“Beep beep! beep beep!” goes off the alarm following Google Assistant’s command. Alexa turns on the coffee machine and starts making a fresh brew. The smart water system turns itself on to offer a luxurious bathing experience. Next, an Uber arrives at the doorstep and drops one off at their destination.
A digitally-driven day looks quite similar to the above-given description. In fact, this is what it might already look like for a lot of tech-savvy individuals. Apart from the people who make the most out of these technologies, the brands that embrace digital transformation solutions and offer these facilities are ruling the market.
However, the 21st century is not just a digitally-driven one. It is also a customer-oriented one. When things are available to customers at fingertips and from the comforts of their home, they wouldn’t prefer to visit a brick and mortar store or surf too many websites to find what they’re looking for.
If you are a business owner of today, contemplate over the following questions:
Do you offer your customers with vivid and interactive experiences? Does your brand offer personalization of products and services? Do you feel like you are meeting the challenges of today’s customers?
If the answer to the above questions is “No”, you might want to approach a company that offers digital transformation consulting. Digital transformation experts would be able to provide you with significant insights and help you drive customer-focused experiences.
But before you do that, you need to know about the technologies and trends you need to master in 2019 and beyond. Here’s a sneak peek at them:
Create Interactive Customer Experiences
In order to offer a creative, cohesive, and interactive experience to customers, companies need to pull down the silos – which include technology and organizational data. Once that is done, you would be able to offer quick and responsive buying experience as per the expectations of your customers.
It is important to understand that customer journeys are dependent on several touchpoints. And the more you democratize and map these journeys, the better it becomes for you to promote your products and services. Integrate Chabot, make your website interactive, and use Artificial Intelligence to your advantage.
Find More Ways to Engage
A study conducted by the White House Office of Consumer Affairs found that 80% of U.S. customers do not mind paying more for a product or service if they get a superior customer experience. Now, there hasn’t been a better time in history to connect with customers than it is today. There are plentiful mediums to engage, right from mobile messages and emails to social media chat. But despite that, what is it that makes it difficult to understand what customers are looking for?
The best way to resolve this issue is to leverage the potential of digital resources and make use of them in a meaningful way. Mull over your business model and the ways in which you can serve your customers. Ask questions like “When do customers need my brand/product?” “For how many hours do I need to be available to them?” When you create a valuable experience for your buyers, and do so in a consistent way, and it is sure to help.
Think in Ecosystems
We already discussed that customers are spread across multiple touchpoints. Looking into the reality of how customers engage with brands, business owners need to start thinking about ecosystems rather than just looking into the sales funnels, processes, and checklists. You must also know that customers do not move in a systematized or linear manner. They move through an ecosystem which is a combination of offline and online or omnichannel experiences.
When you think of yourself as being a part of the customer ecosystem, you would be able to think about how your system can serve that ecosystem. By getting advice from the experts who offer digital transformation consulting, you can transform your systems digitally to reflect the consumer ecosystem and get better at meeting the requirement of the customers.
Personalize Customer Experiences
When it comes to delivering personalized experiences, marketers of today are making the most out of Artificial Intelligence. AI enables them to broadcast meaningful and emotionally powerful stories. These stories strengthen bonds between customers and brands, fostering life-long customer relationships.
eMarketer has predicted that by the year 2020, over 86% of digital display ads will be broadcasted programmatically. Which means, 9 out of 10 ads would be tailored to a specific viewer. Programmatic ad of Missing People is one of the biggest examples of programmatic ads. It creates location-specific appeals in the social media feed of its audience members’ raising the response rate from 50% to 70%.
Listen and Respond Actively
Last but not the least, make your customers feel that they’re being heard. The best way to do so is to keep active on social media and respond to customer feedback and inquisitiveness proactively. Negative and positive feedback help you to create better customer strategies and improve upon the aspects that you lack in. By rendering an exclusive and consistent experience to your customers, you would gain their trust and loyalty.
Digital Transformation Ensures Better Conversions
Customers are not settling for generic or bland experiences anymore. They want a chatbot that understands. An inanimate assistant that talks. And a shopping experience that is one-of-a-kind. Embracing customer-focused digital transformation solutions helps you to offer smart and personalized experiences to customers at every stage of their buying journey.
If you lack the technical know-how to do so, it is advisable to approach a firm that can help you create data-driven business models and strategize a smooth digital transformation for your business. At Gateway Digital, we re-think business models, modernize products, and help you create a customer-centric world with the help of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Internet of Things. Why not drop us an email on hello@thegatewaydigital.com and discuss how you wish to make your customers smile?
