{"id":4249850,"date":"2021-04-01T10:14:10","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T08:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/insight\/how-to-navigate-the-new-digital-reality\/"},"modified":"2020-10-17T12:56:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-17T10:56:08","slug":"how-to-navigate-the-new-digital-reality","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/en-nl\/insight\/how-to-navigate-the-new-digital-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"How to navigate the new digital reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\n\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tBack to all articles\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n<\/a>\n\t\tHow to navigate the new digital reality\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\n\t<\/div>
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\n\t\tMellissa Flowerdew-Clarke\t\t
\n\t\tVP of Marketing, EMEA\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t1 April 2021\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\tThe global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus changed our world in so many ways, seemingly overnight. People around the world stayed home for months (and many continue to do so now). Workers in every industry have been forced to figure out working remotely. Processes that were dependent on in-person physical or offline activities came to a grinding halt. The ability to operate digitally became not just a driver for economic success, but for societal success and even survival.\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tThe pandemic has shown more than ever the value of digital. It has become crystal clear \u2013 the more digital a business, organisation or government is, the more resilient it is and the faster it can adapt to new situations. Digital safeguards jobs, essential supply chains, speed of support measures and delivers essential data and service streams to battle the current health pandemic.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tThis article will share our recommendations on how you can embrace the new digital reality.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tBut first, let\u2019s look at how we got here.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tThe growing disconnect between consumer expectations and brands\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tOver the last five to ten years, as consumers have grown more digitally savvy and have shifted much of their daily lives and transactions to their devices, their expectations of the types of experiences they want from brands have grown disconnected from what many businesses have actually been delivering. Consumers were looking for consistent, intelligent interactions with their favorite brands, who should know who they are and what they want. While brands in some industries were making a lot of progress, such as retailers or media and entertainment companies, many were still struggling to fully embrace digital across every touchpoint with their end customers.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tCOVID-19 has exacerbated this issue. Not only were consumers left with no choice but to move their lives 100% digital, but companies had no choice but to meet them there or risk going out of business.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tThis has changed the game for innovation in many industries. Speed is critical, and the ability to innovate is non-negotiable.\u00a0Recent data from McKinsey<\/a>\u00a0shows that we have vaulted five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of eight weeks. According to a\u00a0survey from Vodafone<\/a>, 39% of businesses said they\u2019ve accelerated their digitalisation plans in response to the pandemic, and 36% said the most common reason was because the pandemic highlighted weaknesses in their business model.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tToday this means that banks have moved to remote sales and services, and launched digital outreach to provide flexible payment plans for loans and mortgages. Grocery stores have moved to online ordering and delivery. Schools have gone 100% online. Doctors have embraced telemedicine as their primary way to meet with non-emergency patients. Even luxury retailers\u00a0like Burberry<\/a>\u00a0have shifted more sales to e-commerce (showing growth of 22% year over year) and have had to reimagine their customer experiences not as single channels, but as blended physical\/digital journeys. The same holds true across many more industries who have made great strides in meeting consumer needs over the last few months.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tData also suggests<\/a>\u00a0that this shift will not slow down even once we are past this pandemic. 75% of people using digital channels for the first time indicate that they will continue to use them even when things return to \u201cnormal.\u201d\u00a0Forrester predicts<\/a>\u00a0that the banking industry, in particular, will continue to adjust to the new digital reality, as \u201cbecoming more digital is now seen as a way to boost safety rather than just boosting profitability. They are focused more on building resilience, automating more tasks and encouraging customers to maintain some of their new digital habits that require less face-to-face interactions.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tThe rules around innovation and customer experiences have fundamentally changed. They will never be the same again. Returning back to the pre-pandemic world and way of doing things will likely never happen. Instead, companies need to capitalise on this moment in history and reinvent themselves to serve new customer expectations and find new growth opportunities.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tBuilding better customer experiences (CX)\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tThe most successful businesses put the customer at the centre of everything they do. That\u2019s what makes the difference between a good digital experience and a great one. Embracing digital means experimenting and building digital capabilities with a continuous focus on customer value.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tBeing \u2018digital\u2019 means more than having a website. Consumers today have more choices than ever. If their expectations are not met instantly and fully, they\u2019ll simply move on. Brands need to provide meaningful touchpoints along the whole digital customer journey. Seamlessly across all channels, with an unwavering focus on the customer.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tOne good example is the company\u00a0UPPAbaby<\/a>, which makes innovative, high-quality strollers and car seats. The company is known for its exceptional customer service and wanted to extend that high-quality experience to its customers through a mobile app that could support the entire customer journey. The app and its high touch features, including live one-on-one video chat, captures the quality of care UPPAbaby customers can expect following their purchase.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tCompanies must look to digitise processes, products, services and transactions by designing customer experiences that are suited to the digital reality we are living in. That\u2019s no easy feat, but there are ways to get there.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tDesign sprints<\/a>, as an example, help brands in all industries to accelerate innovations and launch new products and experiences that are validated with customer feedback before they are fully built out. Built upon the methodology first introduced by Google Ventures, a design sprint is a proven process to validate a product vision before committing development resources. These sprints allow brands to test out new ideas with real customers and get clear data and customer feedback from a realistic prototype built in just over a week.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tAdditionally, brands must take a hard look at the way their products and customer experiences are designed. Digital must be at the centre of these designs. Complex experiences must be simplified.\u00a0In the case of Etos<\/a>, a popular drugstore chain in the Netherlands, the company had to supplement its offline success with an online platform that could match the same level of personal advice, inspiration and ease of use from their physical stores that customers were accustomed to. The new Etos.nl is proof that an attractive design and a fantastic user experience go hand in hand.\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t