Customer Experience

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Understanding Digital Customer Experience and Its Impact on Your Growing Business

Digital customer experience - online shopping

Creating a business website alone isn’t enough to ensure a positive <a href="https://www.podium.com/article/customer-experience-strategy/">digital experience for your customers</a>. Growing businesses also need to consider their customers and what their social media platforms offer as far as experience goes. 
The better you understand your digital customer experience (CX), the better you can tailor your site and social media platforms to provide the best opportunities for engagement. Helping your clients enjoy the customer journey is just one of the touchpoints of building a better customer experience. 
Keep reading to get a better idea of what digital customer experience is and how to get it to bring leads in for you.
<h2 class="p1">What is the Digital Customer Experience?</h2>
The digital customer experience refers to the total interactions that occur online between a brand and its customers. This includes your social media accounts, apps, websites, blogs, and review sites. Digital customer experience also refers to how your audience interacts or engages with your brand through the various digital channels you use.
Research shows that <a href="https://blog.softtek.com/en/omnichannel-strategies-help-retain-89-of-customers">89%</a> of customer retention comes from customer engagement across multiple online channels. This means your clients like to see a cohesive representation. This is in comparison to a 33% retention rate for businesses with weaker online marketing strategies. 
Your customers’ digital experience needs to encompass multiple channels to be truly effective. Maintaining the same messaging and aesthetics on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms goes a long way in building your brand. Such strategies show your audience that you are committed to providing a consistent experience.
Other research shows that nearly three-quarters of customers want their business to use current technology to give them a better experience. Customers respect when a business undergoes a digital transformation and makes better use of their online channels. Clients also have an expectation that you take full advantage of the new and innovative technology as it becomes available. Working these aspects together seamlessly will make a difference in what your company can accomplish. 
A good customer experience strategy will help your business to optimize your time spent building these channels out to grow your company. By working with a quality management service like Podium, you will be able to map out how users are going to respond to your online channels and build a strategy around this. 
<h2 class="p1">Digital Customer Experience vs. Customer Experience: What&#8217;s the Difference?</h2>
The digital customer experience is closely related to the offline <a href="https://www.podium.com/guides/modern-customer-experience/">customer experience</a>. This is because the digital experience is just the customer’s experience with the company online. Are you responsive to messages sent to you? Do you respond to both the good and bad reviews in a professional manner? These are important factors online and offline. 
The same principles of good business apply here as well.  Build trust with your customers through consistent interactions. Resolve customer issues with urgency and empathize with their concerns.
Remember, the digital experience needs to be an extension of the customer interactions at your store. You wouldn’t leave them hanging for a day or two to get an answer in real life, so do the same when interacting with customers online. Be professional online and offline and your brand will do better for it. 
<h2 class="p1">Digital Customer Experience Trends &amp; Examples</h2>
Before getting started with designing your website and social media platforms, you should take some time to learn about trending technology and practices in digital experience management. Getting an idea of what is popular and what other brands are doing will give you some direction on which features to implement in your business.
Some of the trends you should know about include but aren’t limited to the following:
<ul class="ul1">
<li class="li1">Improved AI</li>
<li>Emphasis on User Privacy and Data Security</li>
<li>Focus on Personalized Customer Experience</li>
<li>Encouraged Self-Service</li>
</ul>
We&#8217;ll explore each of these points below.
Improved AI
Automating business tasks and adding personalization to customer experiences are some of the most important of artificial intelligence for marketing. AI is often used for emails to make them more personalized for each customer segment. AI pulls customer data from the CRM and creates email messaging using these details. This makes the email look and feel like it was tailored to each client’s needs. 
For instance, you can use AI to design an email around pet birthdays for pet grooming clients or send an automatic request for a review of services rendered. And with more improvements to artificial intelligence, you will see new uses for it in marketing and CRM. It is one of the best tools you can utilize with your business. 
