As we know, when it comes to purchasing products and services, today’s customer is no longer willing to sit back and accept anything even close to mediocrity. What used to be thought of as a simple purchase is now a Brand Experience. Consumers take their interactions with businesses seriously, with clear visions–and strong expectations–for customer service in the digital age.

Customers Expect to be All Connected, All the Time

New York has long been known as “the city that never sleeps” and for good reason. It boasts a subway system that runs ‘round the clock, seven days a week, and gave over one billion rides in 2022! In our current business landscape such 24-hour connection, while still customer driven, is no longer limited to physical location but is of equal importance to positive customer experiences.

Digital Transformation Defined

Digital transformation weaves digital technology throughout an entire business and changes how your customers interact with your business. Ideally, integrating digital technology results in offering your customer greater value by providing a consistent digital experience (DX) whenever and wherever it is needed. It contributes to a seamless experience, one which has a huge impact on levels of customer satisfaction and engagement by giving customers what they want, when they want it–quickly, consistently, and with the least possible effort.

Digital Experience (DX) Across Industries

By now the majority of businesses have been impacted by the digital revolution and the options for adding DX to one’s business keep on coming. Examples of adapting business models to the digital landscape include:

Banking/finance/mortgage:

With cloud computing, financial institutions can quickly and securely process, analyze and store large volumes of data

Healthcare:

Remote sensing devices are able to inform health care professionals about a patient’s health status without the need for an in-office visit

Automotive:

Advanced features such as “intelligent” sensors can do cloud analysis on vehicle performance data for possible failure sources then notify the driver, keeping them safer

Manufacturing:

Today’s “smart manufacturing” often includes digital twins, virtual models of physical products; using real-time process data and analytics, the twin can predict and prescribe what is needed to optimize the performance of the actual product

Professional services:

Customers are at the heart of every professional service organization and providing greater value and deepening relationships is key; automation tools can assure the right employees are assigned to projects, and aid in project tracking, resource optimization, budgeting and forecasting

Companies embracing digital transformation can create more value for their customers, higher levels of customer engagement, better customer feedback, and ultimately, a stronger position in the marketplace.

New Ways of Identifying What Your Customer Needs

With all the possibilities for digital transformation, filling your customers’ unmet needs is still the main goal. In a Harvard Business Review article, authors Jean-Louis Barsoux, Michael Wade and Cyril Bouquet share that for the best determination of customer issues and what they are seeking, diversifying where and how you look for this information can make all the difference. Their “Four Ways of Looking” framework includes:

WHERE: Mainstream users
HOW: Microscope and Panorama strategies
WHERE: Unconventional users
HOW: Telescope and Kaleidoscope strategies

You can gain useful information for both mainstream and unconventional user groups by focusing more closely on individuals (microscopic for mainstream and telescopic for unconventional) and stepping back for a big picture view of a group (panoramic for mainstream and kaleidoscopic for unconventional).

Close observation via dog collars helped Mars Petcare identify their customers’ unmet needs. The company acquired Whistle Labs, creators of a Fitbit-like smart collar for canines which helps an owner keep track of their pet’s activity and health levels as well as their location. Beyond sales revenue, Mars Petcare directly connects to these consumers via data they give the company permission to collect from the accompanying app. This data helps drive product innovation for specific age/size/breed groups and can even pick up behavioral issues that could indicate the need for a trip to the vet.

Human health is also being improved by digital means. Tryggvi Thorgeirsson, a doctor in Iceland, wasn’t happy seeing that many users of digital health programs drop out, despite having serious health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. It seemed rational that patients would be motivated enough to stick with the potentially life-saving programs, but as Thorgeirsson discovered, the apps just weren’t fun enough!

Enter CCP Games, which collaborated with him to create Sidekick Health, a digital platform offering remote sensing. With this machine learning feature, it is possible to know which patients find which exercises the most enjoyable, determine which conditions are best, then provide the patients with custom-tailored workout suggestions. Users of Sidekick Health have been shown in clinical trials to be three times more likely to reach their target weights than people who choose standard health coaching. They also stick with their programs 30% more than the standard group.

