Digital Disappointment: What Companies Must Be Aware Of In The Digital Economy
Brands that don’t take customer motivations into account as part of digital transformation run the risk of creating disappointment rather than delight.
An executive report from IBM Institute for Business Value said that the mad rush by companies into the so-called “experience revolution” does not always mean that consumers will be totally on-board with the new direction. According to the IBM report—“The Experience Revolution—Why Some Customers Aren’t Fans”—a seamless customer experience is more than just flicking a digital switch.
Benefitting from a digital customer experience (CX) is “not a slam dunk,” IBM said. Instead, success relies upon two distinct factors—the willingness of the consumer to embrace the digital transformation and the ability of company business leaders to resolve pain points.
Companies have to make sure that they understand the consumer point-of-view—in other words, to empathize—and not just digitize customer interactions for the sake of it. Business leaders have adopted an aggressive stance towards digital transformation, but an ongoing problem is that this transformation can trigger what is essentially a digital disconnect.
“We found that many executives do not fully understand why consumers would be willing to try new digital ways of engaging with their companies,” said the authors of the report. “Two-thirds of executives have underestimated the role generational differences play in digital adoption, and too often digital CX initiatives have failed to meet customer expectations.”
Customer Experience Underpins Digital Transformation
For the purposes of this business value report, IBM surveyed 600 company executives and 5,895 consumers.
Enthusiasm for digital initiatives was far more prevalent on the executive side, with the expectation being that a proactive attitude to digital CX would bring a number of improvements. For example, a digital transformation will allow companies to quickly serve customers or improve customer insights. The latter will involve not only data capture capabilities but also (in theory) increase a company’s ability to solve customer problems.
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