By Kaj van de Loo, CTO of UserTesting
It’s clear that people find change difficult, and it never ceases to amaze me how resistant we are to new technologies. The entire concept of the internet was derided as a passing fad and smartphones were expected to crash and burn. What once seemed outlandish is now ubiquitous. So what’s next?
The metaverse is the latest innovation set to change the face of modern lives. These 3D worlds, powered by virtual reality (VR) headsets, offer untold potential–from the opportunity to connect remote working teams for immersive meetings that mirror real life, to the ability to practice surgical techniques with real hand movements, without any risk to real patients.Think Habbo Hotel with major tech updates.
While Habbo Hotel is something the majority of us didn’t expect to make a comeback, this time virtual realities are here to stay, thanks to major investments from Facebook (now Meta), Microsoft and Google, among many others.
As the virtual world is gaining traction, brands are beginning to consider how to become early adopters of this next digital frontier. But amidst the hype, brands must stop to consider how they can create the best possible customer experience (CX)–and how they can avoid making predictable mistakes.
A common mistake many companies make is taking the current experience they provide and simply replicating it on a new channel. Most experiences are designed and optimised for a specific channel and developed to meet the audience’s needs. This ‘lift and shift’ strategy does not factor in the inherent differences between channels–not to mention the fact that subsegments of audiences gravitate towards different channels.
In this case, this technique is particularly dangerous as the immersive, virtual nature of the metaverse is vastly different from existing experiences, such as in-store shopping and smartphone apps. In addition, the metaverse is currently cutting-edge technology, so is not widely used by everyday consumers, meaning audiences found in virtual reality most likely are significantly different to a brand’s core audience.
It follows that brands who will see the most success in the metaverse in these early stages are those whose customers are already using virtual reality. Companies targeting younger, tech savvy consumers have a considerable advantage. On the other hand, those whose core market is pensioners will struggle to gain traction in the metaverse at this stage–it doesn’t matter how good the experience is if the customers aren’t there.
Not only do metaverse audiences look different to core audiences, they also expect a different experience. It’s important for companies to consider the edge the metaverse can provide. For example, a travel firm stands to benefit by offering immersive virtual tours of destinations and hotels. Meanwhile in the finance sector, it’s difficult to envision how the metaverse can enhance the experience offered by existing online and app banking facilities, aside from helping those in the extended reality worlds claim or represent ownership in digital items like non-fungible tokens (NFTS).
The retail industry has already undergone significant digitalisation with the advent of online shopping. Customers are being converted, thanks to the undeniable benefits like the ease of browsing multiple brands at once and the ability to use highly refinable search functions, not to mention shopping from the comfort of the home. However, it can be a challenge to really “see” a product online, leaving many customers frustrated with perceived (or real) discrepancies in size, texture, colour and quality–hence the popularity of ‘internet shopping fails’ videos. The metaverse has the potential to solve this problem by allowing customers to examine products virtually, giving a better, more accurate indication of the product before purchase.
While it is hard to see the applications of virtual reality technologies for some industries, it’s clear the metaverse offers significant potential for others. However, brands should proceed with caution. Rather than ‘lifting and shifting’, companies should design experiences to take advantage of the platform’s capabilities. For some sectors, this may mean creating a brand new experience. Any company which simply moves an existing experience into a new channel will fail to build customer empathy.
Brands should also test early and test often. To build an excellent experience, companies really need to understand their target audience. By testing with and talking to the right audiences, brands can tap into valuable insights that can help cultivate and optimise the customer experience. Video-based feedback platforms like UserTesting capture the perspectives and experiences of an individual in narrative form to help companies build greater customer empathy and a deeper understanding of their audience. They can get feedback on everything from early ideas to the actual experience–which will allow teams to gather the insight needed to customise experiences that overcome specific pain points, creating truly excellent customer experience.
In just a few years, the metaverse has transitioned from the stuff of futuristic sci-fi fantasy to legitimate technology that is already more widespread than we think–for example, many schools are already incorporating ‘VR goggles’ into learning experiences. With another few years under its belt, the metaverse could be a part of our everyday lives. So it’s important brands start considering future opportunities for incorporating the channel into its marketing mix and keep their finger on the pulse. But it won’t be that easy, as success in the metaverse will rely on building customer empathy into the core of any offering.
