In the fast-paced digital world, customer expectations are constantly rising faster than before. Because of this, consumers demand more seamless and personalized shopping experiences across all digital touchpoints. For companies, especially those in digital commerce, meeting these consumer expectations is not just a luxury but a basic necessity for survival and growth. The primary step to unlocking these customer expectations is to embrace digital transformation in digital commerce. However, you might still have many more doubts about what digital transformation does and how it can be implemented successfully into a digital commerce platform.
In this blog, we will explore the importance of digital transformation in digital commerce and provide real-world examples to illustrate its impact on digital commerce.
What is digital transformation?
Nike’s digital transformation story
The new digital customers
Adopting the evolving digital consumer: Key strategies
Meeting customer’s expectations in a changing world
Digital transformation strategies
Why do you need to know about customer expectations?
How to understand and improve customer expectations?
How can we meet customer expectations?
Key takeaways
What is digital transformation?
Digital transformation is the strategic use of digital assets and technological capabilities across various business departments to re-imagine the existing business models used to deliver value. At its core, digital transformation is all about replacing old operational business models or upgrading your entire system infrastructure with new technologies that are more agile and efficient. This approach even covers the cultural aspect of the organization. Senior-level people in a company must be open to learning new technologies to disrupt the current industry and embrace failure.
One such great example of a digital transformation journey is that of Nike.
Nike's digital transformation story
The digital transformation success story of Nike, one of the major American athletic footwear and apparel brands headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, United States, is a great inspiration for many companies looking to adopt digital transformation in digital commerce. After identifying the need to transform the consumer’s digital experience, the Nike brand started a holistic approach to embracing digital transformation to improve its direct-to-consumer digital strategy. To execute this, Nike had to implement some of the major steps below.
Started accepting digital platforms: Nike began to focus more on the multi-device environment of digital platforms across many e-shops and shopping applications to make online purchases smoother and more engaging at the buyer’s convenience.
Personalization and data analytics: Using big data and machine learning techniques, Nike began providing buyers with more personalized product recommendations and tailored messaging to deliver a seamless purchasing experience and improve that platform’s overall conversion rate.
New technology adoption: The Nike brand even started using advanced technologies, including augmented reality, using the Nike Fit application to help buyers accurately identify their shoe size before a purchase.
Omni-channel management: Nike’s customers were even allowed to order products online and collect them from the physical retail store counter, allowing them to combine traditional shopping with instant impulse buying.
Community engagement: Using digital media to create engaging content effectively, Nike started building a community of evangelists around its brand to build a loyal following.
Through this unique approach, Nike gained higher levels of digital sales, increased buyer interactions, and created a better brand image. With these steps, the Nike brand went on track to become one of the leading brands in the sportswear niche.
The new digital customers
The new digital customer is a new customer behaviour type conditioned by the development of new technologies and the transformation of consumers and their relations with brands as well as interaction with the product. Analysing the peculiarities and demands of this new digital customer is crucial for those companies who wish to be in the digital world.
The different type of characteristics of digital customers are as follows:
Tech-savvy: What characterizes the new digital customer is that he or she is fluent in technology. This category of users feels relaxed operating within different digital environments and interfaces and performing various activities they consider fluent. If asked what kind of interfaces they are familiar with, they will mention tablets, smartphones, apps, and online services. These employees are tech-savvy, which entails that they require effective, easy, and efficient digital interfaces.
Connected and informed: Today, digital customers are highly informed because of the results of the search and rapid availability of information via the web. Before making a purchasing decision, they search for products, gather information on the same products, look for reviews, and even bargain. It enables them to make better decisions and expects organizations to be more transparent on issues concerning them.
Demanding convenience: The virtual or new customer, the world is fast becoming more of a digital customer, and one priority is convenience. They anticipate quick delivery concerning operational features, including the speed at which websites open, the ease of check-outs, and response to queries. Another expectation is that shopping can be done anywhere and the ordered goods are delivered promptly.
Personalization seekers: Customers in the digital platform want products tailored to their needs and wants based on their behaviour. They appreciate recommendations of products/ services based on the previous buying pattern, personalized messaging & promotions that align with their preference. Organizations have to employ data and analytics to provide those targeted experiences in the most efficient way possible.
Socially engaged: In turn, social media has a crucial role in the life of the new digital customer. These products and services mainly engage customers through social media apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, to reach out to brands, explore their experiences, and look for recommendations or reviews from others. Hence, social media affects their buying behaviour and perception of different brands.
Value-driven: Thus, it has been discovered that the digital customer cares not only about the products and services offered by an organization but also about the ethical values it promotes. Young people like products, indicating that the companies that produce them are socially and environmentally conscious. Such companies can create a significantly better and more profound connection between the company and a buyer’s emotions.
Omni-channel shoppers: The new customer, especially a digital one, does not know the difference between the two channels. Consumers always want to have a proven experience in dealing with the company through internet sales, in-store purchases, and the customer service department. The following expectations must be met to do this: This can best be achieved through an integrated omni-channel strategy.
