Digital Customer Experience: Five Trends for Your Business to Consider

A hot topic these days is digital customer experience, and in a market overflowing with customer touchpoints and choice, it is the right time to focus on it.

So what is digital customer experience? It’s the impression of an organisation that a customer is left with after interacting with them through an app, or a website, etc. In the current Coronavirus pandemic people are spending more time at home so it is a very good time to address your digital customer experience.

We look at five digital customer experience strategies that businesses should consider:

1. Omnichannel presence improves customer experience

A trend we are seeing is omnichannel, which provides customers with a faster, more personalised user experience if done right. It means a customer will get a consistent experience throughout as they navigate to the website, then an app, and also a brick-and-mortar store. A business needs to be coherent on all channels and if it manages to eliminate the need to repeat information it’ll save customers frustration.

With the growth of digital interaction, the number of touchpoints follow suit which means that a business will need to adopt new channels and approaches in its interaction with customers. According to a report from PwC the number of retail companies investing in the omnichannel experience has gone from a mere 20% to over 70%.

We are witnessing growth in customer engagement channels like chat, self-service and social messaging. Although your customers will indeed expect some differences in how a company interacts with them on the various channels, and how they themselves interact with the business they’ll still expect consistency in brand communications and areas such as questions regarding verification of details, etc.  

2. Artificial Intelligence & Customer Service Productivity

We know that artificial intelligence tools can help in addressing customer needs faster and it can also enhance business productivity and employee engagement.

Some of the areas that AI can truly assist in are the following:

• Collecting customer information which can expedite human interactions
• Allowing customers to receive live chat support over the phone or 24/7 online through chatbots
• Routing messages to the right agents in the contact centre
• Predictive analytics which will prompt customer service agents with the best next steps to take
• Social media monitoring for particular trigger words
• Providing customer service with a knowledge base to answer basic questions and cut down on the volume of contact centre queues

If your organisation is looking to better understand your customer’s wants and needs, you can be well on your way to doing so by pairing your customer data with AI. You’ll be able to deliver custom and personalised experiences based on an identified customer’s preferences across their customer journey. The customer journey can further be tracked for ongoing optimisation.

3. Mobile-first approach for a better digital customer experience

Just having a mobile app doesn’t mean you have a mobile-first approach. You need to keep your content up to date and correctly formatted. This is especially true for most B2C organisations.

According to StatCounter at the moment about half of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices, with a sharp decline in desktop use. This has resulted in a noticeable increase in companies that state they are focused on the mobile-experience for their customers. If a customer likes the business, yet their website isn’t mobile-friendly their customers will likely stop visiting. An organisation needs to make sure that their users will be able to achieve the tasks they need to with mobile capabilities that reflect the web experience.

These are some design elements companies need to remember to fulfil when creating a mobile interface:

• Avoiding large graphics such as landscape photos that won’t render well on mobile devices. Companies should use portrait layouts and simple graphics.
• Large enough calls to action for users to be able to tap. Space around hyperlinks should be factored in so customers can click the right link easily.
• Content inventory should prioritise items. Companies should make sure they display the most important elements on a page first. Of course the order of importance of certain items will vary from company to company, so taking note of your priorities whether they are bestsellers, or sale items is key.
• Easy navigations is key. A way of making sure this happens is to take advantage and implement a “hamburger icon”. If a user clicks on it then a menu should slide out from the side of their screen to ease navigation throughout the website.

4. Augmented reality to provide immersive experience

Another digital customer experience trend is Augmented Reality which has evolved constantly. Now it can allow users to interact with virtual content in a real-world setting. It is being used across a wide range of industries including furniture, make-up, accessories, and attire. With AR customers can see how an item would look in their home or on them before making up their mind about whether to purchase it.

By making the retail experience more immersive, AR can give both customers and brands choice and control over the experience. This happens by reducing purchase decision uncertainty all the while adding an element of customer excitement.

Some notable examples of AR being used in the real-world by retailers can be found at the likes of Ikea.

5. Data transparency

In today’s world customers are becoming more and more conscious of the data they share with companies. They want to know how it will be used and who by as they have become wary of sharing due to scams and hacks, or even unsolicited use of their data. The latter is possible one of the most significant factors contributing to customer distrust, particularly when it comes to large corporations.

At the end of the day buyers do expect companies to understand their wants and needs and they do want more personalised communications. However, companies trusted with customer data need to be trustworthy, and demonstrate it. The only way to do it is by being transparent about their data collection process and uses to keep hold of their customer’s trust and loyalty. At the end of the day your customer’s perception of your business will impact their customer experience.

So there you have it- five areas that will enhance your digital customer experience. Have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments.

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