When the Customer is Happy, Everyone is Happy

With consumers at the wheel of the evolving customer experience, DX is no longer something that’s simply nice for a business to have. Post-pandemic, it has become an expected enhancement that provides the greatest value to your mobile device-using customer.

That said, regarding your business strategy the fundamental things still apply: Helping customers with billing and other issues via multiple digital channels: live chat, email, phone, and social media channels (also excellent for relationship-building and educating on your products or services). Making self-help options such as tutorials, user guides, and answers to FAQs easy to find on your company’s website or mobile app. This is especially important if you don’t offer 24/7 live support.

You’ve likely already been doing a variety of things to keep your customers happy. By adopting or adding to an existing digital model, you can do everything from increasing your business’s operational efficiencies to improving the quality of new products to introducing new streams of income, all while helping your customer service team keep up with rising customer expectations.

Even in this digital age, consumers appreciate personalized interaction. They want their favorite brands to remember their preferences and purchase history. In turn, loyal customers spend 60% more per purchase and buying 90% more often. So, offer them an excellent customer service experience in which they feel fully supported and always connected. A customer experience with digital and human interactions seamlessly coordinated, one that gets them what they want in the most efficient and enjoyable ways. Then, watch your customer retention and your reputation for world class customer service soar.

Register for Upcoming Webinar:

Six Reasons Your CX Plummets When Business Skyrockets

Rarely does a company go through rapid growth without having their customer and employee experience suffer significantly from:

✓ Compromised Hiring
✓ Fast-Tracking New Employee Training
✓ Employee Turnover Increasing Dramatically
✓ Customer Satisfaction and Customer Retention Dropping Significantly
✓ Systems not Buttoned-up and Scalable
✓ A Clashing of Cultures

If you’re currently -or in jeopardy of- experiencing any of these, register to join the webinar as John discusses how to avoid and fix the six biggest reasons your customer experience plummets when your company experiences fast growth.

*Register for the 2023 Customer Service Revolution Conference Oct 11-12

Andy Bailey Presenting at the Customer Service Revolution Conference

We are thrilled to announce that Andy Bailey is returning to present at this year’s Customer Service Revolution. As one of our most popular speakers, Andy Bailey can cut through organizational BS faster than a hot knife through butter, showing organizations the logjams thwarting their success and coaching them past the excuses we all use to avoid doing what needs to be done. He doesn’t ask for what’s easy, only what’s possible, and with his assistance the possible often expands to include the formerly impossible, as organizations learn that one step at a time gets you a long way when you step up to the challenge everyday.

The title of Andy’s presentation is Living a Boundless Life

Andy introduces participants to the Boundless Journal & Guide, and takes them through foundational exercises, such as, ‘Where does distraction come from? How do you maximize your focus to create additional productivity? And what is your current state Your Now?’ to set the stage to develop the skills they’ll need in creating their actionable personal Boundless plan. The audience will leave with their own Boundless Journal which they can use to follow the steps toward living a boundless life.

Episode 122 of the CSRev Podcast

The Enemy of Great Customer Experience is Inconsistency

Chief Revolution Officer John DiJulius of The DiJulius Group talks to Kevin Sloan, Executive Vice President of the Branch Network at KeyBank. Kevin has championed KeyBank’s widely success Client Experience transformation known as “Moments Matter”.

You will learn:

State of the Keybank Branch Experience prior to the “Moments Matter” project
What teams/departments was this being rolled out to
How did Kevin determine your steering committee and other attendees in the workshops
What was/are the hardest parts about a successful CX initiative that will have long term impact and sustainability
How did they measure the projects success internally
What results have you seen (morale, buy in, kpi results)

Customer Experience

BLOG

How Technology Innovates Customer Service In The Digital Age

Customers Expect to be All Connected, All the Time

Digital Transformation Defined