trends say about the customer of 2024?

Here are 4 takeaways to kick things off:

• The customer’s demand for convenience has become more significant to the work of the CX practitioner in 2024, rising from the fourth to the most influential behavior year-on-year.
• As global economic conditions pick up in relation to 2022 and 2023, reduced customer spending has become less of a concern, dropping from the first to the fourth most influential behavior year-on-year.
• Awareness of ethical working conditions and the demand for sustainable or ethical products and brands have also fallen down the priority list.
• Among the new behaviors to make the top-10 list in 2024 is demand for tighter security across data or communications. Elsewhere in the survey results, 55 percent strongly agreed that data privacy and security is becoming more important to customers

The customer of 2024 is certainly tech savvy. Whereas previously this was all about channel hopping and choice, a growing number of customers now have opinions on data and AI, as well as ideas around how they can use AI to make their lives easier.

They are also focused on completing the tasks they want to easily and efficiently, and because there is so much competition in the marketplace, they are happy to vote with their feet when things aren’t right.

So, what that does that mean for your CX strategy and most of all, customer loyalty?

It means CX’ers need a laser focus on data utilization, journey management and systems security – and that’s just for starters!

Commenting on the customers’ growing demand for convenience in 2024, Sam Phillips-Lord , senior customer insight manager for Hastings Direct, says:

“We need to go back to basics and deliver to expectations. As a customer, I want to be able to do what I want to do, in the quickest way possible. Don’t lead me down the garden path on a journey that takes in all the things I can do if the thing I want to do cannot be done.”

It sounds simple, but it leads on to the next pro tip: To build loyalty with the customer of 2024, organizations must be respectful use of the customer’s time.

Jaakko Lempinen , head of CX for YLE Finland, says:

“By recognizing and valuing a customer’s time, companies can foster a sense of loyalty and encourage continued engagement. The best experiences happen when something goes wrong – that is when unforgettable experiences are created and where the true value lies.”

Next week we host All Access: Customer Loyalty and Retention 2024 , during which we will hear how to foster and build loyalty from Emirates Airlines, Electrolux, EDHEC Business School and Amazon. Attendees will have a unique opportunity to put their burning questions on customer behavior trends and loyalty to our expert speakers.

For now, here are 3 links about engaging different customer personas, the state of CX, and actioning your customers’ feedback.

Here’s something to inform you…

?Here’s something to inspire you…

Here is something to help you…