Emphasis on User Privacy and Data Security
With technology’s growing ability to collect and exploit customer data, you need to keep customer data private and secure. You need excellent online security to protect your client’s data. This is an important service, so you need to hire the right company to help you. 
A professional cybersecurity company is able to set up firewalls, two-factor authentication, data encryption strategies, and other security measures. These measures can help ensure that your clients’ data is always safe. 
It’s also important that you set up and complete security audits regularly. In this way, you can identify and strengthen weak spots in your company’s security measures.
Focus on Personalized Customer Experience
According to studies, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/02/18/50-stats-showing-the-power-of-personalization/?sh=48e53a172a94">80% of consumers</a> prefer to buy from brands that offer a more personalized experience. Use the customer details that you have in the CRM system to create a better online experience. You can do this by using details such as birthdays, interests, and recent product searches to personalize your communication with your customers. 
Keep the customer experience personalized and you will have a better chance of retaining them for longer.
Encouraged Self-Service
Nowadays, more companies are finding ways to help customers find solutions for their issues. Some ways we see AI in this is through the use of chatbots. Chatbots can be programmed with the solutions to common customer problems, so customers can easily get the answers to their questions.
Another advantage of using AI-powered chatbots is that these chatbots are available 24/7. This means customers can always get solutions for their problems whenever they&#8217;re in need of assistance. Of course, this also helps you save time and money on keeping customer reps on staff. 
Whether it’s automated emails or encouraging self-service, AI can help you improve the digital customer experience. It’s also a good idea to look toward successful companies to see what they are doing to improve their digital customer service. Here are a few examples you should consider:
<h3>1. Starbucks</h3>
The Starbucks app allows customers to order online and get rewards and is aligned with what customers expect when going to a Starbucks coffee shop. Providing mobile apps that work cohesively with your brand is a wonderful way to increase customer interactions. It allows your customers the freedom of placing and picking up orders without having a long wait in the pickup line. 
Customers also appreciate that they can build out profiles and personalize their accounts to easily access their favorites and payments. 
<h3>2. Apple</h3>
Apple shows what seamless digital customer experiences can look like. Apple uses iCloud so iOS users can easily access their data, such as photos, messages, and contacts. Users can enjoy this access across all Apple devices. 
With this kind of setup, it is easy to get customer feedback and use it to tweak your digital experience marketing strategies to provide more customer satisfaction. 
<h3>3. Warby Parker</h3>
At Warby Parker’s, you can get prescription sunglasses, contact lenses, and eyewear for a low cost. As part of the company’s digital customer experience, you can try the glasses on virtually through their WP app. You can buy these from the comfort of your home with AR technology or augmented reality. It is customer-centric in that you have the opportunity to see how a pair of glasses will fit you before making a purchase. 
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-26306" src="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-1024x597.png" alt="" width="640" height="373" srcset="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-1024x597.png 1024w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-300x175.png 300w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-768x448.png 768w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-600x350.png 600w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-360x210.png 360w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-160x93.png 160w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-350x204.png 350w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-100x58.png 100w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience-588x343.png 588w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/woman-texting-a-small-business-digital-experience.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" />
<h2 class="p1">Master Digital Customer Experience: 6 Strategies, Tools &amp; Best Practices</h2>
There are several strategies you can use to improve your digital customer experience and grow your brand. Many of these align with the services that Podium offers. Consider the following digital customer experience strategies.
<h3>1. Implement a Webchat Solution</h3>
Make your website a conversation starter by implementing a webchat solution or a chatbot for faster customer service. With frequently asked questions or simple fixes, chatbots are quickly becoming the first contact clients have with a brand. 
Chatbots help customer service reps save time and effort because simple questions get answered quickly. More complex problems can be escalated to human agents when needed. In this way, customer service teams can focus their time on fixing serious problems and your business covers all the bases. 
Though AI is not yet able to replicate empathy, its increasing acceptance means there will be more of them in the upcoming years. This is good news for businesses as it means customers are getting comfortable getting their answers to simple questions through AI. 
