Feature
"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."
And think about how a runner on first base can disrupt the pitcher’s concentration from throwing a strike to a batter.
The result in both cases? Distraction from what you’re trying to accomplish.
Competitive analysis fits right into this category -- when developing digital strategy, creating new digital products and creating new web portals.
Look to Your Customers First
Gaining knowledge about your competitors is no doubt important. Understanding what works for them, what doesn’t work and what they are planning is vital, but not the whole story -- especially when competition comes from sources outside of your industry. With more frequent announcements about established companies going into “new” businesses, like Walmart going into banking, Apple going into healthcare, Amazon going into TV production and start-up ventures like Uber that create new business models, it's not enough to only look at what the competition does.
If you really want to focus on success, look first at your customers, not your competition. Maybe organizations take their knowledge of their customers for granted. Or they think they can't afford the investment in understanding their customers. Either way, competitive analysis appears to be higher up on the priority list than getting a deep insight into what customers really want. There's a fear that current business models prevent giving them what they want -- and that if we did, it would be too disruptive to the overall business.
But if your organization views digital channels and the digital experience as a way to transform how it does business, obtaining a deep understanding of the digital customer experience is a pre-requisite for enabling organizational digital transformation.
The Chief Listening Officer post offered an approach that focused on using market research, digital behavioral analysis, A/B and multivariate testing, and customer data to understand more about the customer and using the results to create new digital experiences and products. There also needs to be elements of feedback, dialogue and interaction between you and the customer, as illustrated below:
Learning Opportunities
Webinar
May
30
ChatGPT and the Future of Conversational AI
This discussion explores various aspects of AI implementation, ethical considerations, and challenges for your organization.
Webinar
May
31
The Evolution of Employee Listening - 2023 Trends & Best Practices
Learn proven effective methods and solutions to supporting an inspirational future of Employee Voice
Webinar
Jun
1
How organizations can design, build and run Generative AI into the Customer Experience
Discover how to drive enhanced CX through Generative AI
Webinar
Jun
6
The Future of Social Media: Emerging Trends and How to Stay Ahead of the Curve
The impact of emerging technologies like AI on social media
Webinar
Jun
7
The Building Blocks of Personalization
This webinar will explore how personalization can create powerful ecommerce shopping experience.
Webinar
Jun
13
The Future of Contact Centers with AI at the Helm
Learn how to balance human intuition and interaction with the potential uses of AI to create delightful and lasting CX
Webinar
May
30
ChatGPT and the Future of Conversational AI
This discussion explores various aspects of AI implementation, ethical considerations, and challenges for your organization.
Webinar
May
31
The Evolution of Employee Listening - 2023 Trends & Best Practices
Learn proven effective methods and solutions to supporting an inspirational future of Employee Voice
Unexpected Returns
Ilse Kristensen at the Danish Red Cross successfully executed this multi-disciplinary listening and learning approach. In preparation for a major site relaunch, Kristensen and her team reviewed site analytics, conducted interviews of all stakeholder groups, developed surveys and reviewed competitive sites and organizations to really understand what stakeholders wanted in a new site and digital communication experience. The results significantly different from what the Red Cross expected and what they were offering.
The beauty of this “listening” approach is that the data from Red Cross volunteers about what they wanted from the site, what they thought about the organization, what was important to them about being members of the organization, all fed into the new site design, information architecture and site applications. The personas that were developed from the visitor segment analysis figured prominently in determining site use cases, functionality and task identification.
The organization's leadership, who initially had very different ideas about how the site should be developed, were convinced by the depth of understanding the web team discovered about the volunteers. They agreed to go with the team’s design, content and navigation recommendations.
This initiative took longer than expected, but they were committed to to learning about their audience and building the site with their audience's interests and requirements as the central focus.
Thinking about how to use digital to transform your business? Start by asking your customers. They’ll give you the direction and wisdom to set you in the right direction. Focus on them -- not your competitors -- to stay ahead in the game.
Title image by phoca2004 (Flickr) via a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license
