Digitisation is changing the way we communicate, the way we cooperate and the way we consume. With digital innovation affecting almost every aspect of our lives, it’s no wonder that the world of customer experience has been massively affected by the ever-changing digital landscape in which we live. 

The opportunities that have become available to businesses as a direct result of digitisation are incredible. Today’s marketing professionals are better informed than ever before, with an endless array of intuitive apps and tools at their fingertips. And the results of these new ideas are now becoming clear where customer experience is concerned. 

Customer experience has been dramatically transformed by digitisation in recent years, and as more and more advanced digital technologies become available, the experiences that brands offer their consumers are changing too. Let’s take a closer look at some of the key ways in which digitisation has impacted customer experience recently.

Personalisation

Personalisation in marketing campaigns isn’t a new idea, but the ways in which brands are using it are. And it’s all down to data.

Marketing teams now have access to mind-boggling amounts of data, which can be used to inform strategies and tailor campaigns. Data can drive in-depth research into audiences, giving marketing professionals unprecedented levels of insight into who their buyers really are.

With the help of big data, marketing professionals can create incredibly detailed buyer personas, designed to ensure that the entire business fully understands who they’re selling to. The best personas include a range of motivating factors, which explain exactly what leads to a sale for different personality types.

This new understanding is having a real impact on customer experiences, as customers begin to recognise the fact that certain brands are speaking to them, addressing their concerns and showing a real appreciation for the issues that matter to them.

Personalisation is evident through the language brands use in social campaigns and the ways in which they market via email. Persona research can also be invaluable in helping brands to create specific offers and promotions designed to appeal to distinct groups of buyers, dramatically improving the ROI of promotional campaigns.

AI Chatbots

Customer service is an integral part of the overall customer experience, and it can really make or break a consumer’s opinion of a brand. Digitisation is now leading the way in developing faster and more effective customer support options, and the impact these services are having on the customer experience is monumental.

AI chatbots are a prime example of digitisation enhancing customer experience. The robotic, impersonal nature of the first chatbots was off-putting for some users, but today’s chatbots are more realistic and authentic than ever before.

Using the latest AI software, today’s chatbots can assist with a huge array of commonly asked questions from customers, resolving problems in record time. If chatbots are unable to answer a question, they seamlessly hand over to a human operator who can assist the customer. 

The end result is a speedy, efficient service which frees up time for busy customer support teams and enables customers to resolve their problems with minimal fuss. In terms of customer experience, it’s a winner.

Customer journey mapping

The more brands know about their customers, the better the experience they offer will be. A key field dedicated to improving brands’ understanding of their customers is customer journey mapping. And digitisation has made this possible.

Customer journey mapping enables brands to visualise their customers’ experiences, via a selection of typical journeys that customers might take before they reach the all-important purchasing decision. 

With the help of cutting edge tools like Smaply, Gliffy and Experience Fellow, brands can now map the entire route that customers take. This enables brands to detect any problematic points and make the required changes to facilitate smoother, easier and more user-friendly journeys. As a result, customers are seeing dramatic improvements in their experiences.

Microinteractions

Microinteractions is a term used to describe the miniature animations that sometimes appear as you browse a website, helping to inform you about a company, product or service in a subtle way. These tiny, whispering interactions are now having a real impact on customer experience, despite often going entirely unnoticed by consumers.

We all know how annoying those huge in-your-face pop-ups can be, and we don’t doubt that you’ve already had cause to abandon e-commerce sites as a direct result of these. But microinteractions are different.

These animations are designed to help users, and they can be really beneficial as part of the overall customer experience. Typical microinteractions include favourite buttons or sharing tools designed to link to users’ emails, social platforms or messaging services.

Microinteractions also provide valuable data which can be put to good use by marketing professionals, particularly during customer journey mapping research. 

Building trust and loyalty

Digitisation is often thought of in a negative way when we consider issues such as trust and loyalty, but with the right management, it doesn’t need to be.

With the advent of regulatory legislation such as GDPR, it’s now incredibly important that brands manage customers’ data responsibly, and are transparent about the ways in which they hold and use this information.

Data has the potential to dramatically improve the customer experience, but data leaks and the misuse of data can be unforgivable for consumers, turning what once was a good customer experience into a disastrous one. 

In order to make the best use of data and build trust and loyalty, brands must manage data responsibly and adequately protect users’ information. By doing so, brands can turn a dangerous potential pitfall into another opportunity to improve the customer experience.

 

Digitisation is rapidly transforming customer experiences in almost every sector, and this is a trend that shows no sign of slowing down. The latest innovations have the potential to create the best customer experiences we’ve ever seen, with intuitive tools and interactions designed to exceed expectations at every step.

Keep an eye out for more intelligent, informed ways of enhancing the customer experience over the course of 2020. Great things are just around the corner.

To learn more about how you can improve the customer experience via digitisation, talk to TAP London. As an expert in the Adobe Experience Cloud, TAP London helps brands organise data to provide meaningful insight and memorable customer experiences. Find out more at wearetaplondon.com.