Commercial Real Estate in the Experience Era
There was a time when getting close to your customers meant being on their radios, living room televisions, and milk cartons. Now, getting and keeping customers goes beyond talking at them; customers want you to talk to them. This is what the Experience Era is – the process of nurturing a positive experience from start to finish – and it is taking over workplaces across the country.
The New Customer Service: Customer Experience
The Experience Era has placed new demands on businesses where customer service is concerned. Companies must integrate good customer service throughout the business funnel, creating an overall frictionless experience that makes customers feel close to and cared about by the business. Customer Experience, also referred to as CX, aims to stop problems and headaches before they even happen, meaning less volume for customer service requests, and happier customers. CX may look like blogs, FAQ, design that is easy to use, easy-to-navigate-applications as well as added benefits and personalized touches.
How is the Experience Era impacting the workplace?
Outside of affecting how companies treat their customers, the Experience Era impacts the way that companies treat their employees – shifting away from an environment that focuses just on the transaction of labour for goods towards workplaces that are inclusive and supportive of the multifaceted lives of employees. There’s even a new host of software and technology to keep employees satisfied, like Enboarder, which just raised $8 million for its employee engagement platform. Today’s job market is a tight one, making employee retention more competitive than ever thanks to the Experience Era.
The Experience Era and Commercial Property Owners
With the workplace expectations shifting towards keeping employees happy, a shift in commercial property has begun. For commercial property owners, it means going above and beyond to offer a personal, intimate space and service to distinguish yourself from other spaces. For example, Knotel, an all-in-one office space platform, recognizes that innovative companies want innovative spaces. Essentially an “AirBnB for commercial spaces”, Knotel designs and builds office spaces that are available for short-term leases, but offers a wide range of office products.
Taking tenant satisfaction to a new level is Equiem, a tenant experience platform that uses property technology to collect tenant feedback and implement engaging features. The Equiem app promises valuable services, new revenue opportunities, and the compilation of tenant-landlord communications.
Equiem CEO Gabrielle McMillan hopes to share the importance of tenant satisfaction, saying, “Time is a hugely precious commodity for the modern worker and people want their working day made as frictionless as possible. Whether it’s ordering coffee to their desk, having their laundry picked up, or getting an eye test on-site, users want access to a whole myriad of convenient services within their building that help them save time in their working day.”
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It’s important that building owners and property managers keep up with the latest shifts in workplace trends, since these changing lifestyles and cultural differences impact what leasing or owning commercial property looks like.
