As COVID-related restrictions ease in many Western countries and the more traditional customer engagement methods — such as in-person shopping and branch customer service — become an available option again, the shift to digital shows no signs of slowing down.
Post-pandemic digital usage is predicted to become a prominent factor in brand engagement, after 81% of surveyed consumers say they “plan to maintain or increase their digital usage”, as shown by a recent FullStory study.
With the “digital mindset” becoming the new mainstream across industries, brands and companies must keep up to stay relevant, which often means approaching the issue differently and streamlining the necessary processes involved.
As many as 64% consumers responded that, in the last six months, they have struggled or have been frustrated with a digital experience. 65% say that a company loses some of their trust when they encounter a digital problem while trying to use the business website or app. Compared to only 12% being likely to give feedback or highlight the issue of a digital error, 77% will simply abandon the transaction and 60% won’t return. This highlights the importance of capturing and resolving customer frustrations before and as they occur, focusing on likely issues, such as page glitches, form inputs, and loading errors.
The overwhelming majority of consumers consider the ability to “quickly accomplish what [they] came to do” as the most important part of a positive digital experience. While a customer has to take extra time to report feedback on issues, with the most likely methods being filling out surveys (49%) or via chat or email (at 41% and 40%), this often doesn’t reach the direct team responsible for fixing the issue in the most efficient way, leading to brands losing trust and sales in the meantime. Therefore, another point of importance for businesses is how to best obtain and receive feedback and subsequently act on it.
