In today’s digital age, digital transformation and customer experiences are often buzzwords that people confuse.
Digital transformation is how digital technologies work through mobile devices and use data analytics to broaden customer relationships. This differs from customer experiences where marketers and businesses work to enhance how customers and potential customers perceive a business.
Here’s information on how digital transformation and customer experiences (CXs) work and why digital transformation is necessary for better CXs.
Why Customer Experiences are Important
About 86% of customers will pay more if they can have a better experience with a business. Hence, businesses are constantly looking for ways to improve CXs for their customers. They want to build loyalty and brand equity. It’s one of the reasons so many businesses leverage their technologies and integrate their site with the latest messaging software and texting capabilities. They want you as a customer to enjoy your experience with them across multiple channels (voice, text, email, in-person).
Savvy businesses might also expand their contact centers to offer helpful customer service reps 24-hours a day. This is so the business can branch into new markets that might be in different time zones with locations all over the world. They might also include knowledge centers and self-help centers online so customers can find answers they need without waiting for live assistance. Customer experiences are about engagement on an emotional level where the customer builds confidence and trust in the brand and can reach them the way they want.
Why Use Digital Transformation
It’s estimated that businesses will spend a record $2 trillion by 2022 on technologies related to digital transformation. These organizations want to maximize what they offer customers to help meet demand. However, digital transformation isn’t the same as CX.
Organizations will invest money in new technologies given that we’re in a new digital age where everyone is on smartphones and mobile devices. These businesses want to redesign their architecture to help influence purchasing decisions. Businesses need to rethink how they appeal to customers, especially on a customer journey:
They have to focus on:
1. Product design and manufacturing
2. Displays, marketing and advertising
3. Logistics, shipping and support
The Evolving Consumer and All That Data
Businesses now have to focus on store location, placement of products and how the store ranks online. They also need to give careful attention to multi-channel shoppers (online and in-stores). Businesses also need to consider staff friendliness, conflict resolution and the use of color and images (for online ads and in-store displays).
All of this insight is data that’s gathered. It becomes part of the digital transformation that can help a business make more concrete decisions about how products will or won’t sell and what will drive customers to shop with them. Digital transformation is an important aspect of the customer experience.
Digital Transformation Helps Increase Customer Experiences
As more businesses look for ways to appeal to customers, they turn to digital transformation to maximize CXs. And, they won’t always get it right. About 70% of digital transformations fail. Hence, it’s important to test and use analytics when targeting customers and working to meet demand. From the ads they run and landing page layouts to contact centers and unified messaging, these are all ways to improve customer experiences and meet demand.