By: Abhilasha Khanna, Senior Manager Digital Channels, Etisalat

“In today’s day and age, a marketer’s mission has flipped from a traditional approach to a more digital first approach. The modern customer is like a digital kangaroo hopping from one cart to another & becoming increasingly selective about who receives their fleeting attention and share of wallet. This makes it crucial for brands to create a frictionless experience throughout their purchase journey & focus on journeys that are effective, efficient and outcome based. To accomplish a seamless digital experience, we must follow the below strategies: –

  1. Be customer centric
  • Building a successful digital customer experience strategy requires ensuring all initiatives related to a company’s websites, mobile apps, and other digital experiences are customer centric. This involves analyzing every interaction of the customer with the product to understand their needs expectations, behavior, and pain points.  Conduct user research, gather feedback & continuously optimize the customer journey based on data driven insights. 
  • Use customer experience metrics — Net promoter score (NPS®) and digital experience Score (DXS®) should be used  to validate whether your digital efforts are having the desired impact in increasing customer satisfaction, loyalty, engagement and, most importantly, revenue.

2. Be Future-minded with trends

  • The digital world is changing fast. So, your strategy needs to adapt, too. As technology advances, new trends will continue to emerge and influence customer perception. Some e-commerce trends to look out for in the telecom industry would be 5G Technology to enhance the digital shopping experience.
  •  Emerging technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality) & VR (Virtual Reality) are not far behind & will help create an immersive shopping experiences & provide customers with interactive and engaging ways to explore and purchase products. 
  • IOT (Internet of Things) offers brands opportunities to connect various devices such as smart home appliances or wearables to ecommerce platforms. 
  • Focus on voice commerce and social commerce and leverage influencers or user generated content to drive sales.
  •  By staying abreast of emerging trends brands in telecom industry can position themselves as future minded leaders in digital e-commerce.

3. Have an omnichannel approach

  • Omni-channel CX makes sure that all channels are speaking to each other & you’re creating a consistent experience for your customers. With such an array of touchpoints, it can be challenging for brands to decipher exactly what their customers wants in a digital experience. An omnichannel approach puts every piece of the puzzle together, with continuous data collection at the helm of decision making.

4. Personalization and Customization

  • Personalization means delivering the right message, product, or offer to the right customer at the right time and place. By leveraging customer purchase history, businesses must craft customized buying journeys that cater to the unique needs of buyer personas through recommendations, targeted marketing campaigns, personalized products and services, and a user-centric approach. Personalization creates a sense of relevance, increase engagement, and enhances the overall experience.

5. Streamlined User Experience

  • Applications and web development trends have all leaned towards reducing a user’s interaction as low as possible. Focus on simplicity intuitive navigation and user-friendly interfaces. Minimize steps and friction in the customer journey, making it easier for user to complete the desired actions. Invest in responsive design, fast loading times and mobile optimization for a seamless experience across all devices.

6. Be clear and transparent 

  • Providing detailed product information including price, promotions, delivery and return options, as well as any hidden or extra costs like shipping and taxes before the checkout process will help avoid any element of surprise and build more affinity towards a brand.

7. Automation and AI integration 

  • Leveraging automation tools like artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline processes, reduce manual effort and deliver faster more efficient digital journeys. AI powered chatbots and virtual assistants help provide instant support while automated workflows can handle routine tasks enabling brands to scale their operations effectively.

8. Data-driven Decision Making

  • To gain insights, a digital experience relies on various tools like customer surveys, heat maps, A/B Testing, google trends, GA4, SEO, speech analytics, social listening, and your very own CRM that hold all your most valuable first party data. It’s important to note that analytics is not a one-time task. Brands must constantly analyze customer behavior, conversion rates and other metrics to identify bottlenecks, optimize processes and make data driven decisions that lead to desired outcomes. 
  • Customer data aids in enhancing product functionality, curating personalized experiences, forecasting future sales performance, pricing strategies, predicting churn, and creating targeted campaigns. Moreover, customer insights not only help businesses understand their customers better but also help in realizing if competitors’ products are doing well, helping determine what kind of marketing strategy works. 

9. Continuous Improvement 

  • Embrace a culture of continuous improvement by collecting customer feedback, monitoring performance, and iterating on the digital journey. Regularly test and refine your digital touchpoints and identify areas of improvement and deliver an increasingly seamless and effective experience.

By adopting these strategies, brands can create digital journeys that not only meet customer expectations but also drive desired outcomes, such as increased conversions, consumer loyalty and business growth.

In the end One Simple Conclusion—Seamless Digital Experience Matters! The research shows it, tangible business effects prove it, and more importantly, the customer expects it—well actually ‘demands’ is a better word.