How do you combine functional and engaging content to create a great digital customer experience?
Since eDigitalResearch started benchmarking the online customer journey way back in 1999, results have changed massively.
Autumn 2015 will mark six years since the release of the first mobile sites from some of the UK’s top retail brands, but how has the mobile experience changed?
Consumer behaviour is changing more rapidly than ever. Claims of desktops gathering dust and email on the way out may be over-stated but we are certainly living in a mobile enabled world of instant gratification.
It is no surprise that this is having a fundamental impact on how consumers and brands interact. Many brands have embraced live chat in recognition of a consumer appetite for instant messaging.
And we moved away some time ago from talking about online as one entity or one customer channel to talking about multiple digital touch points in recognition of the increasing fragmentation of customer facing channels and the rise of mobile.
The challenge facing brands now is how to understand this new omnichannel consumer, the type of consumer who flits from one channel to another and who in fact does not think about a ‘website’ or an ‘app’ anymore but is so comfortable with it all, that to them, it’s just ‘shopping’.
You know the feeling. The feeling you get when you go to your favourite local business where they welcome you with open arms and a smile on their face.
They know you. They know who you are, listen to what you want and are flexible and helpful enough to give you a great service and a great experience by treating you as an individual.
Increasingly, this is what people expect from big companies too. Customers want big brands to recognise them. They don’t want to have to tell them twice who they are and provide information that they should already know.
Much has been said about mobile over the years. Every marketer, brand manager or head of multichannel knows that it’s key to capturing customers on the move.
Over the years, retailers in particular have been developing and re-developing their mobile channels in an attempt to provide as quick and seamless an experience as possible.
But what is it that shoppers actually want from a mobile experience?
Once every six months we ask a group of shoppers to assess a selection of the top rated retail apps and mobile sites on the market, telling us what they like and what they don’t like throughout the mobile shopping customer journey.