Are you creating human-first digital experiences?
Sep 9, 2021
Summary:
- Retailers are in the midst of a digital customer experience revolution, where the quality of online interactions is as critical as the products themselves.
- Customers expect intuitive, emotionally resonant digital journeys across devices, with features like live chat and loyalty programs that make them feel valued.
- Data-driven, hyper-personalized experiences help brands understand individual needs and reduce friction that can quickly lead to frustration.
- Real-time signals, anomaly detection, and session replay enable teams to identify design issues, prevent widespread user problems, and continuously improve digital products.
- A robust technology ecosystem, like the one used by brands such as Lululemon, Carhartt, and Neiman Marcus, is essential for managing complex customer journeys and delivering human-first digital experiences.
We are knee deep in a digital customer experience revolution. If the past 15 months have shown retailers anything, it’s the need to find every opportunity to be more human.
Salesforce Research surveyed 15,600 consumers and discovered that “80% of customers now consider the [digital] experience a company provides to be as important as its products and services.” A whopping 91% of consumers said they were more likely to return to a brand after a positive experience online, while 71% said “they’ve made a purchase decision based on experience quality.”
The bottom line for retailers? Delivering a standout digital experience is just as important as the products that they sell. Brands can no longer prioritize short-term fixes over permanent innovation.
Today’s shoppers are looking for intuitive, easy-to-use digital experiences across every channel, including desktop, tablet, and especially mobile. They make purchases from the comfort of their homes, directly from their smartphones.
But how should brands go about delivering standout, human-first digital-first experiences?
To create truly differentiated customer experiences, retailers will need to masterfully combine customer empathy, real-time signals, and a robust technology ecosystem.
Building meaningful digital experiences.
It only takes one small point of frustration for customers to feel ignored or left behind by your digital products.
In-person, brands create a delightful shopping experience through decor, music, and human interaction. Digital touch points should recreate those in-person experiences. Humans are emotional, and the user experience should tell a story as well as help shoppers develop strong, emotional connections to products and brands. Memorable moments evoke connection.
Retailers can create standout digital experiences by delivering visually striking products that are also intuitive, simple, and easy-to-use. Features such as a live chat window and loyalty programs help customers feel valued, even at the digital distance.
Taking a data-driven approach to building digital products helps brands deliver a hyper-personalized experience. When brands understand the unique needs of individuals, they can better tailor their products and services to meet their needs.
Investing in technology that helps retailers align around the customers.
Doug Collins, the UX and UI manager at Western Union, recently tweeted, “There are no user errors, only design errors.”
And we agree.
Today, retailers need to address technical errors and other problems before they impact large segments of users. This means relying on real-time signals from customers. Anomaly detection technology, for instance, can alert teams of sudden drops in conversion rate across the board, including shopping cart abandonment.
Once the team is aware of the problem, they can use technology such as session replay to step into the customer’s shoes. Session replay helps you understand how customers navigate through workflows, as well as pinpoint obstacles such as broken buttons, confusing copy, and clumsy designs.
Developing a robust technology ecosystem.
Since the pandemic struck, shoppers of all ages–from gen Z to boomers–have embraced online shopping. The digital customer journey has become more complex than ever before, with customers moving between desktop, tablets, and mobile devices.
With so many moving parts, retailers need more visibility into the customer experience and journey. This is why retailers like Lululemon, Carhartt, and Neiman Marcus are partnering with Quantum Metric, the platform for Continuous Product Design.
Interested in hearing more? Join us at LEAP into Retail.
Interested in learning more about how brands can create truly differentiated customer experience? On September 14, 2021, Quantum Metric will host LEAP into Retail, a one-day virtual conference focused on how retailers can build better experiences for online shoppers.
Shawn Tysco, Director of User Experience at Raymour & Flanigan, and Drew Forster, Director, Analytics, at Vistaprint, will join Quantum Metric for a panel on “Powering Human-first digital experiences.” They’ll touch on topics including:
- How to put the customer at the heart of the digital experience
- Anticipating customer struggle and knowing when to intervene
- Using data to truly hear customers and build genuine engagements in a post-COVID world