The acceleration to digital is changing how brands deliver experiences to customers at every stage of the customer journey. Micro journeys along the broader customer journey are specific steps a customer takes from addressing a need to considering the need fulfilled. The digital acceleration we’re seeing today is driven by customer micro journeys that include new digital ways to interact with brands.
While digital drives simplicity and ease by eliminating complexity, brands have to weave digital experiences into the overall customer experience journey that includes multiple channels and human interaction. Leaders who have been able to interject digital into their customer journeys can significantly improve their customer experiences, cut costs and boost revenue.
3 Keys to delivering experiences with empathy:
1. Simplicity
2. Hyper-personalization (digital + human)
3. Time/Effort reduction for the customer
Simplicity
76% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand because it provides simpler experiences and communications*. Simplicity includes all facets of the experience from intuitive design, simple, guided journeys, and navigation simplicity. Weaving in and out of the four primary stages (Consider, Evaluate, Purchase, Use) in the journey through digital and physical channels is important for simplicity. Brands providing simplicity in the experiences they deliver seamlessly orchestrate digital and human interactions and to deliver quickly and easily. They also provide tangible value and are transparent about their cost/value tradeoff. Simplicity is a core principle for customer experience, however, it often takes a backseat to the company’s legacy systems and processes.
Hyper- Personalization
Personalization matters more than ever before. Over 7 in 10 consumers* expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. Leaders meet customers where they’re at and provide customization based on the context (digital or physical). Leaders providing personalized communications in the moments of truth along the customer journey will have significant impact. They are adept at utilizing customer data to recognize each customer as an individual and invest in automation across their systems to meet their preferences where they are at.
Time/ Effort reduction for the customer
As your customers interact with you across channels throughout their journey with your brand customer behaviors and data are often stored in a variety of systems that are not easily accessible or integrated across different systems. These are the aspects that drive customer effort and time as they need to repeat themselves, re-enter/ repeat inputs due to the lack of integration across legacy systems. Leaders who address these issues will see a big impact on their business. Over 90% of customers going through an effortless experience are likely to repurchase and the cost to serve a low effort experience is 37% lower vs. a high effort experience.*** Anticipating customer needs through ML and AI tools and balancing digital/human interaction based on customer need, will not only drive personalization but help the customer move through the journey with efficiency.
Customer expectations continue to evolve quickly. Digital is an enabler that can be leveraged for new ways of delivering experiences but needs to be integrated with a comprehensive view of the human-and-digital moments of truth to drive simple, personalized experiences that reduce effort for the customer. Focus and measurement on these aspects of the customer experience will elevate the brand and lead to strong business results.
Why it Matters
Let’s face it customers have more options today than ever and are quick to jump ship if an optimal experience is not met. The first step may be exploring the customer experience today and then optimizing how best to improve for the future – taking into account the key rules to delivering an exceptional experience.
*Siegel + Gale’s World’s Simplest Brand Study 2021
**McKinsey Next in Personalization 2021