Creating a Digital Customer Experience for Standards-based Organizations

Most of customers' interactions are increasingly happening online. According to a recent report by Forrester, almost 54% of the customers prefer contacting companies via email for support. When it comes to adopting digital solutions to engage customers, many Standards-based organizations are lagging in digital strategy. There could be plenty of reasons for this gap, but what we often see is that organizations aren't prepared for digital experience. However, many studies show that today’s customer is more than prepared for a digital experience than organizations may realize.

Nowadays, customers connect with organizations over a greater number of channels — shifting between them seamlessly and even using channels equally. What's more, the pandemic has accelerated consumer behavior to new levels of comfort with technology. It is now raising the bar for how businesses engage with them.

Great digital customer experience is known for showing significant results - more loyalty and more customers.

Given these shifts, many Standards-based Organization leaders are increasing investment in digital customer experiences to enhance the perception of their brand and build deeper relationships with their members — and there is plenty of evidence that such investments pay off. Organizations that have accepted modernization, showcasing flexibility in adapting to the digital strategy, are already in a first-mover position, savoring the sheer advantage over their competitors.

While several Standards Development Organizations are still getting there, there are business leaders out there who understand the consumers' digital readiness. Thus, they are utilizing a wide range of cutting-edge technologies, updated processes, and tools to deliver improved customer experience. For instance, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), an international, not-for-profit organization, built upon a robust foundation of data, content, tools, and practices. AGU implemented the latest technologies, digital strategy, and methods to deliver high-quality and personalized experiences. By setting the benchmark that customers are looking for, AGU has already secured a competitive advantage.

As customers and members seek more robust digital experiences, Standards-based Organizations that aren't embracing modern digital strategies are likely to face setbacks as they try to preserve high customer satisfaction and increase membership. However, it is important to note, successful organizations don't simply set up digital strategy or transformation and hope something sticks. Rather, they work on completing a deep analysis of their customer journey and meticulously select digital tools that are ideal for engaging customers based on their individual needs and behaviors.

Digitizing Member-Centered Experience : 3 Steps

Many changes are pushing companies to take the digitizing of customer experience to the forefront. Today, customers expect a highly personalized and intuitive experience. From real estate to the healthcare industry, everyone is taking the digital route to deliver better customer experience. Every organization today is striving to have an impact, and this is where digitizing customer experience plays a crucial role.

To create an effective digital experience for their members and prospective members, Standards-based Organizations should focus on the following goals:

1. Bring Consistency to Create Loyalty

When organizations provide an inconsistent digital experience, the customer ends up with a confused impression of the brand. Gradually, these inconsistencies can erode loyalty. For many Standards-based Organizations, consistency seems to be an afterthought. In fact, most of them have no dedicated system in place. Streamlining digital experience for customers can truly build loyalty over time.

For instance, ASTM International, one of the world’s largest Standards Development Organizations, worked towards creating a digital blueprint for responsive digital experience in real time. ASTM leveraged their numerous systems to create a better inflow of data and systems that established better experience.

Consistency builds loyalty and trust. Delivering consistent digital experience is essential for organizations that want to drive membership and loyalty. Every interaction can be utilized to delight the customer as 95% of the customers use three or several channels regularly. That is why organizations should aspire to harmonize all the touchpoints in the customer journey.

Establishing true consistency may seem daunting, but it's possible with a wide range of technologies to have flawless customer experience. For example -

AI-based Personalization - AI is becoming a top priority for many organizations to boost their CX effort by offering a smooth and consistent personalized experience. AI-based tools have speech analytics to monitor customer emotions in real-time, predictive analytics, text analytics for social media and email, and ensure to apply past solutions to recent challenges by evaluating performances in different areas.

2. Focus on Visual Consistency for Customer Experience Management

Consistency is important in many aspects, especially the surface. When your digital strategy efforts showcase a similar message with an aligned voice, visual style, and color palette across all channels—online and offline—it allows people to recognize your organization and understand what you have to offer. Put short, a consistent approach to your website's visuals can lead to advantages like these:

- It promotes a dynamic image for your brand.
- Better interface for new users to learn about your company.
- Reduced cognitive load that saves users' time and effort.

Visual consistency can help in standing out from the competition while providing a holistic brand message that goes a long way. For example, Apple’s product design maintains seamless experience in their wide range of products. Not only this, but Apple also includes visual and functional patterns across its several devices that enable users to migrate between them fast and stay true to the brand.

Visual consistency portrays the identity and appeal of the brand to make it stand out among others. A whole set of elements such as user experience design, interactive elements or content approach can act as a huge positive reinforcement. For example, a well-designed UX design can increase the conversion rates up to 400% on your website.

3. Your Digital Initiatives Should Reinforce the Current Customer Journey

Several organizations try to implement technology for technology’s sake, adding digital strategy and components to customer journeys that don't bring any value to the customer. These failed additions can make digital experiences even more complex – usually because the experiences are broken between business unit to business unit. The closer an organization is aligned with their customers' needs that matter the most to them, the more likely they will be able to maximize higher customer satisfaction, loyalty, and growth.

The customer journey begins with brand awareness that may come through Google, commercial or social media. To be successful organizations must analyze their data points to know which digital strategy is most effective in bringing awareness. Here, a better way is to keep a simplified aspect of the journey on which customers are already engaging on your app or website. This way you can save your customers time and effort.

For example, the world's largest running organization, NYRR (New York Road Runners), realized that their existing digital infrastructure isn't enough to provide better experience for their running community. After taking selective measures, NYRR incorporated a digital roadmap to redefine the customer journey seamlessly.

Digital Customer Experience Will Continue to Rule

Digital customer experience now matters more than ever. Experiences that provoke powerful emotions will mold brand loyalty and purchasing patterns. Implementing an appropriate digital strategy to embrace transformation is essential at the present time. Only those Standards-based Organizations that execute such initiatives quickly, on a proper scale, and with an emphasis on results, will stay nimble and competitive in the future – driving enhanced purpose, increased membership and simplified experiences.

Embark on this journey with Icreon's Digital Maturity Assessment tool to prioritize and develop digital centers of excellence. Take the assessment now to see how your organization’s digital maturity compares to others.