Today’s businesses must find ways to create stronger connections with consumers on digital devices, including mobile. The digital customer experience (CX) not only involves how customers find your brand, but also the interaction that you have with them and how personal it is.
Creating the best possible experience for your customers is something every company should strive to do as a matter of course. However, the revenue boost from doing it right might be an additional incentive. If you’re ready to make some improvements with digital CX, where do you start?
Many business owners and managers might wonder why the online customer experience is so essential. This is a valid question absent the right statistics that show the impact on your bottom line.
Forrester Research reports that a positive CX can lead to customer retention, advocacy, and enrichment, all factors that have the potential for loyalty-driven revenue. Harvard Business Review showed that there is a correlation between annual revenue increases and CX. Specifically, clients having the best experiences with transaction companies spent 140 percent more than the ones with the poorest experiences.
Because CX is now a priority for more and more companies, there is more of this type of data available. According to the Temkin Group, companies earning $1 billion annually can expect to increase earnings by an additional $700 million (on average) within three years of investing in CX. Furthermore, 86 percent of buyers are willing to pay more for a product or service if it comes with a great experience.
Many businesses have relied on traditional marketing channels to make and maintain connections with customers. Times have changed, and this approach, while still having some impact, is not going to produce the returns for your company that it once did.
Unfortunately, if your brand doesn’t begin to focus on digital customer experience, it’s likely to get left behind. This is because your competitors are increasingly transforming their businesses to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences across all mediums.
According to the latest Digital Trends report from Adobe and Econsultancy, B2B brands chose “Customer Experience” as the most exciting business opportunity of 2020. If your company wants to keep up with its peers and boost its revenue at the same time, here are five ways that you can start improving the digital customer experience for your brand.
Not every business understands the importance of digital marketing and customer experience. If you fall into this category, it’s time to take a look at your company’s internal mindset.
In some cases, you might need to break down data silos and collaborate more with other departments to deliver the best customer experience. Start by establishing objectives and communicating some customer insights showing where you should focus your efforts.
For instance, you might have some poor customer reviews related to product quality or in-store service. These are excellent starting points.
There wouldn’t be much point in customizing the digital experience for your customers if you don’t know who they are. This might seem obvious, but too many businesses create marketing plans with a “one-size-fits-all” approach. This is no longer effective.
First, you need to do some extensive research about your customer base. There is a ton of data available from existing sources, such as your own files, Google Analytics, and social media. It shouldn’t be that tedious to gain a deeper understanding of your different buyer personas and their needs.
Your company’s website is the online ambassador for your brand. How does it compare to a website that has recently delighted you and exceeded your expectations? If it falls short, it’s time to make some improvements.
It’s a given that your website should be optimized across all devices, considering more and more consumers are using mobile. Also, dedicate time to thinking about why consumers are visiting your site and make sure that they can easily and quickly find the solutions to their problems or answers to their questions.
Beyond your company’s website, you should also review and optimize your other digital assets. This includes your Google My Business page, other online directories, and social media profiles.
A large part of improving the digital customer experience is personalizing it. This would be difficult, if not impossible, to do individually, so you need some automation tools. Having the right technology in place will allow your company to identify issues and opportunities as well as deliver the most seamless online experience for your customers.
A few of the tools you can use are Databox and Drift. Databox brings a variety of data sources into a single dashboard. Drift is a Conversational Marketing tool that allows your company to engage in personalized conversations with visitors on your website. Connection Model is a certified partner of both of these technologies.
You can use the data that you continue to collect to track your progress. Figure out what is working and what is missing the mark. Are some initiatives boosting sales more than others?
As technology continues to evolve, so will your opportunities to make improvements to your digital customer experience. For example, brands will increasingly begin using things like augmented reality, voice commerce, and predictive analytics in the coming years. As these make sense for your company, implement them into your digital marketing strategy and test their effectiveness.
It’s not too late to get started with a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, and it’s certainly never too soon to take advantage of the latest trends in online marketing. Connection Model is a result-driven agency that takes an objective approach to transforming your business and brand.
Contact us for an assessment and to learn more about our services.