Do you know how digital transformation is driving customer experience?! Digital transformation is influencing companies to go through changes and adapt according to the new market reality. What’s fascinating about this is that the transformation isn’t being driven by the businesses themselves.

Rather, the customers are the one who is driving this transformation. Companies now have the resources to provide fast communication, seamless cross-channel support, unique customer journeys, and a better level of transparency to their customers as a result of the digital transformation. These technical advancements have become the rule, and today’s digital consumer demands them.

Companies must comprehend how customer expectations have changed as a result of the digital transformation, and why this necessitates a new customer experience strategy.  

What is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is a process that emphasizes that the digital environment is constantly changing and that consumer expectations will grow in conjunction with the landscape’s potential to produce ever-better results.

Simply put, it’s about altering the way an organization interacts with its customers and ensuring that they receive a consistent experience whenever and wherever they require it. In fact, over half of all businesses mentioned customer experience and fulfilment as the most important elements influencing their choice to undertake a digital transformation strategy.

When effectively implemented, a Digital Transformation strategy may result in comprehensive digital involvement both within your company and in how you reach out to customers, as well as enhanced customer experience and greater ROI.

The businesses that are into digital transformation are able to create highly engaged customers. These customers are:

  • They are six times more inclined to try a new product or service from a favourite brand.
  • They’re four times more likely to have encouraged their friends, family, and connections about your brand.
  • Even if a competitor offers a better quality product or price, people are twice as likely to buy from their favoured brand.

The New Digitally Engaged Consumer

Consumer behaviour has changed as a result of digital technologies. Customers can now obtain what they want nearly exactly when they need it, thanks to mobile devices, applications, machine intelligence, automation, and much more.

Furthermore, new digital technologies have shifted customers’ requirements, resulting in a new type of modern buyer. Consumers nowadays are always connected, app-native, and aware of what technology can do for them.

Customers frequently evaluate firms based on their digital customer experience first because of the opportunities that arise from utilizing current technology.

You must rethink how you communicate with your clients if you want to become digital-first.

  • For B2B sales teams, digital-first means social selling instead of cold calling. Your clients are already on social media, and you need to be there as well. Rather than waiting for the consumer to approach you, you should go out to them, establish a connection, and assist them with information. This may be achieved by offering relevant content and your expertise as part of a solution to their issue.
  • For marketing teams, digital-first means cutting back on offline marketing efforts like direct mail, billboards, and television commercials. Customers anticipate (and want) highly focused communications, which can only be delivered through a data-driven marketing approach. You should now use search engine marketing, account-based marketing, and email marketing tactics through digital platforms.
  • For Customer service teams, waiting for the phone to ring or a fax to arrive is no longer an option. It’s not enough to be proactive when it comes to digital. It’s all about being proactive when it comes to assisting your clients, who seek aid through a variety of media. The customer service eco-system now includes social media, review websites, forums, and communities.

Your company must also think digitally first in order to serve the new, modern-day buyer.

What Can You Do to Meet the Digital Customer’s Expectations?

To know what you can do to meet the digital customer’s expectation you have to understand how digital transformation is driving customer experience. Customers have high expectations in today’s industry, and if you can’t meet them, they’ll migrate and move on to the next business that can.

Organizations may use digital transformation to better understand today’s buyers, interact with them, and meet their expectations through a multi-channel customer experience.

However, more than $900 billion of the $1.3 trillion spent on digital transformation has been wasted.

So, why do certain digital transformation initiatives succeed while others do not?

Here are 6 strategies to get your company started with digital transformation to help you succeed.

1. Prior to implementing digital transformation, develop your strategy

Due to continuously evolving technology and advancements, the corporate world moves at a breakneck pace. Every year, new and emerging technology challenges even the most well-established businesses.

Uber altered the taxi business in 2009 by allowing users to hail a vehicle using a mobile app. Amazon Go is the newest iteration of Jeff Bezos’ expanding e-commerce business, delivering a network of convenience shops in the United States with automated, cashier-free self-checkout stations.

