What is your competition up to now?

Last week we began taking a look at how large global companies are affecting the market for all industries and all segments and how this changes the competitive landscape for all businesses - regardless of size and product mix.  To get caught up, you can find that post here.

So, what does your digital customer experience need to be - just to meet the market’s minimal requirements?

The answer to this question isn’t as difficult as it may appear. Our competition is all around us, all the time. And, because of that, like it or not, the following has become a standard set of requirements for businesses as I write this in 2024:

• Giving your customers the control they want, the way they want it. That is different for everyone, so the market standard is to default to all of the following:

  • 24/7 access to your products or services. This doesn’t mean that if you are a physician, you need to provide 24-hour care, but you do need to make it easy to book an appointment with you at anytime of day or night - no one wants to wait to transact. And, in today’s digital marketplace, they don’t have to.

  • Enabling your customers to find what they want quickly. This must be offered in multiple formats - search, filters, favorites, AI, etc. If you don’t make it easy for your customers to find what they want AND the information/details about that product or service - they will move on to someone that will make it easy.

  • Curating the offers that they may want based on what you know about them or what you know they will need - based on what they are doing on your site. If they are buying a part from you, as the expert on your parts, you know what else they will likely need - offer it to them proactively. Don’t wait for them to find it themselves.

  • Related to the previous item, coach them on what they may not know they need. Again, this is where being the expert makes a big difference and can show up as helpful. Whereas the previous item is helping them find what they probably already know they need, this is pointing them in the direction of what you know they need, but they don’t.

  • Make the process easy to repeat using automation and artificial intelligence - are there schedules that they likely will need to re-order what they are buying? Nowadays, this shows up as subscriptions, but depending on your products and the other things you know about your customers, it could be time-based or usage-based needs. Offer them simplified future transactions by automating.

  • Side note:  I recently re-read an HBR article from 2019 that mentioned most of these as optional - in five short years, they have become standard features.

• Craft simple interfaces that work quickly and guide customers easily to find what they need - aesthetics matter - our biology is triggered by aesthetics even when we aren’t paying attention to them - it is unavoidable and it matters.

• Take care of them - where are they in the process - orient them to the whole of what they are doing…it reduces the frustration of not knowing where they are in the transaction and how much longer this transaction will take.

  • Nothing is more frustrating than being disoriented when you are transacting on-line.

  • Be the expert of the transaction you are facilitating and guide them appropriately. What do they need to know at this point? What would be useful to them in the future? How is this service used (by them) and what makes it a better experience? Offer that too.

If you aren’t incorporating some or all of the above in your customer’s digital experience, you aren’t really competing for their business. If you aren’t competing, you are losing - by definition. And, there are plenty of other options for what you do in the marketplace.

If this describes your approach to digital transformation and customer experience, be ready to replace some of your customers - 60% will leave you without complaining…don’t let this happen to you.

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