I find it surprising to find some brands talking about how to ‘be digital’. Technology disrupted the business world more than two decades ago, and advances in various fields continue to shape the way companies interact with stakeholders and customers alike. Technology has become so ingrained in our personal and work lives that nobody should even be thinking about ‘digital’ anymore. Everything and everyone is already digital.
However, despite the many benefits and advantages of this transformation, there are also some challenges that need to be overcome. The most significant one is that online experiences mean that nowadays many people do business without physically interacting with each other.
Traditionally, doing business meant meeting with someone and agreeing on some sort of deal or exchange. People traveled all over the world to meet and develop relationships with their customers in an effort to understand them better and build loyalty. However, in today’s increasingly digital landscape this face-to-face interaction is being replaced by face-to-screen interaction.
The boom of new communication channels, social media, websites and apps has added a layer of complexity, and now means that although customers can ‘talk’ to brands almost unilaterally, we’ve all but lost the crucial non-verbal communication that comes with human interaction.
So, what does this mean for enterprises? How can they overcome the ‘screen barrier’ and learn to better navigate a digital world where for, the first time in history, human beings are not directly interacting with each other? The truth is, it presents a huge challenge: how can brands build loyalty and rapport when its best advocates, people, aren’t interacting with its customers?
It all starts with data and knowing how to interpret it
Brands can overcome the challenge presented by the lack of direct interaction with customers by monitoring real-time visitor behavior and making informed decisions that solve critical digital questions so they can improve business outcomes on every digital channel.
Website visitors leave behind a trail of every interaction, from their clicks to their mouse movements around the page. By collecting this rich data, you can build a picture of your customers’ experience Advanced experience analytics can be used to analyze this behavioral data to give insights into how your customers are interacting with your brand’s digital properties so that you can make the most of every digital interaction.
Customer experience is the new brand differentiator. Only those online businesses that overcome this challenge and deliver great digital experiences will build the loyalty needed to see real business results. As customers become more demanding and competition tougher, experience analytics can help brands stay ahead of the game and succeed.
Download Maximize Your Marketing: Eight Questions to Ask as You Introduce a Data Management Strategy and discover how you can use data to compile relevant audience data, how to segment and focus appropriate messaging, and how to use the right data at the right time to drive real results.