Adopting the evolving digital consumer: Key strategies
If you want to grow your e-commerce business, you must keep up with trending technology and customer preferences. You should also have effective strategies for interacting with and engaging your customers online. Companies can build strong relationships with their customers and succeed in the digital world by connecting and engaging online.
Let’s have a look at the key strategies needed to do that:
Improving digital interactions: Invest in developing user-dynamic digital platforms. Make sure that your website, application, and other online interfaces are easy to navigate and optimized for efficiency. Focus on streamlining the customer journey to boost satisfaction.
Developing data insights: Utilize data analytics to understand customer behaviour, preferences, and pain points. Implement tools and technologies that enable marketing campaigns and tailored product suggestions. Having an understanding of your customers allows you to cater to their needs efficiently.
Delivering seamless omni-channel solutions: Combine offline channels to provide a shopping experience. Maintain consistency in branding, messaging, and customer service across all touchpoints. Offer services like purchasing with in-store pickup (BOPIS) and hassle returns, through various channels to meet customer demands.
Social media: Engage with customers on social media. Monitor and reply to feedback, share content, and run interactive campaigns. Use social media to build a community around your brand and deepen customer relationships.
Convenience and speed: Make convenience a priority in everything you do. Simplify checkout processes, offer multiple payment options, and fast and reliable delivery. Consider one-click purchasing and subscription services for extra convenience.
Customer values: Share your brand values and show your commitment to social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics. Run initiatives that your customers care about and be transparent about what you’re doing and how you’re getting on.
The new customer is tech-savvy, informed, convenience-driven, personalized, socially engaged, value-driven, and omni-channel. To meet and beat them, businesses need to adapt their strategies to improve digital experiences, use data for personalization, offer omni-channel solutions, engage on social media, focus on convenience and speed, and align with customer values. By doing that, they can build strong relationships with their digital customers and win in the digital world.
Meeting customer’s expectations in a changing world
Meeting your customers’ expectations today is not just about delivering products and services. It is also about how you connect and interact with customers online. You’ll need a strategic approach and digital transformation to engage your customers online. These will help your business develop new ideas to meet customers’ changing needs and demands.
Here’s how you can do it effectively:
Every customer expects a customer-first mindset: Move to a customer-first mindset where every decision and strategy is based on understanding and fulfilling customer needs, wants, and behaviours. Use data to get deep into customer journeys, pain points, and satisfaction levels.
Personalisation: Personalise experiences across all touch points based on customer data and preferences. Product recommendations, marketing messages, and customer service interactions should be tailored to be relevant and engaging.
Omni-channel experience: Integrate online and offline channels to provide a seamless shopping experience. Allow customers to interact with your brand consistently across websites, mobile apps, social media, physical stores, and customer service channels.
Speed and convenience: Prioritise convenience by simplifying ordering, payment, and delivery. Fast and flexible shipping options, easy returns, and responsive customer service to meet customer expectations of efficiency.
Transparency and trust: Build trust by being transparent about pricing, policies, and product information. Encourage customer reviews and provide product descriptions to help customers make informed decisions.
Digital transformation strategies
By going digital, businesses can meet and beat customer expectations. By being customer-centric, personalizing experiences, providing omni-channel, speed and convenience, transparency and trust, upgrading digital foundations, AI and automation, data-driven decision-making, an agile culture, and continuous improvement, businesses will expand in the digital age and building long-term customer loyalty and advocacy.
Upgrade digital foundations: Invest in solid digital foundations, e-commerce platforms, CRM systems, and data analytics tools. Scalable, secure, and reliable to support growth and customer demands.
AI and automation: Exploit AI and automation to boost operational efficiency and customer service. AI chatbots for instant customer support, predictive analytics for inventory management, and personalized recommendations with machine learning algorithms.
Data-driven decision-making: Use data analytics to make informed decisions and optimize business processes. Monitor customer satisfaction, retention, and lifetime value KPIs to continuously improve.
Agile and adaptable culture: Create an agile and adaptable organization that loves change and innovation. Cross-functional collaboration, experimentation, and rapid iteration to respond to market shifts and customer feedback.
Continuous improvement: Iterate and improve digital strategies based on customer feedback, market trends, and competitive insights. Update technologies, refine personalization, and add new features to stay ahead of customer expectations.
Why do you need to know about customer expectations?
Understanding your customers’ needs, preferences, and wants is crucial for your business. Businesses that prioritize knowing their customers’ expectations from their brand can build strong relationships with them and sell more products. It can also help the brand keep customers coming back to their store. Here’s more to know why paying attention to what your customers are expecting from your brand:
Brand image: Meeting or beating customer expectations will change how customers see your brand and your reputation.
Drive sales: When customers have high expectations and those expectations are met, they will choose your products or services over others, and ultimately drive sales.
