From a Twenty-Something: 3 Honest Reasons the Digital Experience is Important

Is digital transformation only a competitive edge, or is it actually something that changes how you view your customers? According to a recent article by James Warner, going digital shifts the focus of companies from what they sell to who they sell their products to; their customers. Companies that utilize Big Data to analyze their customers by segmentation of their social media interactions, website interactions, and other behaviors will be able to shift their focus towards a customer-centric philosophy. According to Warner, only when companies utilize Big Data to give their company a digital transformation will they be able to provide customers with the experience that exceeds their expectations and ultimately lead to long-lasting customer loyalty. To read more about this topic, please check out the following article: “How Customer-Centric Digital Transformation is Doing Wonders” by James Warner

From a Twenty-Something: 3 Honest Reasons the Digital Experience is Important

Hi there. I’m a 29-year-old guy here to give you some input on why people around my age like companies with good digital experiences. I’m not here to tell you what you should be doing with your marketing or customer experience and this isn’t going to be a stat-driven article that does a deep-dive analysis on “Millennial” and “Generation Y” trends. This is strictly based off of emotion and opinion. The following are three legitimate reasons why I prefer digital experiences:

1. I’m always doing research. I have my phone all of the time, and much of that time is spent in my hands being used for anything you can imagine. If I have a question on any subject, I research it on my phone instantly. The more information a company has on their website or social media, the more there is for me to learn.

2. I prefer to help myself. This goes hand-in-hand with research, but if I have a question about a product, I want to see if I can figure it out for myself and fix the problem on my own before I ask for help. Like it or not, that’s the way it is. If your brand’s digital experience accommodates self-service without much interference, you’re more likely to gain my loyalty.

3. Word of mouth and general buzz are important. I often look at a company’s Facebook and Instagram posts/interactions or their Tweets to see how they interact with customers and to hear what customers are saying about the brand. I’m fully aware that wild complaints are often simply trolls doing their thing and that comments with absurd levels of praise are often paid testimonials, but it’s easy to mentally filter out those types of posts and see the real complaints and praise. In addition to social media, I look up reviews of products and services through Google, Yelp, Amazon, and other websites to see if a company’s product or service is worth my time and money. Being able to see ratings online can be useful in comparing your brand with your competitors, and ratings and reviews can have a big impact into how I spend my money in addition to pricing. Some of my favorite company websites are the ones that include their customer ratings, even when they’re negative.

That’s all I got. No numbers or fancy data, but plenty of opinionated input that’s often shared by many people around my age and younger. Do with this post what you will, but it’s worth hearing some raw feedback every now and then. Thanks for reading!