What is a connected customer experience?

We live in an age where people expect connected customer experiences — but what does that really mean?

People today are more connected than ever, interacting with friends and families across different channels, and their relationship with businesses is no different.

Today, people interact with businesses across various devices and touchpoints — from websites to apps. The challenge? Businesses must find a way to weave together all of these different touchpoints and integrate multiple channels to build a connected customer experience.

Building a connected customer experience is not as simple as it sounds as it requires bringing together siloed and isolated customer data, which often lives in hundreds of systems. Many businesses, however, are starting to turn to APIs as a solution for integrating data to build a connected customer experience.

1. Build connected customer experiences via API integrations

In order to build a connected customer experience, it’s important to ensure that data integration is top of mind for your business. Without integration, a connected customer experience cannot exist.

Once you have done that, one of the main shifts you will need to make is to move away from custom, point-to-point integrations — which are not reusable and costly to build and maintain. Instead, start leveraging APIs as a way to integrate data.

2. Reuse APIs and integrations to create new connected customer experiences

One of the main benefits of leveraging APIs to integrate systems is the ability to reuse those same APIs to extend existing customer experiences or to build new ones.

For example, say that this year your team is building a customer web portal and, as part of that, developed an API that integrates customer data from six different systems. Then, the following year, your team is tasked with building a mobile app version of the portal. instead of starting from scratch they can reuse the same API they built last year.

3. Continue to improve and personalize your connected customer experience

Once you have a robust foundation for a connected customer experience, you shouldn’t stop there. Continue to sell those engaging experiences, garner feedback from your customers, and interact with your customers in new and innovative ways — whether it is via chatbots or personalized coupons.

Today’s consumers are not looking for transactions, they are looking for relationships. An API-led integration approach allows you to seamlessly connect both new and old systems to deliver an omnichannel experience and meet the customer where they are. By driving API reuse, you can deliver a consistent, connected customer experience that customers expect.

Learn more about how an API-led strategy can help you to create a seamless customer experience by downloading our eBook.