- How do you differentiate your products and services
in the digital economy?
The first and best way to do is through better
customer experience, and there's a pot of gold
at the end of this rainbow.
Did you know that, in 2017, global digital ad spending
beat TV ad spending for the first time?
Did you know that some estimates suggest that the US
online sales surpassed 450 billion dollars
for the first time in 2017?
That said, customers are more demanding and are more likely
to switch brands due to poor customer experience.
In order to master user experience,
bear in mind these lessons.
First, eradicate friction from the user experience.
In the digital word, frictionless experiences are crucial.
It's well known that modern consumers have multiple devices,
have limited attention, and expect instant gratification.
You'll have a difficult time retaining customers
if your experience is cumbersome and unintuitive.
Often, customers want to accomplish what they need
accomplished and then move on.
If your product doesn't make it easy for them to do this,
they have more options than ever before.
Many of the key lessons that I'll mention are in service
of removing friction from user experience.
Second, go to where your customers are.
Don't make them come to you.
Let me give you an example from Dominos Pizza.
Would you guess that this 57-year-old company is becoming
a digital leader through superior customer experience
through digital channels?
In the past year, 60% of sales came through
digital ordering channels.
This growth has been fueled by a platform the company
developed called Dominos AnyWare.
That platform allows the company to rapidly integrate
its service with popular platforms, such as Facebook
Messenger, Google Home, Twitter, Apple Watch, and Ford Sync,
and many other digital channels.
By letting customers interact with the company on their
platform of choice, Dominos can better target customers
and capture their attention.
Now, more than a billion dollars in revenue is generated
through digital channels for the company.
Another example involves KLM.
That global Dutch airline believes it'll be increasingly
difficult and expensive to get customers onto their
platforms, such as their website and app.
Instead of increasing marketing spend, they've adopted
a strategy of offering functionality on external platforms
its customers are already on, like Facebook Messenger,
WeChat, and WhatsApp.
KLM gives passengers the option to receive flight status
updates, booking confirmations, scheduling changes
and boarding passes through these platforms.
They were among the first airlines to do so.
By expanding the delivery of critical information to popular
external platforms, KLM is expanding its digital reach
and reducing friction for customers by offering information
when and where its customers are.
Third, use artificial intelligence to enhance
the user experience.
At the most basic level, data analytics and machine learning
enable more personalized experiences.
Consider the workplace messenger platform Slack.
With everyone from Microsoft to Facebook offering
a workplace collaboration tool, not to mention email,
customers have a ton of options.
To make its product stickier, Slack uses machine learning
to answer the following questions.
How are individuals using the product?
What channels do they spend the most time in?
Who do they typically respond to first?
What topics do they post and read about?
What do they ignore?
Already, Slack has begun drawing attention to the items
it thinks are most important.
Over time, Slack plans to morph into a full digital chief
of staff for each of its users.
Fourth, consider the job to be done and be cautious
of brand disintermediation.
The flip side of meeting customers on their platform
of choice is the challenge of brand confusion.
Consider a ride-hailing company, like Uber or Lyft.
Today, the most common way to access these services
is to open the Uber or Lyft app and order a ride.
In the future, Alexa will take a command, such as,
get me a ride to the airport, then communicate with Uber,
Lyft, and a variety of other transportation methods,
and suggest or automatically order the best option.
In this referral economy, brands that were once
consumer-facing could become service providers
that compete or cooperate to best accomplish the needs
and desires of the user.
Fifth, create connected products that improve over time.
When you buy a new car, not only does it have that
new car smell, but the engine might be more efficient,
the tires might have a better grip, and so on.
However, as the internet of things expands and everyday
products become networked and connected,
there's the opportunity to make products better over time
as they collect more data and get upgraded.
Consider Tesla.
Tesla's cars are essentially computers on wheels,
and the company was the first to demonstrate the potential
of over-the-air firmware updates.
As Teslas drive more miles,
its autopilot safety features improve.
Consider your own likes and dislikes, and aggregate those
of your team members as well.
You all know what good looks like in your daily lives.
By following each of these steps, you will be better
situated to satisfy what may be a rather fickle userbase.