Looking for something a little more personalized? Consider <a href="https://www.podium.com/webchat/">Podium&#8217;s Webchat tool</a>, which makes it easy for customers to get in contact with your team from your website—via text.
<h3>2. Incorporate Omnichannel Communication and CX</h3>
With an omnichannel customer experience, you can <a href="https://www.podium.com/guides/modern-customer-communication/">communicate with customers</a> on more channels, which improves customer satisfaction. With this type of communication, your clients can also use the social media platform they are most comfortable with. They won’t have to communicate with you through an interface they are uncomfortable with. This will help keep the lines of communication open and help grow your brand. 
While you may be using multichannel marketing, omnichannel communication can be a bit different and offers a better customer experience. With multichannel communication, there is no data syncing between the different channels a business use. This may cause a disconnect in your customer communication strategies. 
With omnichannel communication, the data is synced across the channels, providing a uniform experience to your client. Studies have shown this can help build your client’s trust and, therefore, grow your brand. 
Another bonus is that your business will be able to communicate more efficiently and cost-effectively. When it comes to social media chat, for example, you have an effectively free form of communication at your fingertips. 
<h3>3. Show Users Why People Love Your Brand</h3>
Make sure to collect reviews and have them clearly displayed on your website’s homepage so your customers don’t have to search them out. Making sure you have all your great reviews and testimonials prominently displayed on your website will go a long way to growing your brand and gaining more customers. <a href="https://www.podium.com/reviews/">More reviews mean more business for you</a> so make sure to ask satisfied customers to leave a review for your business.
You can also have these positive reviews and testimonials displayed on their own page on your website. Make sure to promote this as a landing page so it gets traffic from potential customers.  
<h3>4. Be Ready to Test and Redesign</h3>
User testing is just one way you can get a better idea of what your customers enjoy about the digital experience your business provides. With this strategy, you can recruit a small group of target users to test specific products or website features and then provide their feedback on the experiences they had. When you test this way, you can redesign your site or product and release it to the rest of your clients with a smoother transition. 
There are several different kinds of tests you can perform, but the most common is usability testing. These tests assess your website’s ease of use and navigation. They are easy to perform and usually require participants to do something simple. They are evaluated by their ability to complete the task. The results should give you an idea of your website’s usability. 
<h3>5. Be Transparent and Give All the Information to Your Clients</h3>
Don’t keep secrets from your customers. Keeping your processes transparent helps build trust. It will also create a more authentic and memorable digital customer experience. Giving total transparency will give your customers the confidence that you have nothing to hide.
Be honest about delivery dates, service availability, and shipping costs. Keep all fees and pricing transparent as well. Display customer reviews on the front page and don’t force your customers to search for them. The longer customers have to search for your reviews, the more frustrated they will be, and it may not matter if they are all good reviews or not. 
Another form of transparency is to share a behind-the-scenes look at what your company does, whether it’s how you groom a dog or how you snake a drain. Keep your brand relatable with how-it’s-made clips and similar content. Letting loyal clients in on your secrets will encourage new clients to try your brand. 
You can let your customers know how you’re using their information, and they will feel they can trust you more.
<h3>6. Make Users Feel Safe About Their Personal Information</h3>
Just one data breach can cause an issue. A good digital strategy with the help of professional cybersecurity services and tools can go a long way in protecting customer data. Do not cut corners on protecting your customer’s data, including the methods of how you collect the information. Make sure to ask for consent before collecting data and let your clients know what you plan to do with it.
Podium&#8217;s suite of tools will help you improve your digital customer service and communicate with your customers on their <a href="https://www.podium.com/article/cx-guide-customer-texting/">preferred channel—text</a>. As your reputation grows, customers will be driven to your brand.
Ready to grow? <a href="https://www.podium.com/free-trial/">Start a free trial</a> of Podium today to see what our suite of tools can do for your business.