The five steps companies need to take for great digital customer experiences
Adapting to the continuing digitisation of the economy, and of society in general, is arguably the most challenging transformation every business is currently facing. Digital tools and trends are invading the business environment faster than companies can react, provoking significant changes in the way we communicate, consume, work, buy and sell.
The scale and pace of the change brought by “digital” is matched only by the large-scale industrial revolutions that leveraged coal or electricity. By removing fundamental constraints under which manufacturing operated, it energised entire industries, leading to unprecedented increases in productivity and lower costs.
Digital media and application platforms are now driving a new revolution, creating richer dynamics between people and disrupting business. But while the electricity revolution empowered and enriched businesses rather than individuals, the digital revolution has the potential to empower everybody.
Pre-digital revolution, the function of companies was to produce, the function of media was to broadcast, and consumers consumed. Branded customer experiences had a beginning, middle, and end. The marketer’s goal was relatively simple: to guide consumers smoothly down the linear path to a purchase. What happened once the customer left the store was not all that important.
These days, things are hardly so straightforward. With a smartphone in every consumer’s pocket, disruption is an ever-present possibility. In addition, digital tools have broken the monopoly of the media, enabling everyone to become a publisher and in some sectors they have broken the hold of companies on their industries, such as taxis and hotels. Companies no longer control their own narrative nor do they control the provision of goods and services.
It is about reaching 10 people, who can help to reach out to 100 people, and then further extending that reach to 1,000 people
Brands must work hard to be heard over the cacophony of conversations about them on WeChat, Weibo, Tencent, Facebook, Twitter and user forums. These word-of-mouth platforms carry more weight with digital consumers than conventional advertising. Today’s omnichannel marketing universe requires brands to be fanatical about the consistency of their messaging across all relevant touchpoints.