Our Insights Post Rob Sandbach Creating a seamless digital experience Gone are the days where good customer service is a nice-to-have digital experience. Attention spans are shorter, the technology we use is advancing faster than it ever has and with more and more channels for consumers to voice their questions, concerns and aggravations, a seamless digital experience is mission critical. You can move your products to an ecommerce store, develop an innovative mobile application, you can invest in a state-of-the-art digital ecosystem, and through these channels be assured that your services in the real world have moved into digital. But have you put the same focus and attention into translating the operational aspects of your organisation? From the contact forms, to the chat and cart, every single interaction on any device that your business is visible on, needs to provide a level of customer experience that will delight and retain your customers. They have to be assured that when removing human contact, they can still expect to receive a high level of service that will make their lives easier. COMING SOON: Creating a seamless digital experience webinar What makes a great digital experience Nowadays, people expect the digital solutions they find to play a greater role in their lives. They are not expecting to do the work. Whatever you create needs to fit into your users daily activity, it has to understand them, support and simplify what could be a complex decision. Customers, whether they are for products or services, expect fast, frictionless and bespoke solutions as they consider whether or not to invest in you and your brand. Quite often, digital products are built at speed, they deliver on company objectives, offer simple solutions but lack the deep initial understanding and consistency of creating a seamless digital experience. In our experience our clients often find themselves in a position where a digital product is created on one platform, and is then adapted to try and fit onto others. This leads to a disjointed process and customer journey, rather than providing the customer with a smooth transition, regardless of where they access your information. Managing user expectations Just as you would in a physical environment, consider the operational activities that you need to provide for: building a customer relationship, meeting customer needs, quick and interactive responses and using data to enhance the experience. When we build digital products for consumers, collecting data and analysing insights are part and parcel of what businesses expect to attain when shifting online. In exchange, consumers will expect that this data will be used to benefit them in the long run. Operational excellence can only be achieved when you invest time and resources into building the various user journeys and touchpoints that your consumers are likely to take. AI and machine learning, platform automation, there are so many technology solutions that have advanced drastically over the last few years opening the doors for you to build a responsive experience. How to get started Not sure where to start? Here’s a few tips to get you thinking about your digital experience: Do you know your users? Take the time to understand their pain points and challenges. What do they enjoy and what would make them feel connected to what you are offering. Establish each customer journey Don’t look at one singularly, or look at each channel. Instead, think of the touchpoints they would use, regardless of the channel that involves, and build the journeys from start to finish. What makes the experience bad? A seamless digital experience relies on a fast, rapid, frictionless process and by defining the areas that cause problems, this can be your quick fix into improving your process. Why a seamless digital experience matters You may already have a variety of digital products and services for your customers to engage with. From an online store, to a social media channel or even a voice activated application on a device. Creating a seamless digital experience is about bringing each of these touchpoints together and managing them as a full cycle solution. Customers should be able to jump from one channel to the next and expect the same level and consistency of service. Customers don’t think of their experiences as channel specific, digital or non-digital. They expect a level of service to be maintained and rather than a great digital experience being a differentiator, it’s more likely that a seamless digital experience is a necessity. Users are likely to engage more, spend more, once you have managed to build a habit that they are comfortable with and understand. By doing so, you create life-long customers. And provided you can continue to improve and evolve your digital experiences accordingly through ongoing assurance, these are the customers that keep your revenue stream growing. If you’d like to find out more on how to create a seamless digital experience for your new or existing project, speak to our experts: +44 (0) 161 660 6756 [/vc_column][/vc_row]
