Why Brands Should Focus On Optimizing Digital Customer Experience

The digital revolution is here to stay, and technology is leading the charge. With 5 billion global internet users, the consumption of the internet has skyrocketed and one of the most important trends in the last three years has been the change in consumer preferences and expectations from brands. Customers now go for online sources to meet their everyday needs and have become reliant on digital solutions and interfaces.

With the world immersing into the digital era, the digital customer experience (DCX) must be a crucial part of their customer experience (CX) strategy. In fact, an EY consumer index study underscores the importance of customer experience, revealing that it has emerged as the top priority for consumers when deciding where to spend their money. Another study led by McKinsey reveals that digital transformation and a focus on customer experience can generate a 20-30 per cent increase in customer satisfaction and economic gains of 20-50 per cent. Hence, a digital CX strategy can help connect with customers better and improve their overall experience.

Improved customer satisfaction and brand reputation

The impact of a robust digital CX strategy can lead to lasting relationships with customers and help build a significant impression of the brand. To understand this a little better, let’s rewind to 2020 – the testing times of Covid lockdown when people were primarily figuring out their lives with online resources.

With the unforeseen surge in demand for healthcare facilities, the earnest task of hospitals was to address the queries of millions of people using digital channels along with managing the on-ground emergencies. The healthcare providers needed technology to track and address the mammoth list of queries and complaints stacking up on social media channels.

In this scenario, leveraging social media listening helped hospitals track their named mentions, concerns, frequent questions, turnaround time, and first-level responses in real-time. Those who managed it well were able to gain customers’ trust and loyalty and establish themselves better than the rest.

Higher customer retention rates

The success of customer experience management can be easily measured by customer retention and companies must optimize their digital customer experience through personalization, ease-of-use, and effective support. A positive digital experience helps in building customer satisfaction and loyalty, as customers are more likely to return to a company that offers a seamless, convenient and personalized experience. By offering a user-friendly website, mobile app, or other digital touchpoints, companies can differentiate themselves and foster long-term relationships with customers by managing the customer presence across all the touchpoints. The minute customer centricity becomes the primary agenda for any brand – it can completely change the game for them. By collecting and analysing the data, brand can provide one-of-a-kind personalized experiences tailormade for individual preferences which build long lasting relationships with the customers, that goes beyond transactions and increase the lifetime value of the customer.

Cost optimization on the marketing and other operational spends

An impeccable Digital CX strategy helps brands to map the customer journey and provide actionable insights. For instance, some customers might like to interact with the brand on social media, while others may prefer browsing the brand’s website and send emails to inquire or connect. Digital CX primarily shares insights that help brands in identifying usage patterns of their audience and customers which can then help them in devising relevant strategies for marketing.

Another merit of Digital CX is to get insights on recurring queries that can identify emerging patterns (if any) or pre-empt potential demand to ascertain a new trend. These insights help brands to plan their product innovation, or optimize operational spending with higher returns. The customer-centric approach indeed is a win-win for both brands and customers.

Increased conversions

An omnichannel approach to be active across touchpoints such as social media, shopping sites, chat support, emails, websites, and others, strengthen the brands’ spectrum to reach the customers at their channel of choice. With a wide presence and multitude of elements, tools, and techniques, a brand can increase its visibility leading to more customer attention. To adopt a digital-first approach, the brand must understand the latest trends and customers’ behaviour. Brands must understand what customers respond to and what they want to hear.

This will help the brands to device channel specific strategies which can then be implemented to capture the attention of the right set of customers

Increased customer lifetime value & competitive advantage

A customer-centric approach of Digital CX can help in building better chords with customers and strengthen brand value. The brands win over customers by proactively offering what they desire. It can only happen if a brand is cognizant of its customers’ behaviour and requirements. With a personalized customer experience, brands can thrive better in a competitive world. Today, brands are investing heavily in customer data platforms to get insights into customer behaviour and this will keep them ahead of the competitors if they are clued in the ecosystem needs and understand their customer profiles sharply.

Today technology platforms can not only help the brands to create a single view of their customer across multiple touch points but also help them to stay ahead of the competition by benchmarking their performance against the competitors and analysing how to change the game. The real-time data monitoring capabilities can help in this tremendously to stay ahead of the curve and devise effective strategies for the brand to retain their own customers and win customers from the competition.

In summary

As the digital landscape evolves, companies must adapt and stay ahead of the curve in order to thrive. The key to success in the current era is “Digital Customer Experience Management”, where businesses can optimize their strategies and meet the demands of tech-savvy consumers. With a focus on providing a seamless and intuitive digital customer experience, companies can expect to reap numerous benefits, including increased customer satisfaction, higher retention rates, boosted customer loyalty, and an enhanced brand reputation. By investing in cutting-edge CX technology or solutions, businesses of all sizes can stay ahead of the competitions and remain pertinent in the ever-evolving digital world.