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How to Improve the Digital Customer Experience

November 8th, 2019 (Updated 06/20/2023) | 5 min. read

By Duncan Hendy

Improve Customer Experience Online

Customer experience is defined by each interaction that a customer has with a business or a brand. Whether it be ordering a pizza through an app, or daily use of cloud-based software on a subscription model, these interactions are what shape a customer’s opinion of your business and influence every additional decision they will have regarding you. Once, customer experience was the result of facetoface interactions with humans. Now, in our complex digital world, customers are interacting with brands in ways neverbeforeimagined and the importance of customer experience becomes increasingly prevalent. 

Businesses must go above and beyond merely providing good service and seek to improve each interaction on a much deeper level. In a world where customers faced with 10second loading times for websites are 50% more likely to leave the page and seek information elsewhere, you simply cannot afford to fall behind when it comes to digital transformation customer journeys. 

In this article, we will cover some of the ways businesses and brands are improving their customer experience management and setting an example for not only their industry but business as a whole. 

Don’t Make Your Customers Chase Your Product 

More and more, we are finding businesses in an arms race, except they’re racing to have the fastest service and to give the customer what they need quicker than any competitor. This is not without motive, not only are customers comparing your business’s customer experience journey with all others within your industry, but they are also looking at the processes of all other businesses in general. After all, if a customer tries to purchase a new computer through a website and finds it seamless and easy to navigate, making their purchase simple and easy, why should they not expect the same experience when booking a holiday through an agency’s clunky outdated app. 

There are many different ways in which you can make your customers experience faster, more efficient and more pleasant such as reducing load times, simplifying navigation and offering multiple options whenever possible for things such as payment and shipping. In addition to this, when looking at the digital transformation customer journey, survey your customer base and seek feedback and guidance as to what would make things better for your customers. This way, not only can you make beneficial changes, but have concrete evidence straight from the horse’s mouth if an explanation is needed for board approval and budgetary reasons. 

The easier it is for your customers to buy from you, the more they will. 

Optimize Your Internal Systems 

It’s not just the customerfacing elements that are important when it comes to customer experience. Digital transformation customer service takes into account your internal systems and their efficiency or lack thereof. As important as it is for a customer to be able to access the information, products and services that they seek, it’s equally important that your internal systems are able to keep up with your workflow and meet the requirements of your customers. One example of this is mortgage processing, where challenger banks can make nearimmediate decisions due to their complex internal systems that can check an application and allow employees to approve in next to no time. Even after the initial acceptance, mortgages can face delays due to poor internal processes and lack of efficient and established software. Each delay will bring the customer one step closer to either choosing one of your competitors or wishing that they had. 

Internal processes can be revitalized in a similar way to your customerfacing systems. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses and pain points of your employees, you can get an overview of the ways in which they can be improved. A business that can, for example, reduce a decision-making process from three days to one day utilizing efficient internal software and processes will have taken a significant leap ahead of their competitors or, at the very least, caught up to the industry standard. 

See the Importance of Data 

Following on from what I mentioned earlier about using feedback and input from your customers, it is worth noting the sheer value of customer data in improving customer experiences. Whether your business is B2B or B2C, your customers will have feedback and that feedback, if collected and read correctly, can function as a roadmap for your digital transformation. Customers will be keen to bring up any issues that they have just as much as they will be willing to praise efficient processes and things about your business or brand that they found beneficial. 

If you are not already collecting data that your customers provide you with, ensure that you do before beginning the process of digital transformation. 

Analyze Continuously 

Even once your current systems are upgraded to peak efficiency, even after you’ve developed an app that allows your customers to make purchases on the go in an aesthetically pleasing way, digital transformation customer service doesn’t end. The very essence of digital transformation is that it continues on throughout your business’s life. As customers and trends change so will your needs for digital systems and effective processes. Even if your business was to become the industry leader, at the same time, it also becomes the standard to reach and all others within the industry will strive to overtake you. As such, it is important not only for your business but for the customers that experience it to keep innovating, keep analyzing and searching for weaknesses. 

Duncan Hendy

Pricefx

Duncan Hendy is a content marketing expert with over 20 years of experience in B2B and B2C marketing, from Interactive TV to SaaS solutions. When not working, Duncan composes classical music and is also the author of several books. He is a huge fan of craft beer and anything spicy.