A great customer experience starts with meeting your customers where they are, and these days, that means online.
Customer support frequently involves digital channels like online chat, social media, advanced chatbots, and self-service portals. Organizations that can keep up with consumers and digitize the customer experience (CX) will build stronger relationships, drive loyalty, and stay ahead of the competition.
Those that lack a thoughtful strategy and fall behind on their digital transformation, however, risk losing customers to their competitors.
What Does Digitizing Your Customer Experience Mean?
A digital customer experience (DCX) includes every interaction your customers can have with your brand online, whether they seek out engagement through support or you push promotions to them with marketing.
A strong DCX strategy includes all aspects of interacting with a brand or organization online, such as:
- The company’s website
- Online chat, both with agents and chatbots
- Social media
- Email and SMS marketing
The DCX is part of the overall CX, which includes all interactions (such as in-store purchases and calling contact centers). DCX is focused entirely on virtual touchpoints.
Your CX strategy should be designed with more than just quantitative factors in mind. Qualitative CX measures include ease of use, responsiveness, and the value of the information provided.
Additionally, the DCX should be seamless and consistent — whether a customer contacts your organization via email, chat, or social media, they should get the same quality experience.
For instance, imagine you’re a customer trying to contact your bank about a transaction you don’t recognize. Calling their customer support line would be part of the traditional contact center experience.
The DCX, on the other hand, would include going to the website to find information about this charge, reaching out to the bank through their “contact us” form, communicating with customer service via email or web chat, and even interacting on social media if you tag them in a post.
Related: Digital Customer Service: Benefits and Pointers for Business Success
Practical Examples of Digitizing the Customer Experience
The DCX can take several forms. What follows are some examples of how to create a great DCX:
Unified service channels
One key step to providing a great DCX is to unify all service channels so they offer the same levels of support and information. This means embedding DCX tools throughout the customer journey, including everything from marketing and sales to support and the help desk.
Providing the same levels of support across all digital service channels helps ensure that your support team can connect with customers on the channels they’re most comfortable with, without compromising quality. Consistent, platform-agnostic support goes a long way to ensuring a universally positive DCX.
Personalized experiences
Each customer has a unique journey, challenges, and needs. As such, CX management includes tailoring the CX to each individual.
In the past, this was an impossible challenge — how could any organization expect to adjust everything for each of their customers? However, with the customer data and AI-powered customer service tools available today, it’s a far more attainable goal.
Every step of the customer journey provides information. Organizations can use AI and machine learning tools to leverage that data, provide actionable insights to support agents or sales reps, and present personalized suggestions, creating a DCX tailored to each customer.
Streamlined agent workflows
What’s good for the agent is good for the customer, and making agents more efficient creates a better experience for everyone. Organizations can improve agent productivity by automating tasks and providing efficient self-service options.
Customer service automation tools improve efficiency by handling repetitive, time-consuming tasks, such as logging customer information, that agents would normally have to do by hand. This frees up the agents for more important tasks and gives them more time to better support customers.
On the customer end, self-service options are a key part of the DCX. Customers want to resolve their issues quickly, and if they can find the answers online or through a self-service portal, that’s even better.
Self-service tools can help customers with troubleshooting basic problems, finding information, and managing their accounts without needing to speak with an agent. This gives agents more time to help other customers, and customers can resolve their issues quickly.
Real-time customer insights
Digital customer interactions are overflowing with data that can provide an amazing experience. The tricky part is gathering that data and using it effectively.
With the right tools, organizations can gain insights about their customers in real time and use that information to provide better service. This data can also be used for future interactions, creating a more customized experience.
Why Is a Digital Customer Experience Non-Negotiable?
Many decision-makers overlook the nuances of DCX and fail to factor it in when formulating their CX strategy. That, however, is a major oversight, as it ignores the opportunities for growth, insights, and value that a good digital experience can bring. So why is the DCX so important?
Customers are already there
Instead of bringing the customers to you, you need to go to where your customers are, and most of them are already online.
Customers look at company websites for contact information, post on social media, and otherwise engage online, and companies need to be there if they want to provide a great CX.
Reach a wider audience
Online channels create new opportunities for brands to reach a global audience and boost their engagement. Social media presence alone can provide a significant boost to an organization’s name recognition, but including social ads, email marketing, online engagement, and more provides an even greater reach that can help bring in new customers.
These customers also use digital channels to interact with businesses, so maintaining a strong digital presence and DCX is essential for both bringing in new customers and boosting customer retention.
24/7 availability
When an organization has customers around the world, their customer service can’t be limited to a single time zone.
Customer expectations include access to support and information anytime, anywhere. Organizations using digital tools, such as chatbots and self-service portals, and 24/7 online customer support teams can provide the level of availability and immediate support that customers expect.
Faster response times
On a similar note, online channels facilitate quicker resolutions for issues and inquiries. Live chat allows customers to quickly reach a real agent directly from a webpage, and companies can also use features like chatbots to assist customers instantly.
This saves time for the customers and agents; customers don’t have to wait on hold to get the information they need, and agents have more time to help customers with issues that need a human touch.
Data-driven insights
Online interactions are a treasure trove of data, which can provide new insights into customer behavior and preferences.
With the right software, organizations can delve into their digital interactions and analyze this data, discovering new trends, customer wants, potential issues, and more, as well as providing customers with a better overall experience.
Personalization opportunities
Online channels provide new opportunities for personalized services and support, including targeted messaging and offers for each customer. These can take the form of ads, “suggested for you” pages, offers based on past purchases, and more, allowing organizations to provide a unique, tailored experience and increase sales.
