Ways to Boost Customer Loyalty in a Digital World

With more interactions shifting to digital channels, earning and maintaining customer loyalty is harder than ever before.

That’s why we asked our panel of technology experts to find out the best ways to achieve customer loyalty in a digital world.

Always Start With Freedom of Choice

Customer loyalty starts with freedom of choice. Today’s customers expect to connect on their terms, whether via voice, chat, social, or email, and receive the same fast, efficient service across all channels.

Omnichannel platforms make this possible by unifying interactions and ensuring context follows the customer everywhere.

Efficient systems and thoughtful support processes are essential: intelligent routing and virtual assistants help reduce wait times and resolve simple queries instantly, while complex issues are seamlessly escalated to human agents.

The outcome is an experience that is seamless, personalized, and consistent across all channels. Organizations that implement this strategy effectively do not merely satisfy customer expectations; they establish benchmarks for convenience and reliability within the industry.

Contributed by: Jurgen Hekkink, Head of Product Marketing, AnywhereNow

Stop Assuming Your Customers Talk Like You Do

Many organizations fall foul of the same thing: assuming their customers think like they do, talk like they do, or act like they do. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but you can be sure each business, sector, and vertical has its own buzzwords, its own acronyms, and its own unique way of labelling certain things. 

The challenge is that your customers most likely don’t work in your sector. They might only interact with your business once or twice a year, perhaps even less frequently than that. Consequently, they might not know what you’re expecting them to ask for when they want to chat to you about something.

Explore what your customers ask for. See how they refer to the products and services you provide and gear any interaction routing around that. Did the customer select the wrong option, or did you ask the wrong question? Getting on the same page as your customers helps earn their loyalty.

Contributed by: Simon Adnett, VP Sales UK&I/MEA, Enghouse Interactive

Manage Customer Expectations About What to Expect (Good or Bad)

My go-to rule to boost loyalty is “Manage your customer expectations”. Things won’t always go perfectly, but keeping customers regularly informed with proactive communications about what to expect (good or bad) builds trust, reducing frustration and churn.

Once expectations are managed, leveraging omnichannel capabilities is crucial. While so called “best-of-breed” solutions for specific media can seemingly have advantages, they can also create fragmented customer journeys (and reporting/integration nightmares).

Finally, underpinning every experience with solid business processes and good quality data is essential, so look to integrate your CCaaS platform with your business data sources which are goldmines for personalized experiences.  But… Don’t be afraid to challenge the norm!

If agents (or worse, customers) are juggling multiple systems, explore the consolidation of your technology stack using low-code platforms.  Not only can this reduce licence costs, but it delivers experiences that are much closer to what you and your customers actually need.

Contributed by: Lewis Gallagher, Senior Solutions Consultant, Netcall

Empower Your Agents With Empathy, Communication, and Problem-Solving Skills

Even in a tech-driven world, loyalty is still built by people. Agents remain the face of the brand across chat, voice, and messaging channels.

To create loyal customers, agents need modern tools that remove friction: AI-assisted coaching and intuitive knowledge bases. These tools help agents respond faster, communicate clearly, and stay consistent. 

Additionally, training in empathy, communication, and problem-solving ensures agents provide exceptional customer experiences. When agents feel supported and confident, they deliver experiences that exceed expectations. 

Contributed by: Jonathan “Kenu” Escobedo, Customer Success Manager, MiaRec

Make Coming Back Simpler Than Going Anywhere Else

Make it easy to stay and even easier to return. In fact, make coming back simpler than going anywhere else.

Why do people (me included) buy from Amazon even when it’s not the cheapest? One-click checkout. No hunting for cards. No typing addresses. If Google or Apple Pay isn’t an option? Forget it.

The same applies for service. Customers don’t want hoops to jump through just to return an item or get a basic answer. They know what seamless looks like and they won’t readily forgive friction.

If you offer a chatbot or self-service flow, make sure it works near 100%. That’s the basics sorted; then a little extra on top goes a long way. Surprise and delight keep you memorable but it’s wasted if the basics let you down!

Contributed by: Ben Willmott, Principal Solution Consultant, Route 101

Shape Trust With Tone of Voice and Perceived Sincerity

Ultimately, only people create trust with other people, but in a digital world, that trust must be consistently supported by technology.

Agents need to convey accurate information and resolve queries efficiently for trust to take hold.

This is why even highly automated organizations can achieve exceptional CSAT; UK Power Networks, for example, maintains a 94% CSAT score while operating with equally high levels of automation at peak times.

Trust is shaped by tone of voice and perceived sincerity, whether in spoken or digital interactions. While digital channels lack vocal nuance, tone can still be conveyed through consistent language and style across every touchpoint.

This presents a challenge for organizations operating across different shifts and different channels, but technology can help smooth subjective differences without removing individual personality.

Contributed by: Martin Taylor, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO, Content Guru

Prevent Customers From Ever Needing to Contact You in the First Place

Move beyond optimizing for interactions and service efficiency and focus on proactive and predictive support. Loyalty is won not just by handling contacts well, but by preventing customers from ever needing to contact you in the first place.

