Customer Is The King!Haven’t you been hearing these golden words of marketing wisdom since times immemorial? Despite being repeated for years together, these words have not lost their meaning in today’s competitive times!Gartner Research reveals that 89% of businesses would compete mostly on the basis of Customer Experience in 2016… Going by this statistic, Customer Experience is the only currency in today’s competitive business world!As stakes around customer experience go on to increase, strategies revolve around answers to ‘How to improve customer experience’. With increase in digital avenues for such solutions, businesses are embracing digital measures to enhance customer experience… But is it a prudent step really? Let’s find out!Enhancing Customer Experience With Digitalization!We are living in the times of the Digital Customer, and brands are struggling hard to innovate and differentiate as competition soars high. The existence and acceleration of digital influences had begun long ago, but now we are experiencing a drastic digitally-driven change in consumer patterns that has forced businesses to step on to the Digital Sphere.An increasing change in the tech-savvy consumers has widened the gap between them and businesses that fall short of delivering the desired experiences. This widening gap is directly proportional to the growing rate of obsolescence and failures in meeting customer expectations.Instead of facing extinction, why not embrace Digital and create fulfilling customer experiences? Sounds challenging? Fret not. Here’s a lowdown about top 5 digital forces that impact customer experience:1. Digital Automation – Is It A Bane Or A Curse?It is difficult to ascertain whether this technology-induced automation would have positive or negative impacts on human lives. There is a hope for positivity, with autonomous cars that could help reduce accident rate, but a negative impact would follow as it impacts human employment as/in drivers, the field of insurance, legal, emergency services.
Even during such uncertainties technology could come across as an agent of positive change to help impact the customer experience of your brand. The Digital has indeed become a way of living, as we are transitioning continuously. It all began with the first Digital wave, or rather the Digital 1.0 wave, which introduced us to: Email, Chat DotComWith advancements in technology however, we observed the uprising of Digital 2.0 wave that brought forth the following: Social, Personalization – Social Media Virtualization – Cloud Business Insights – Analytics Access – Mobility Content – Interactive & Video Commerce – Digital WalletsThe shift from the Digital 1.0 wave to Digital 2.0 also witnessed a move from B2b to B2C, and further to C2C. We were again swept off by the Digital 3.0 wave, which brought the below mentioned companions with it: Hyper connectivity – IoT Business Insights – Big Data Automation – Robotics Decision making – Artificial IntelligenceThe shift from Digital 2.0 to Digital 3.0 was characterized by an upsurge of M2M, M2C and C2M approaches that have taken the business world by a storm!It is indeed a privilege to have been living in these digitally ubiquitous times when there are more mobile phones, than people in the world. There has been exciting news regarding reports estimating 50 billion devices to be connected to the web by 2020. Speculations are also rife, about the evolution of analytics from ‘Existing Data- New insights’ to ‘New Data- New Insights’!2. How Digitally-Inclined Are Your Customers?Customers have been the Czars Royale in the business world. Today there is an increased ‘Consumer’ization with the acceleration of Commoditization! The changing customer demography has led to an increase in customer satisfaction risks with a diminishing barrier to ‘brand loyalty switch’.Our digitally cognizant customers are moving towards digital mediums, and forcing brands to adopt these new technologies as well. An intersection of product strategy, marketing and customer service has sparked up the consumer adoption process, making it all the more crucial for great customer experience.3. Digital Trends In IndustryToday competition between brands or organizations has translated to competing through Value ecosystems. With about 70 million C2C users in India alone, the power is definitely shifting from B2B to B2C to C2C.Such shifts also affect the digital usage and trends in your industry. The way digital is leveraged in a retail industry would vary from how it is being used in an automobile industry.Product and service differentiation has become transient, and you can only monetize users and their usage by providing exceptional customer experiences. These customer experiences can be enhanced with a better idea about how your customer leverages Digital and how you can utilize the Digital to enhance convenience for them.4. Macro FactorsThere are always macro factors that impact customer experience, but cannot be controlled always. Some of these have been discussed below:
Net neutrality Mobile, Internet penetration. Cyber Security Digital cash.Such factors greatly impact how customer experiences can be improved with digital factors, which may not always be dominant but could greatly impact your strategies.5. Impact Of Social Media On Customer ExperienceIf you considered social media as a marketing channel alone, you need to revisit your social media strategy immediately! Instead of simply throwing sales and marketing messages on your social media platforms, you need to work out your branding strategy.Businesses have begun to leverage the limitless power of social media by integrating their customer service goals within social media. These days most brands are resorting to online reputation management via social media, so as to maximize positive impressions and engage their customers.In order to maximize the potential of social media for better customer experiences, here’s what you need to focus on:
Prompt responses to your customers
Online Reputation Management
Persistent follow ups
Custom feedback
You can also leverage the power of reviews and ensure better customer experience. After all, every drop in the ocean counts and you can make huge waves with the smallest efforts. If you’re still seeking answers to ‘How to improve customer experience’ partner with providers of best customer experience solutions to shape your digital efforts in the right direction.Partnering with providers of best customer experiences could go a long way in shaping your digital efforts in the right direction!