COVID-19 Drives Digital Opportunity
Written by Beth Robertson, Managing Director
With the coronavirus keeping many consumers and business employees at home, digital channels have assumed an enhanced role in enabling the delivery of key services to customers. And that role is likely to continue to rapidly expand as the disruption caused by the pandemic drives a full paradigm shift. Digital demand, at an all-time high in many industries, may explode when markets return to a more normal level of operation that carries less economic uncertainty for consumers and companies.
Now is the time to conduct a thorough review of your digital properties, rethinking opportunities to improve the digital experience across channels to meet emerging needs in this evolving market. The way in which companies support the changing requirements of their employees, customers, and communities during and after this demanding period in our global lives has the potential to have a tremendous impact on their businesses’ future. Some key actions to consider are to:
Personalize Content
Identify opportunities to provide relevant, contextual experiences for customers and prospects. As an example, LinkedIn is currently in beta test with a personalized messaging option called Conversation Ads. This option offers real-time engagement for logged in users, enabling them to choose a path based on a call to action that is most relevant to them—like registering for a webinar or downloading a white paper. Enabling users to quickly and efficiently be presented with and select tailored options will drive ongoing engagement and loyalty.
Examine Customer Journeys
Follow end-to-end customer journeys to identify digital or offline bottlenecks. In one current example, a grocery shopper recently took up the new challenge of buying his needed grocery items online. He worked his way around the site and filled his cart with needed items only to discover that he was unable to schedule delivery at all. Meanwhile, many other online grocery shoppers are encountering delivery options that are at least a week or more removed from the date on which they shopped. If users are thwarted when they attempt to adopt new digital options, they’ll be less likely to return to the same provider to try once again.
Add Useful Technology
Ensure that technology solutions help, rather than frustrate, customers. Remember when call centers first became automated, and people just wanted to speak with a real person? Now, in the midst of the pandemic, the waiting time to speak with a live agent can be so extraordinarily long – up to 10 hours for rescheduling or cancelling flights through some airlines – that self-servicing via chatbot or Virtual Assistant (VA) may be a much more desirable option. That is, if the bot or VA can actually help them. Many solutions today aim to seamlessly leverage technology and live CSR interaction; companies should strive for balanced solutions that efficiently and effectively help their users.
Augment Customer Support Options
Enhance self-directed digital experiences by providing multiple ways for users to access support. Build out and update FAQ content, provide FAQ search and filter options, make contextual access to FAQs and other help readily available in key task areas, and add useful tools and guidance that can serve as alternatives to live agent support. If call center wait times are becoming lengthy, the ability for a user to choose to receive a call back can also be valuable—as long as that call back is handled within a reasonable time period. Technology support, such as chatbots or VAs, can also be viable alternatives, although these options should be carefully implemented to add value to, rather than detract from, the user experience.
Support the Community
Ideate on ways your company or industry can support the expansion of technology to support emerging market needs. HP, for example, is using its Bioprinters to accelerate drug and vaccine research and also has new initiatives to donate PCs to support individuals who are now learning and working from home. The new website, Cellars NYC, is helping restaurateurs stay solvent by helping them to sell their wine collections; it also offers an interactive map so NYC residents can locate bars and restaurants that are now offering to-go purchases. Financial services firms are helping with alternatives such as providing educational content, making donations to community foundations, supporting medical staff, offering deferrals on loans, or returning of a portion of policyholders’ premium payments.
Employ Data
Dive into data, review competitors’ capabilities, monitor key performance indicators, examine behavioral patterns, and identify the key elements required to support a competitively positioned, best practice experience for your users. (We’re here to help!)
Build Your Brand
Leverage the digital experience to benefit your brand. Companies have both a brand name and a brand experience that is developed through a combination of corporate values, corporate reputation, the merit of the firm’s products and services, and the way in which the company meets the needs of its employees, prospects, customers, and community. Optimizing digital delivery for all your constituents can drive long-term enhancement of your brand.