The best approach is achieving root cause elimination. This requires transforming raw support data – from calls, chats, emails, and reviews – into decision-grade data.

Using advanced AI and conversational analytics platforms, you can detect ultra-specific customer issues and identify “unknown unknowns” in your customer conversations, feedback, and review data before they escalate.

This ability to anticipate problems and prioritize product fixes based on quantified customer pain drives key results like churn reduction, NPS/CSAT improvements, and stronger customer lifetime value. 

Contributed by: Matthew Clare, VP, Product Marketing, UJET

Never Force Customers to Bridge the Gap Between a Chatbot and an Agent who Lacks Context

In a digital world, loyalty is a paradox: it requires excellent automation for speed but deep human connection for trust.

As routine transactions shift to digital channels, the remaining live interactions are often complex and emotionally charged.

One of the best ways to secure loyalty in these ‘moments of truth’ is by reshoring the human element of your service. After all, customers may react negatively to brands that force them to bridge the gap between a chatbot and an agent who lacks local context.

To gain more loyalty, organizations should ensure that when a digital channel escalates, it connects seamlessly to an agent who instinctively understands the nuance.

This requires an integrated technology stack where the contact centre isn’t an island. For instance, platforms that can bridge this gap by unifying back-office experts with frontline agents, so that customers feel heard, understood, and valued.

Contributed by: Ben Neo, Head of Contact Center and CX Sales EMEA, Zoom

Focus on Listening Better – Not Just Responding Faster

Customer loyalty isn’t built through channels or technology alone – it’s built in moments of understanding. Even in a digital-first world, many of those moments still happen in phone conversations, alongside chat, messaging, and other digital touchpoints.

The challenge is learning from them. Calls are recorded but rarely analysed at scale. Patterns in customer intent, frustration, and unmet needs remain buried across thousands of interactions, limiting an organization’s ability to respond consistently.

The most effective loyalty strategies focus on listening better, not just responding faster. That means analysing conversations across the entire customer base to understand where expectations aren’t being met, where trust is weakened, and where experiences feel inconsistent.

Loyalty grows when customers feel understood – and that understanding comes from insight, not intuition. In a digital world, systematically learning from real conversations is one of the most practical ways contact centres can build long-term customer commitment.

Contributed by: Gary Nixon, Co-Owner, Callytics

Empower Customers to Self-Serve Quick Answers to Simple Questions

Self-service is actually one of the strongest tools a contact centre has for building loyalty – as long as it works well. Customers want quick answers to simple questions, and they can appreciate being able to fix things themselves.

The key is making sure the handover to a live agent is seamless when they need more help. When customers move from a virtual assistant to a human without losing context, the whole experience feels smooth and respectful.

That combination of speed and support is what keeps customers coming back. It shows you value their time and their problem, and that matters.

Contributed by: Michelle Kelly, Retail Expert, 8×8

Create More Time for Meaningful Human Support Where It Truly Matters

Today’s customers are used to switching channels, sometimes multiple times during a conversation. For example, a conversation may start on a self-service portal, switch to an email, and end in a call. Ensuring customer satisfaction in the digital age depends on creating a seamless, consistent experience across every channel.

That’s why an omnichannel strategy is essential. AI can be leveraged to enhance this further by predicting intent, providing relevant information to agents, personalizing interactions, and automating the routine tasks that slow agents down. This creates more time for meaningful human support where it truly matters.

But technology alone doesn’t create loyal customers. Customers remember how they are treated, not how fast an issue is resolved. It’s combining technology with a people-first approach to customer service that truly sows the seeds for loyalty.

That’s why creating a meaningful experience, where customers feel seen, heard, and valued, is where the opportunity lies. When contact centres deliver integrated, meaningful, and context-aware interactions, loyalty becomes a natural by-product of a consistently positive experience.

Contributed by: Zainab Ahmed, Marketing Manager, Peopleware

You can also watch the video below to hear Simon Waldron, Senior Solutions Consultant at Peopleware, explain how contact centres can achieve customer loyalty in a digital world by combining technology with a people-first approach:

Focus on Connected, Consistent Experiences – Not Just That “One Perfect Interaction”

Customer loyalty isn’t earned through one perfect interaction any more. It’s built through a connected, consistent experience across every conversation touchpoint.

The real differentiator is how well you understand customers in the moment and adapt to their needs. That means using AI and real-time insights to predict intent, remove friction, and route people to the right place the first time.

But technology alone doesn’t create loyalty, trust does. Organizations need empathetic agents, accessible journeys, and clear communication that meets every customer where they are.

When you combine intelligent automation with human connection and truly inclusive design, you create experiences that feel effortless. And effortless experiences are what keep customers coming back.

Contributed by: Tara Aldridge, Head of Product Enablement, Vonage

What Have You Tried to Boost Customer Loyalty Across Your Digital Interactions?

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If you are interested in learning about how customer contact is expected to change in the future, check out our webinar: Webinar: The Future of Customer Contact

For more great insights and advice from our panel of experts, read these articles next:

• Get the Best Out of Your Hybrid Agents
• New Ways to Help Agents Build Rapport
• Top Contact Centre Predictions for 2026

Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Jo Robinson