7 Latest Trends In Customer Experience Centres

A recent study by Forbes evaluated a leading CRM software company and the findings revealed that 53% of consumers indicated that the experience that a company offers matters as much as the products or services they provide. 49% also felt that the relationship that a company builds with its customers matters and has a significant impact on recall and loyalty. Another key finding was that 61% felt as though loyalty was directly correlated with the ethics that a company chooses to align their company values with. So, it’s safe to say that successful customer experiences go far beyond just solving problems but rather serve as a building block to long-term relationships with customers.

Purpose of customer experience centres

Customer experience centres are a space where enterprise-level companies bring potential clients to showcase the company’s products, solutions, story, messaging, and brand value and help various stakeholders engage with the brand more intimately. These centres go far beyond typical presentations and when done well can feature multimedia components that allow for dynamic storytelling and enable demos. Top brands can have mini experience centres within their retail stores as well which is becoming a trend given the importance of delivering exceptional experiences to attract and retain retail customers.

Hallmarks of a great experience centre

A successful customer experience centre will transform otherwise bland presentations and mundane messaging into memorable, interactive experiences with the help of AV. It allows customers to imagine the use of the product better and also enables experiential learning.

Trends to watch:

1. Interactive displays: Interactive, hands-on, walk-through displays that can demonstrate a brand story, offerings, or values are the most successful. These spaces can include looping videos, touch screens and more. Interactive components are added to drive engagement and to break down complex or boring pieces of information in a way that it comes to life. A great example would be Adidas’s digitised footwear bar in their Beijing flagship store which makes you feel as if you are entering a football stadium delivering exciting experiences. The store features multi-sensory installations and is extremely immersive.

2. AI powered experiences: AI is being leveraged to help customers experience a product better, for example, in the world of the beauty industry, Sephora uses AI to analyse large sets of customer data to offer highly personalised recommendations. This has been expanded to retail wherein the brand uses apps like “Virtual Artist” or “Sephora Studio” to virtually try make-up and to deliver suggestions based on skin tone and undertones. 

3. Hybrid experiences: A new trend is hybrid events, wherein events in a physical place can also be taken online where you can have virtual attendees as well. These events feature video conferencing, virtual exercises, interactive digital tools such as digital whiteboards and surveys to help people feel like they are getting the most out of the experience without being present in the flesh.

4. Workshops: From interactive films to guided tours and reviews, businesses are leveraging integrated audio-video solutions to redefine workshops and make them immersive and interactive.

5. Augmented Reality: From automobile showrooms to AR-powered shopping assistants that help you virtually try on clothes before you buy them to providing very futuristic tours of products by overlaying digital information as people navigate, augmented reality is becoming a game changer that enables customers to virtually experience products before making a purchase.

6. Generative AI: To make demos feel more real, generative AI is being used to tailor custom demos to deliver personalised experiences.

7. AI assistants: Kiosks in experience centres which feature self-help desks to help people find what they’re looking for, to know more about a product or service or even get a quotation.

Role of AV solutions in future-proofing customer experience centres

Every trend mentioned above boils down to execution, and integrated AV solutions are a must to successfully implement and execute such technologies. Ideas and trends are only successful if the execution and implementation are seamless. This is made possible by using a combination of the following solutions are needed to execute future-ready customer experience centres that are in tandem with the latest trends.

• Projectors, LCD and Plasma screens
• AV mixers and editing tools
• Portable and fixed sound systems
• Lecterns and lectern microphones
• Audio and lighting mixing consoles
• Theatre, stage and effect lighting
• Induction loop systems
• Comprehensive training

If you’re looking to build state-of-the-art experience centres to win more customers, get in touch for all your AV solutions.