You’ve read the stats on the ROI of customer experience. You, like the majority of businesses, are aware that the digital experience (DX) you’re offering customers just isn’t enough. You know you need a new approach. So, what should you do?
Maybe you go all guns blazing. Engineer an active profile on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus (yeah, I said it) and pump out content all day long. Maybe you rewrite your website. Draw in all the personas who might like your offerings with unique, SEO-driven landing pages. Maybe you should write a thought leadership blog? An inspiring newsletter? Maybe you need a YouTube Channel or a Spotify radio station?
Woah cowboy. In today’s omnichannel world, it can be tempting to try to be all things to all people. While no one’s disputing that fresh content, engagement with customers and exploiting the Internet’s power is important, a targeted strategy is almost always more productive than a scattergun approach.
If you’re pumping out messages, emails, SEO driven pages and Tweets all day with no guiding star, don’t expect all of your energy to turn into sales.
Don’t Make Me Think
The last thing your customers want from DX is complexity and confusion. Despite the dizzying number of channels and options currently available, research shows time and again that simplicity is the key to a successful DX.
Uber's app is perhaps the example par excellence here. From the intuitive app, customers can hail a taxi from wherever they are, get a quote and watch the vehicle arrive a couple of minutes later. The buying experience is simple — you don’t need to think about paying the driver or telling them where you want to go — the app does everything for you. All this is achieved in just a few taps from the user’s smartphone.
Not every firm can be Uber, yet the importance of simplicity still stands. Siegel+Gale’s annual Simplicity Index survey asked 12,000 respondents in eight countries about their perceptions of how easy interactions were with different brands (across all channels). The results showed that, time and again, consumers value ease of use over anything else.
KISS Me
Keep It Simple, Stupid. If you’ve realized your brand needs to offer a new digital experience, simplicity wins out every time. Understand your market and provide clear, concise and consistent DX, whatever approach you take.
A couple of UX facts to bear in mind:
- As with most articles online, you’ll probably only read 50-60 percent of this post
- Less than 20 percent of content is read on the average webpage
- Concise, scannable and objective content results in improved usability
So, how does this translate into your new DX strategy?
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1. Know your audience, love your audience
Successful brands have a very clear idea of their customer personas and know that targeting all their messaging at individuals produces results. Worrying that you might alienate individuals who don’t fit into that target audience? Don’t. Existing customers will stay with you if they like what you do. If you’ve found a market for your services, be confident and stick with it.
2. Make it very easy to find out what you do
Ever spent a few minutes on a website scrolling through corporate speak trying to work out what exactly the company does? Don’t let visitors to your pages have that same experience. Make it very clear who you are, what you do and what people can get from your website (and where they can pay or find out more).
3. Make it easy to buy
It might seem obvious, but a lot of brands make the buying process a complex, lengthy event — think budget airlines which push you through numerous additional pages asking you to spend more. Obstacles like these cause the kind of friction that leads to customers quitting your site.
4. Select the channels you’re going to use, and get really good with them
Again, this is all about consistency. There really is no point in having a presence on five social media sites, a blog, various video websites and a ton of subsites if you don't keep things regularly maintained across all. Choose the channels which are most appropriate to reach your audience, and get really good at them.
Not convinced? At my own company, we recently implemented the above steps and our metrics are already showing increased engagement and page visits.
Make your DX simple, consistent and targeted and you’ll reap the rewards.
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