proactive_approach

“Every day we are saying ‘How can we keep this customer happy? How can we get ahead in innovation by doing this?’ … Because if we don’t, somebody else will”. This is one of the most popular customer experience quotes. In few words Bill Gates is able to sum up the deepest essence of digital transformation in hyper-competitive markets: a proactive approach is necessary to understand people’s needs and improve digital customer experience using innovation.

Being proactive means controlling the situation by causing action rather than waiting to just respond to what happens. Proactivity is not proof through conjectures. It is not a guessing game, at least not today. Thanks to big data and analytics platforms, digital customer experience planning is a balanced prediction. You have now lots of metrics to measure engagement and satisfaction, and lots of data to map the customer journey and localize areas for improvement.

In business, being proactive provides you with the ability to assume your customers’ point of view to understand how they live the relationship with your brand, across all physical and digital touch points. When dealing with clients of the Age of the Customer, this outward perspective is the only way to realize that the journey is at least as important as the result - product or service delivered. And sometimes even more important.

It’s not just what you do, but also how fast and easily you do it: customers now expect that you are able to respond to their needs everywhere they are, whenever they need it and whichever device they are using. Once you know how customers use technology to connect with you - online and offline - and what they think about your service, brand and products, you will be finally able to develop the right action plan to heal or rethink the overall experience in a comprehensive omni-channel strategy.

In an article published on Forbes website, Salesforce recently pointed out that a proactive approach grounded in data enables you to:

  • Act on what you know is about to happen to the customer;

  • Predict what will probably happen and consequently take action;

  • Predict what might happen to the customer, based on previous experience.

The benefits of proactivity for your business are self-evident: you will be identified as a truly customer-centric company and you will spend less - time and money - to reach better results in terms of engagement and loyalty. This will result in a compelling experience for your clients, seamless across all devices and touch points, yet fast and easy.

What should you do to adopt a proactive approach? What are the main steps to build such a perspective for your brand?

  • Map the customer journey - build a map to identify all points of contact and to know your client;

  • Talk to your customers - and let them talk to you easily, to understand their needs and wants;

  • Analyze customer data - identify areas and touch points you should improve and choose the right partner to develop your experience;

  • Share purpose internally - your employee is your first customer. Share your purpose and plan resources to foster employee engagement;

  • Think and act digital - disruptive technologies (smartphone, smartwatch, wearables, VR headsets) are perfect to meet customers’ expectations;

  • Be personal - customers love technology but, in an age of automated things, also demand a more human relation;

  • Beware time and space - enrich your offer with real time notifications and localized content (time and space are more and more crucial for retail customer experience);

  • Measure and adapt - enforce your strategy with an analytics dashboard, to measure KPI and adapt actions and budget in a looping circle.

Innovation is driven by technology, but if you can’t change your overall approach to digital customer experience, you won’t be able to stay top of mind and take advantage of all opportunities that disruptive devices give you. Proactivity allows you to build a sturdy bridge between you and your customer and avoid pitfalls and damages along the path.

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To help you ensure a strategic advantage to your organization, learn about the DCX 7-Steps Checklist crafted by Neosperience, with requirements and insights for a successful digital transformation.