ASK ALAN: How To Humanize the Digital Experience
Since co-founding enablex in the mid-1980s, I have been recognized as a pioneer in the digital experience industry. As such, I have kept a sharp eye on both the technical and human factor sides of these experiences. One side has fallen far short of keeping its end of the bargain.
Keep the customer experience at the top-of-mind
With so much attention to e-commerce these days, I thought someone should ask about humanizing the customer’s digital experiences. Personally, I find them abysmal and insulting. On a scale of 1 – 10, I would give most organizations who utilize digital touchpoints, a 1. Interestingly, there is little difference between technologies whether they be auto-attendants to e-commerce applications. Most are just awful! I should add that I find in most cases the technology works great. The problem is in the failure to set these interfaces with the customer’s experience in mind. I often wonder if key decision-makers and or, senior management ever test their own company’s interfaces, as a customer would?
I asked my colleague, Chris Tella, a Customer Experience Change Agent, for his take on how to humanize the digital experience?” He told me that human factors require three approaches to this challenge:
1. Structural
2. Conversational
3. Philosophical
Structural
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Conversational
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Philosophical
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“Many companies claim they are customer-focused, but is this reflected in their mission statement? Is customer satisfaction and loyalty prominently featured in their stated company values? And are those values of customer centricity woven into their digital presence? If a business wishes to deliver a positive and sustainable customer experience, all three are essential.”
More ideas to improve your businesses customer digital interface
Chris also suggests that:
“The digital application reflects the brand promise as well as the company’s values. Knowing who your primary or ideal customer is, is another imperative. This leads to understanding your customer’s state of mind when approaching your digital interface. Answers to these questions are important to personalization and can pay dividends when attempting to decode user intent or personalizing outbound follow-ups. Analytics can also shed light on critical buyer behavior. Ultimately, a human-centered approach to personalization will give you the empathetic agility required to understand the emotions that drive buyer behavior.”
In addition, I strongly advise asking yourselves…
• How easy are you to do business with?
• Is it as easy for customers to get the answers they need through your digital interface… as it is speaking to a human?
Compare the steps and see. Use the human conversation as the process flow guideposts for the digital interaction. Try and keep your digital-delivery as “customer-centered.” as possible. And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, test your own interfaces as if you are the customer. See how easy your digital interface, (YOUR business), is to get around, (by YOUR customers)!