Boost loyalty: Exceeding customer expectations will create customer loyalty. Happy customers will come back for more and recommend your brand to others.
Competitive advantage: Businesses that consistently meet or beat customer expectations will stand out from the competition.
By going digital, businesses can meet and beat customer expectations. By being customer-centric, personalizing experiences, providing omni-channel, speed and convenience, transparency and trust, upgrading digital foundations, AI and automation, data-driven decision-making, an agile culture, and continuous improvement, businesses will expand in the digital age and build long-term customer loyalty and advocacy.
How to understand and improve customer expectations?
Understanding and improving the customer experience in the digital world is key to digital products and services. Here are several ways to do that:
1. Usability Testing
What is it: Usability testing is having customers test and rate a product, feature, or prototype by doing specific tasks while giving feedback.
How it works: Facilitators watch as customers navigate the website or app and ask them to verbalise their thoughts and feelings out loud.
How to use it: Get insight into user behaviour and pain points, find where users get stuck, and improve the user experience based on user feedback.
2. Reviews & Social Listening
What is it: Reviews and social listening is monitoring and analysing what customers are saying about your brand on social media and review sites.
How it works: Use tools to aggregate and analyse customer feedback, sentiments, and mentions about your brand, products, or industry.
How to see it: Understand customer satisfaction, find areas to improve, and manage brand perception by responding to feedback and addressing concerns quickly.
3. Session Recordings
What is it: Session recordings capture users’ activity on your website or app without them having to give feedback, so you can see how users behave.
How it works: Digital analytics tools record sessions, so you can replay and analyse how users move through your digital platform.
How to use it: Find trends, patterns, and user pain points, identify areas of the website that need improvement, and optimise user journeys.
4. Surveys
What is it: Surveys collect quantitative data from users to understand their preferences, behaviours, and satisfaction levels.
How it works: Send structured questionnaires to users via various channels to get feedback on specific parts of the user experience.
How to use it: Get detailed insights into customer preferences, pain points, and satisfaction levels to inform decision-making and hypothesis testing.
5. Heat Map Analysis
What is it: Heat maps show where users click, scroll, and spend time on your website or app, highlighting areas of high and low engagement.
How it works: Digital tools generate heat maps based on user activity, displaying data in colour gradients to show the intensity of user interaction.
How to use it: Design and layout your website by seeing what grabs attention, where users get stuck, and how to improve engagement and conversion rates.
By using these methods, you can get a full picture of customer behaviour, preferences, and pain points in the digital world. This will allow you to improve digital products continuously and services and, ultimately, the customer experience and business results.
How can we meet customer expectations?
How can we meet customer expectations
How can we understand and meet customer expectations?
To understand and meet digital client expectations effectively, you could comply with three key steps:
1. Listen and respond when your customer’s speak
Listening to your clients and directly addressing their feedback is essential for meeting their expectations. Here’s how you can acquire this:
Surveys and feedback: Use surveys to accumulate insights into one of a kind components of the patron revel in. Ask precise questions about usability, pleasure ranges, and regions for development.
Accessible communication: Provide a couple of channels for clients to reach out to you, along with electronic mail, chat, and contact. Ensure that touch statistics is without problems available on your website to limit purchaser frustration.
Effective issue resolution: Establish a scientific process to handle and amplify client troubles correctly. Promptly cope with and resolve complaints to save your patron dissatisfaction from spreading.
2. Regularly communicate with customer service
Your customer service representatives are at the frontline of consumer interactions and keep treasured insights into consumer expectations. Here’s how to leverage their input:
Feedback from frontline staff: Promote customer service reps to provide feedback on not unusual purchaser problems, pain points, and hints for development.
Cross-functional collaboration: Foster verbal exchange among customer support teams and other departments, including product improvement and advertising and marketing, to cope with purchaser worries holistically.
Improving efficiency: Address inefficiencies highlighted by customer service to streamline tactics and enhance standard patron delight.
3. Improve upon problem areas
Use consumer feedback and insights from customer support to pick out and deal with problem regions systematically:
Feedback loops: Create remarks loops to screen consumer satisfaction continuously and perceive habitual problems.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO): Strategically observe CRO techniques to enhance usability, reduce friction, and beautify the customer adventure.
Focus on customer experience: Prioritize enhancements within the most crucial areas that affect customer experience, aiming to supply seamless interactions and exceed customer expectations.
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Key takeaways
Understanding and meeting digital consumer expectations is essential to achievement in today’s competitive panorama. By actively being attentive to customer comments, leveraging insights from customer support interactions, and continuously enhancing hassle areas, businesses can enhance the overall customer experience. This technique not only boosts purchaser delight and loyalty, but additionally differentiates manufacturers from their competition.
Embracing a customer-centric, records-pushed strategy allows agencies to adapt to evolving purchaser options and behaviours. By laying a strong foundation of seamless interactions and proactive carriers, organizations can foster lengthy-term consumer relationships and power a sustainable boom in the digital age.
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