Digital Experience trends that will take over 2023 by storm

Experiences shape our perceptions and behaviors in life. The digital-first era has simplified the lives of so many people to no limits.

Let us say your favorite brand that you always shop from has launched its collaboration with a celebrity and you can’t wait to get your hands on one of the t-shirts. Even though there is going to be sufficient inventory, it is bound to be a hyped-up launch.

What would you do in this case? Would you stand in line for hours to cop the merch or would you rather go online, order it and receive it in 24 hours? The influence of the digital-first era is such that the customer of today would always gravitate towards the latter option.

The people of today, the Millennials and Gen-Z’s have rather become intolerant to inconveniences and would always prefer an experience that is hassle-free and pleasing. But why is that? Well, We are all living digital lives with everything at our fingertips. If you want to meet your customer's demands, studying the trajectory of these experiences becomes pivotal.

What really is a “Digital Experience”?

A digital experience (DX) is a user’s interaction across any digital touchpoint — it could be in the form of buying a pair of sunglasses online, getting updates from a gaming app on your phone, or checking in from a self-check-in airport kiosk.

A digital touchpoint can be in the form of a mobile application, website, IoT devices, ATM, and so on.

Why is a “Digital Experience” important?

A customer’s journey digitally is very fragile so building a cohesive, holistic digital customer experience that addresses customer needs is imperative in this day and age. As there are so many touchpoints to digital experiences, some brands slack off taking this in a negative sense. What they don’t realize is that these experiences are opportunities to make your brand stand out and create a loyal audience.

Improving CX by one point can lead to more than $1 billion in additional revenue. (Forrester)

Digital experience overlaps with the customer experience and user experience. Adopting an innovative strategy and marketing planning enables your brand to be more productive and efficient when it comes to delivering personalized experiences that can help engage potential customers, strengthen the relationship with current customers and gauge better chances of finding prospects that will be associated with your brand in the long run.

Let us look at the top Digital Experience trends that will take over 2023 by storm!

1) Omnichannel Excellence

Omnichannel excellence is a lead nurturing and user engagement approach in which a company gives access to its products, offers, and support services to customers or prospects on all channels, platforms, and devices.

A great example of omnichannel excellence would be a brand offering multiple channels of support as opposed to just a boring automated email. Those multiple channels could include a chatbot, social media DM’s, calling options, etc.

A brand with a good and holistic omnichannel experience will always be remembered and recalled by the customer. This in the long run would result in trust by the customer. Even people who are not customers would be eager to be a part of the ecosystem where a brand has such an omnipresence.

2) Headless Content Management System (CMS)

Although Traditional Content Management Systems ruled the archetype for web design and development, they were neither flexible nor scalable.

What a headless Content Management System does is that it does not interact or integrate with the front-end part of the development AT ALL, unlike traditional Content Management Systems. This is why more and more companies in the modern day and age prefer Headless Content Management Systems due to the flexibility and scalability to get their content out in a myriad of ways.

Due to the complexities associated with Traditional Content Management Systems, Headless Content Management Systems were curated to meet the demands of brands and creators who want a richer Digital Experience.

3) User-Centric Content Framework

Now that the digital era is moving towards omnichannel excellence as well as the adaptation of the Headless Content Management System, It is imperative to have a solid content framework to enhance the digital experience of the user.

The content should strictly be user-centric and should try to add value to the user's life. The user should come back to the brand for the content and the value that the content adds even if they are not up for a product purchase at that moment.

When user-centric content establishes a connection with a purpose that is aligned with the brand’s own purpose, you will never be disappointed with the outcome.

4) Emotive Technology

The key to turning people into loyal customers is to understand and empathize with them. There is an emerging technology called Emotive Technology that can recognize the emotion behind a person's voice and can help companies create better digital experiences for their customers.

This is an important aspect of shaping digital experiences. If you are aware of your customer’s feelings and emotions, you can not only sympathize with them but you can also build a loyal audience that knows you care about them.

Further up, you can create content and align marketing efforts according to your audience’s emotions which allows a deeper connection and easier actions by the visitors.

5) Progressive Web Applications (PWA)

A progressive web application leverages modern technologies to couple the best of web and mobile applications. Although it is a website, it looks, feels, and functions like an application. Technological advancements have enabled developers to enable people to install web apps to their home screen, receive push notifications or even work offline.

Progressive Web Applications have paved the way for enhanced digital experiences. Due to the personalization, speed, and ease of use, brands are ditching applications to build PWAs.

Content on PWAs can also be controlled by using a headless CMS

6) Conversational AI

Conversational AI is a type of artificial intelligence that enables consumers to interact with computer applications the way they would with other humans. It manages multiple interactions and induces judgment-intensive tasks to mimic human support. You can call it a more refined, advanced Chatbot loaded with functional features.

Conversational AIs provide a much more personalized experience as they understand the human factor and conduct a sentiment analysis before guiding the customer outright. This contributes to an overall positive digital experience for both the brand and the customer.

7) Predictive Analysis

Predictive analytics is the use of data, statistical algorithms, and machine learning techniques to identify the likelihood of future outcomes based on customer data. Some would argue that Predictive analysis is only beneficial for the brand, but we however disagree.

If through predictive analysis, a brand is able to decipher stock and inventory orders and levels through analytics through pre-launch tactics - it obviously does benefit the brand as they will be able to focus on what sells the most but it also benefits the customer. Through predictive analysis, the chances of the inventory being sold out quickly are diminished which gives the user the option to buy exactly what he wants and have a better digital experience.

8) Data Protection

A customer may give you their data if they trust you but it is important for you to respect the privacy of your customer and protect it.

I was watching a YouTube video the other day where this girl told her viewers how she keeps a tab on what brands are leaking her information. How you may ask? It’s pretty simple - She uses her first name as the first name on her birth certificate and her second name as the company she gives her information. Hypothetically, If Amazonfresh asks her to fill out a survey form, she will mention her name (Shirley) and last name Amazon. So if she ever gets an email from another brand calling her Shirley Amazon, she knows exactly where they got her information from!

This is an extreme case, but people still value privacy over any other aspect of their customer journey. People give out their information in hopes that it will only be used for appropriate purposes, such as to provide them with more relevant content.

If their privacy is protected, they will have a positive experience while enjoying the offerings of your brand.

The Mantra is - Adapt or get left behind!

Customers of today want nothing but the best. With the cutthroat competition in the industry, if you don’t offer an unparalleled digital experience, the customer knows one of your market competitors will, and as superficial as this may sound if you are looking to grow your brand to its full potential, you need to double down on digital experiences through the pointers discussed above.

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Until then, Stay tuned for our next blog! Ciao! 🙂