The metaverse is an innovative, immersive, experiential internet where we will take our digital avatars to work, learn, and play across virtual environments. You might believe we are approaching Ready Player One levels of immersion or that it is all a lot of hot air and hype. The fact remains that businesses are pouring money and resources into establishing a presence in this new digital world. One of the primary reasons for this is the opportunities it provides to connect and engage with customers in a variety of new ways.
More interaction avenues
We will be able to communicate and interact with brands and with one another in metaverse environments. This could happen either through our avatars or by directly connecting to video chat portals and voice chat. Nobody knows what will become the defining ways in which we will use the metaverse, whatever form it eventually takes. Some, like Facebook believe it will involve virtual reality (VR) and headsets. Others, such as those behind emerging metaverse platforms such as Sandbox, argue that while VR will play a role, it will not be a necessary part of the experience.
To them, the metaverse’s decentralized, user-owned aspect will be far more integral to the experience. Considering both visions, here’s a rundown of some of the exciting implications that this hot tech trend has for how businesses will interact with and serve their customers in the near future.
More Immersive and Engaging Interactions
We now value positive customer experiences more than traditional factors like price and quality. This is key to understanding the value of the metaverse to customer service. In the metaverse, interactions between users and the brands would be more immersive and engaging. When avatars connect, there is an opportunity to communicate through body language. This includes hand gestures, facial expressions, emojis, etc. The 3-D environments give users a sense of location that supersedes that of traditional online spaces. Businesses and brands will learn to observe and analyze clues about how they can effectively engage. Communication in the metaverse could be either as text, voice, video or other synthetic content.
Automated Customer Interactions
Self-service channels would become increasingly efficient as AI improves. Brands would have more touchpoints to collect data and use the data to automate customer service. AI can encompass computer vision and ascertain the issues to be solved. Chatbots would evolve from simple text boxes to more robust solutions. The number of occasions that require human intervention would decline as deep learning algorithms improve.
