Cost of common digital CX frustrations, and how to prevent them

30-second summary:

Digital CX has become a C-suite discussion and business priority in recent years, perhaps even outpacing the traditional four Ps of marketing as the most important piece.
While complex, interactive experiences can lure audiences in, consumers ultimately prize fast, easy-to-navigate web pages. Any digital experiences that fail to meet these baselines ultimately compromise conversion opportunities – and can also have real-world consequences for the consumers.
For direction on where to improve digital interfaces, CX teams can monitor consumers’ digital body language, or the interactions and gestures users make on a website or app.
While NPS surveys can clue brands into how consumers perceive their websites and apps overall, it often doesn’t provide further explanations on why those consumers feel the way they do – and this insight is essential for CX managers to make educated, impactful adjustments.

The rise of digital means that consumers have limitless options online for where to purchase goods and procure services. Because of this, brands need to put in the work to distinguish themselves online from their competition – but they will not achieve this by simply employing aesthetically pleasing colors or flashy, interactive content. Rather, they need to bring it back to basics: the brands that will beat out the competition, increase conversions and improve customer loyalty are the ones who have seamless digital customer experiences (CX).
Digital CX has become a C-suite discussion and business priority in recent years, perhaps even outpacing the traditional four Ps of marketing as the most important piece.
With even the smallest technical glitch being enough to prompt consumers to abandon a sale and shop elsewhere, it’s critical for brands across all industries to ensure their websites and apps are operating as efficiently as possible.
In today’s landscape, where people increasingly rely on digital versus in-person experiences to shop and engage with a brand, digital presence is currently the main – if not sole – opportunity for brands to lock down sales.
There is no room for faulty or frustrating experiences, which can put loyalty and conversion rates on the line. Here are the steps brands can take to alleviate poor digital customer experiences in order to maximize the number of consumer conversions.
Focus on the basics to boost CX
What matters most to a consumer looking to make an online purchase or complete a service digitally is the ability to do so seamlessly.
While complex, interactive experiences can lure audiences in, consumers ultimately prize fast, easy-to-navigate web pages. Any digital experiences that fail to meet these baselines ultimately compromise conversion opportunities – and can also have real-world consequences for the consumers.
Decibel analyzed data from over 10 billion user sessions across its U.S. and European clients in the retail, finance and insurance industries in 2019.
The findings revealed that user frustrations, interpreted through multiclick behavior and erratic device rotations, are the most prominent in the insurance industry, followed by finance and retail.
As such, the retail industry did a slightly better job than the other two industries when it comes to delivering an optimal customer experience. This means that everyday insurance and financial services providers are struggling to fulfill the essential services for which consumers are enlisting them.
In action, these frustrations block consumers from being able to complete tasks like process checks via their smartphones or file insurance claims from their home computers – tasks that typically depend upon accurate and timely completion.
Especially pertinent for individuals who are unable to physically visit their providers and rely on a digital platform to facilitate these services, a poor digital experience can quickly cost a brand consumer loyalty.
Before investing in flashy content on their brands’ digital pages, CX leaders should confirm that their platforms are first serving their fundamental purposes, because aesthetics won’t matter if consumers can’t complete their intended transactions.
Monitor digital body language to identify faults
For direction on where to improve digital interfaces, CX teams can monitor consumers’ digital body language, or the interactions and gestures users make on a website or app.
These behaviors are important to those managing their brand’s digital CX because, as confirmed in another Decibel survey, most consumers do not report a poor digital experience, meaning CX managers need to be proactive in identifying areas for improvement in the absence of user feedback.
Understanding what different behaviors signify can guide CX managers in their digital improvements. For example, multiclicks may represent a slow-loading webpage or a broken link, while erratic device rotation may signal that content is populating incorrectly or is obstructed by ads.
The more unusual behaviors CX managers witness from users, the more concerned they should be about the quality of their platforms.
Quantify – don’t qualify – the digital CX
Traditional analytics tools like Net Promotor Score (NPS) surveys are no longer fitting measurements for today’s dynamic digital platforms.
While these surveys can clue brands into how consumers perceive their websites and apps overall, NPS often doesn’t provide further explanations on why those consumers feel the way they do – and this insight is essential for CX managers to make educated, impactful adjustments.
Thankfully for brands, a new wave of interest in perfecting the digital customer experience has produced digital experience intelligence platforms that collect data on user behaviors to make the task of better understanding online shoppers easier.
Presenting the best digital customer experiences possible is critical for companies’ survival nowadays, because if consumers aren’t satisfied with a brand’s platforms, competitors are just a click away.
CX managers can’t afford to wait for their website or app experience to fail in order to start optimizing the experience. Brands need to be proactive in mitigating consumer frustrations to assure customers have the best possible experience at no risk to company performance.
Shane Phair is the CMO of Decibel, and is responsible for leading global marketing and communications efforts and guiding the brand through its next wave of international expansion.
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