Improved scalability
Digital channels are typically easy to scale, so they can grow with a business. With multiple digital channels, chats, and AI assistants, organizations with a strong digital presence can handle high volumes of inquiries without sacrificing quality.
Digital Customer Experience Channels
What does a good DCX look like in action? Let’s explore some common digital features and tools companies use today, as well as some examples of how companies create a strong DCX.
Websites & mobile apps
Modern websites built with a focus on the DCX typically feature several tools designed to help customers.
These include the following:
- Self-service portals: Give customers access to FAQs, knowledge bases, and troubleshooting guides without needing to contact an agent.
- Live chat: Provides instant support and personalized assistance for complex issues.
- Chatbots and other virtual assistants: Provide automated responses to help with common questions at any time of the day.
- E-commerce platforms: Enable seamless online shopping, including product information, reviews, and secure checkout.
Amazon, one of the largest e-commerce websites on the planet, is a good example of a company that excels at DCX.
It uses each customer’s search and purchase history to provide customized recommendations and includes a “help library” divided into topics and frequently asked questions to assist customers with inquiries. It also offers a chatbot that can help with troubleshooting or basic queries and connect the chat to a live agent for more complex matters.
Social media
A good social media presence is essential for digital outreach, marketing, and customer engagement. This includes maintaining visibility across multiple social networks, monitoring chatter, and actively posting/engaging with customers.
Social media presence includes the following:
- Brand pages and communities: Directly engage with customers, listen to customer feedback, and build brand loyalty.
- Social listening: Monitor brand mentions and promptly respond to customer inquiries and comments.
- Social media advertising: Reach target audiences with personalized messaging and offers.
Nextiva, for instance, has active accounts on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. These pages are frequently updated to maintain an active presence, share news about the company, and engage with customers.
The posts also often tie into trending events, such as the Super Bowl or Valentine’s Day, to remain relevant to customers and stay on top of trends. And of course, should a customer message or mention Nextiva, the social team is there to respond.
Email remains an important communication channel for organizations of all shapes and sizes. It creates a direct line of communication with customers, providing marketing opportunities and a channel for customer support.
Email DCX opportunities include the following:
- Targeted email campaigns: Deliver personalized offers, updates, and promotions to customers.
- Automated email workflows: Welcome new customers, send order confirmations, and provide support updates.
- Two-way email communications: Address customer inquiries and offer personalized support.
For a good example of email engagement, we can look at Audible. This audiobook website frequently sends out emails to inform customers of upcoming sales, provide personalized recommendations based on their purchase and listening history, remind customers of unused credits, and confirm orders.
They also have email support that can respond to queries relatively quickly, with agents who are empowered to make changes to subscriptions, issue refunds, and handle other customer needs.
How a Contact Center Platform Drives Exceptional Digital Customer Experiences
Customer support is a major element of the DCX, whether the customer is using a chatbot for self-service or messaging a support agent. As such, a modern contact center platform can make a world of difference for the DCX.
Phone support
While online chat and email are useful, popular communication tools, phone support is still an essential part of customer service. In fact, the first thing many customers look for on a company’s “contact us” page is a phone number to call.
Live phone support is a necessary option for complex inquiries and customers who prefer voice communications, as it allows them to talk to an empathetic agent who can understand their issues and frustration.
A good contact center platform will also provide a detailed customer history, including previous phone calls and online engagement, so that agents will have all the information they need to efficiently assist the caller.
Callback options
Few things are more frustrating than being left on hold indefinitely, with nothing but a reminder every minute that “your call is important to us.”
Callback features can help by giving customers the option to leave their number and be contacted later, often accompanied by an SMS message as a heads-up that an agent is about to call. This reduces wait times and improves customer satisfaction while eliminating one of the most annoying aspects of calling a contact center.
Omnichannel routing
With all the different ways customers can get support, companies need to route interactions across each channel to provide customers with a seamless, omnichannel experience.
Omnichannel routing connects customer interactions across different channels and allows customers to seamlessly switch between them. The customer history and data are retained across each channel, so the customer won’t need to start from scratch with every call or message. This works across email, chat, social media, and more, enabling the agent to meet the customer on their preferred channel and provide a consistent experience.
Skills-based routing
Oftentimes, certain agents will be better equipped to help customers with their queries than others. Skills-based routing helps by forwarding inquiries to agents with the expertise specific to the caller’s needs or pain points, so that they can provide a fast and effective resolution.
Automated self-service options
Self-service options are for more than just online help centers. Integrating phone IVRs with online portals can expedite routing and resolutions by giving customers more ways to solve their issues quickly and efficiently.
Voice analytics
Voice analytics can examine call recordings to identify trends in user behavior, improve training and onboarding, and help personalize customer interactions. By combining voice data analytics with sentiment analysis, contact centers can uncover friction points (such as live chat being unable to help with order statuses), make informed decisions, and provide new guidance and training to improve support across channels.
Nextiva: The Preferred Platform for Digital Customer Experience
We’re living in a digital world, and emerging new technologies are making digital solutions more important for CX.
Digital service channels are essential for customer support, marketing, and customer engagement. Organizations need to provide a positive and cohesive CX across these channels; otherwise, the customers may leave.
A great contact center platform can support your omnichannel communications and provide a positive user experience over the phone, chat, email, and more.
Whether your business has high call volumes, handles high-scope interactions, or needs to reach a growing audience, a contact center platform like Nextiva will help you create a better digital experience.