Recently, Google and Elon Musk have been competing to be the first to introduce self-driving cars into the market. Companies need a long-term plan to adapt, compete, and thrive in this new digital world, with all of these new ideas being launched into the marketplace.

A digital transformation plan begins with three basic questions:

  • Where are you today?
  • Where do you want to be tomorrow? 
  • What are you going to do to get there?

Companies require a strategy that not only identifies which technologies must be used, but also provides protection against digital disruption. That is why, before harnessing the promise of digital transformation, you must first understand your fundamental systems and processes in order to find possibilities.

2. Inform the Customer

Users should be informed about new digital channels. If your organization decides to utilize social media to respond to consumer complaints, make sure customers are aware of the option. If your organization currently operates an app in combination with a website, be sure that the functionality does not conflict with the former.

Customers should also be informed about the special requirements for each digital channel you launch. For instance, HSBC offers video tutorials for its new online banking.

3. Create an IT environment that is agile and adaptive

In today’s corporate environment, having the correct technology to fuel digital strategy is critical. However, did you know that 45 percent of CEOs say their organizations lack the essential technology to implement a digital transformation strategy?

Fortunately, companies understand the need of establishing agile systems, with 86% believing that cloud technology is vital to digital transformation. The cloud helps businesses to be more agile, dynamic, and adaptable, allowing you to test new ideas that are both cost-effective and low-risk, and allowing you to leverage technology to satisfy client needs more quickly.

4. Provide a Customer Journey That Is Relevant

We can now say to most of our digital issues, “There’s an app for that!” thanks to the digital transformation. As a result, it’s critical that you display just the most relevant information to your clients. Don’t overwhelm them with features, content, information, or apps that they don’t need.

When designing the customer journey, you may use an email automation system to send consumers emails on a regular basis.

You should pay close attention to the customer’s source, the services they’ve browsed, and the information they’re looking for. This allows you to create a journey that is particularly similar to their interests and requirements.

5. Make the consumer experience more personalized

Buyers today want businesses to treat them as distinct individuals who are aware of their particular preferences and purchasing history.

According to Accenture, 75% of customers say they are more inclined to purchase from a business that:

  • Recognizes them by their name,
  • Knows what they’ve bought in the past, and
  • Recommends things depending on what they’ve bought in the past.

However, you must invest in CRM in order to take advantage of these opportunities.

You can’t treat your clients like individuals without the help of CRM. It’s hard to deliver a unique experience without keeping the history of how your company interacts with them.

You may evaluate and research customer-related data with a CRM system based on a customer’s prior contacts with your organization. For example, reviewing general requests, product quotations, and support inquiries can help you gain a better knowledge of your consumers. This information may then be utilized to produce highly targeted communications that are tailored to the tastes of specific clients, resulting in a more customized experience.

6. A multi-channel experience that is smooth

Thanks to technological advancement, customers can now have what they want, when they want, and the way they want it. More than half of all customers now seek a response from customer care within one hour. They also presume the same response times on weekends as they do throughout the week. This desire for immediate satisfaction has compelled businesses to be available and on-demand 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Everything now happens in real-time, so businesses that can provide their consumers with immediacy, uniqueness, and accessibility will win out in the long term. Consumers today do not use a single channel. They shop in stores, shop online, leave reviews on mobile applications, and ask questions of your customer service team on social media.

Summary:

We should really appreciate the changes that happened for Digital Transformation and the fact that how it’s driving customer experience!

Consumers appear to demand a more personal experience as organizations begin to provide digital pathways to their customers. Don’t be the organization that offers an uninspired, generic consumer experience.

Companies should seriously consider establishing a digital transformation plan, if they haven’t already, in today’s fast-paced, constantly connected society.

So, are you planning to digitally transform your business? Look no further! We know this sudden shift is not easy and it needs a full-proof strategy! At Inthera, our mission is to help the next 25 Clients transform their Information Technology Units and achieve success in their businesses. We take pride in facilitating several strategic and enterprise transformational initiatives for our clients.

We hope our article was insightful for you. If you had a pleasant reading maybe you will also like to read, 7 ESSENTIAL TYPES OF AGILE METHODOLOGY.