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Much has been made of the changes in our society over the last couple of years. Some of that is due to the pandemic and some to the changing habits of the buying groups. Certainly, the Gen X, Y, and Z choose to interact very differently than the Boomers (myself included). The younger generations are inherently tied to the digital expanse and use it for virtually all their communications, social and otherwise. Add one more trait of the current customer base, the desire to conduct “business” any time, in any way they desire, and for business that means a digital-first, mobile-driven era has been rapidly thrust upon us.
“In the mobile-first economy, users are growing accustomed to a proactive approach to businesses: customers wait for news and deals to be delivered to their gadgets. It is more than that: to attract the user’s attention messages must be sent at exactly the right moment.
…in the competitive landscape, users expect real-time customer experience to satisfy their needs of ‘right here, right now no matter the hours…” (Pushwoosh.com)
It is no longer enough to have a telephone and answering machine. While the phone is still preferred by older customers the younger customers strongly prefer chat and text messaging. But, any good strategy includes them all and finds ways to reduce “friction” by reducing if not eliminating wait times by providing answers to common questions online.
Give voice to them by providing feedback mechanisms like follow-up surveys and social media rating opportunities. BUT, be sure you also have the means to monitor and respond to those responses in real-time.
The customer’s voice Once you’ve determined what sort of consumer you have, you’ll need to listen to their voice. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, including interviewing them, reviewing feedback and complaint forms, and my personal favorite, observing the products or service in action. As a result, one of the most important abilities is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and imagine what it’s like to be the recipient of your product or service. What are their frustrations, issues, and obstacles, and, of course, what makes them happy?
The Kano model is a useful tool in this situation. The Kano model, named after its creator professor Noriaki Kano, emeritus professor at Tokyo University, came up with a way of plotting three types of relationships between all the fulfillment and cusp satisfaction. The first category is called expected, and it is implicit and assumed. The second one is called the wanted, these are explicit the wanted are those things that are accustomed to values and are prepared to pay for. The third category is delighted these are those things that a customer didn’t realize they could get as part of the product or service.
Make sure your communications are consistent and timely by adding automation to your buying and fulfillment processes. This will eliminate internal friction and drag on your resources while appealing to the digital needs of your consumer.
Not unexpectedly, today’s purchase tendencies are significantly skewed toward the digital arena. Add to it the increasingly popular “contactless, click-and-collect” trend in shopping. In other words, internet shopping, which is currently exploding in popularity, is unquestionably on the increase.
As a consequence, the digital purchasing experience should be consistent throughout. Your website should be transparent about products and services, easy to browse (from the home page to “submit order”) and provide relevant fresh information on a regular basis through blog posts, feature articles, white papers, and other means.
Customers that prefer to make all of their purchases online will appreciate your website’s ease of use.
