Learn about Digital Experience

What is a brand digital experience?

A digital brand experience is what potential customers see, think, hear, and feel about your brand’s online presence. It is the impression people have of your company based on past images, encounters, memories, and stories from your market. 

What makes it important?

In 2021, we’ve learned that;

Investment in digital transformation is expected to approach $6.8 trillion between 2020 and 2023 as the world economy - from Raconteur

Now, with just this one fact, it would be a mistake we consciously take if we’re not transforming our business digitally today.

Another fact we’ve also learned is: Online profit margin increased for 38%

Generating online sales is one thing, the whole Covid-19 situation has also led to things like disrupted supply chains, poorly staffed customer service and more. This directly affects the online profit margin. It seems that for 38 percent of ecommerce decision-makers their online profit margin grew during the global lockdown, while for a similar percentage (40 percent) the situation stated about the same. Only 15 percent claimed that it decreased.

What are the components of brand digital experience?

Armed with the information above, it’s only right if we admit that not being strong digitally is a direction we DO NOT want to go. It’s well-known that the next market, the millennials, the GenZ and the next generations will not go back to the analog world. It will all be digitalized. 

Now what are the components of a rigorous brand digital experience every brand should have?

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1. Multiple Touchpoints

In the age of endlessly accessible information and comparitivity, the customer journey is convoluted and drawn out. A study by Episerver showed that 63% of people online shop at least once a month but shopping doesn’t always lead to purchase.

Because online shopping is always accessible, many customers are doing more than just shopping for a product; 29% are visiting an eCommerce site to compare prices and 9 percent are visiting the site for inspiration.

The customer journey, the path someone takes to becoming a full-blown paying customer, is full of touch points that are make or break. These touchpoints are both offline and online and can often include lengthy periods of inactivity.

The digital experience is more than just getting people to your site. It’s more than awareness; digital experiences are essential for building loyalty and customer satisfaction post-purchase. Customer journey mapping, the process of documenting this customer journey, is important for understanding your audience and adapting to the future.

A Brand digital experience helps you create a suitable and engaging customer experience across your various online touchpoints. It will also help you meet your customer or prospect across various platforms, make it personalized, and integrate it with the most relevant technologies in your customer’s life.

Lastly, a brand digital experience will help you analyze and uncover at which touchpoints you are succeeding and where your customers are dropping off. 

2. Emotions

Part of using a digital experience platform to build your business is establishing your brand and company identity. People no longer only care about price and product when deciding what to buy and what services to use.

This is especially true about young people. A study conducted by WP Engine and The Center for Generational Kinetics found that 65% of Gen Z, the generation born after 1996, are more likely to buy from a company that contributes to social causes, while 30% have stopped buying from a company that contributes to a social cause they disagree with.

Trust is important. A brand digital experience equips you with the agility to build a brand identity that is rooted in authenticity and reliability. Not only will customers feel comforted by the performance of your business, they’ll be inspired by the unique and dynamic way you present yourself.

We’ve covered this topic in a more comprehensive way of how to reach your customer beyond rationale with 7 pillars of brand strategy and how you can implement it in your company here.

3. Community

Rapidly changing technology is quickly making the old ways of brand management redundant. It’s also bringing to the forefront new ways of engaging with customers. A thriving digital community is one such way of creating customer engagement.

In 2012 a study found that customers spend 19% more after they join a company’s online community. The main point of the study was that businesses actually profit more from personally created social communities than from using third-party social networks like Facebook.

The point was not that companies should stay away from third-party channels, but rather to show the benefits of a custom network. Third-party platforms can still be good for a company’s bottom line, and they don’t require an initial cost to start. Different third-party platforms are good for different types of customers and customer interactions. Another advantage of third-party platforms is that they already have millions of users that can be reached out to.

Once you’ve decided on which channel(s) to use, and have created your account(s), you want to focus on growing your community. It’s a good idea to sync your channels and your website, so that any new deals, news, products, etc. are shared across all platforms. You also want to make sure that you post engaging content regularly.

It can also help to engage in the community outside your page. Give helpful and insightful comments on other peoples’ or pages’ posts. You could even search the platforms for questions that would be perfect to provide answers for and point others in your direction.

"38% of organizations plan to spend more than 20% of their total advertising budgets on social media channels in 2015,

up from 13% a year ago" -BrandWatch.com.

On top of the above, having a strong community as part of your brand digital experience can boost your brand loyalty which can lead you to a more profitable business just like what we’ve covered on our previous blogpost; 5 reason why having brand loyalty can bring higher revenue for your business.

Now how can you apply these 3 components in your business?

Now, as said, a stable revenue, a better performing marketing effort, bigger community and spread word of mouth, can only be done when you are clear in your direction. And coming off from the same background as yours, as an entrepreneurs myself, i often times get overwhelmed by these things whilst running the business altogether.

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I got you. Here’s why, i’ve put up together an ebook of 15 Actionable Steps in Building Brand + Bonus Materials(questions that brand strategist ask when auditing brand & businesses). 

Claim your copy today, and start your own transformation today!