Human Interactions in Digital World

As we were growing up, we were taught some rules that will help us interact with other humans, elders, peers and juniors. Rules were simple:

1. Integrity of input
2. Respect of others
3. Usefulness of the interaction

When I was first ask to join a discussion group on “Digital Customer Experience Strategy”, I had one question popping over and over. And to be honest, it still does.

How is the Digital Customer Experience any different then standard human interactions, and I have come to conclude that it is not except the medium.

The Digital World

In today’s world, our integrations with humans have increased multifold, but at the same time, physical interactions has been replaced with Internet Interactions. From social networking to Online learning to shopping over the internet. we interact with machine interfaces that connect us to suppliers, buyers, teachers, students etc.

However, these Internet Interactions also pose some challenges and risks for us. For example, we may lose the sense of intimacy and trust that comes from face-to-face communication. Moreover, we may encounter misinformation, propaganda, or fake news that can influence our opinions and decisions.

Therefore, we need to be aware of the benefits and drawbacks of Internet Interactions and use them wisely and responsibly.

And how we see the Rules of Integrity, Respect, Usefulness to be implemented become different.

Pillars of Digital Customer Experience Strategy

What I want to argue today is that the core of interactions do not change, without Integrity, Respect, Usefulness rules, our strategy will be hollow, to day the least.

But at the same time, we need to ponder on how to implement these rules for a human-machine-human interaction, we need to consider the extraordinary data available on internet and that there are hardly any means to validate that. We also need to consider the technology part of interaction in human-machine-human scenarios.

 1. Building around Brand identity

2. No distance from Value proposition

3. Consistency in all channels

4. Feedback loop: Don’t be afraid to test, but value customer feedback

5. Connect / Collect, without invading privacy

6. Balance between automation and human touch, Automate time-consuming tasks

7. Seek continual improvement

8. Understand how things are right now

9. Map your customer journeys, understand key moments customer journey like:

1. When/How customer becomes aware of the solution you offer to their problem
2. When does customer consider
3. Ease of Signup for the customer, right options and accessibility
4. customer Onboarding
5. Usage patterns
6. Issues and Support process
7. Discontinue

This is not a definitive list, you will work with your customer (feedback loop) to define the journey and optimize it

Common Customer Experience Matrices

There are different matrices common in industry for gauging customer experience, some are listed below, but the objective is to identify Usability, Value and Alignment with Vision.

• The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a tool that assesses customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking them how likely they would recommend a company or product to others on a scale of 0 to 10. Customers are classified into three categories: Promoters (9-10), who are loyal and likely to promote the brand; Passives (7-8), who are satisfied but not enthusiastic; and Detractors (0-6), who are dissatisfied and may discourage others. The NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from Promoters, resulting in a score ranging from -100 to 100. A high NPS indicates a healthy customer relationship and can predict business growth by fostering positive word of mouth.
• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) is a commonly used key performance indicator to track how satisfied customers are with a company’s products and/or services. It is typically measured using a short customer survey that asks respondents to rate their satisfaction with the product/service on a scale, often from 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. The CSAT score is then calculated as the average rating or the percentage of respondents who gave a rating above a certain threshold. This metric is crucial for businesses as it can provide insights into customer preferences, help identify areas for improvement, and ultimately contribute to enhanced customer loyalty and business growth.
• Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric used to measure the ease of interaction with a company’s products or services from a customer’s perspective. It is based on the premise that customers value effortless experiences and are more likely to become loyal if their interactions with the company are easy and seamless. CES is typically measured through a single-item survey question asking customers to rate the ease of their experience, often on a scale from 1 (very difficult) to 7 (very easy). A higher CES indicates a more effortless customer experience, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.
• Churn rate is a business metric that calculates the number of customers who leave a product over a given period of time, divided by the remaining number of customers. It’s a critical figure in many businesses, as it’s often much less expensive to retain existing customers than it is to acquire new ones. Churn rate can reveal a lot about a company’s customer service, product quality, and customer engagement. A high churn rate could indicate customer dissatisfaction, cheaper and/or better offers from the competition, more successful sales and/or marketing by the competition, or dissatisfaction with customer service.
• Retention rate is a business metric that measures the percentage of customers a company retains over a specific time period. It’s calculated by dividing the number of customers at the end of the period (minus any new customers acquired during that period) by the number of customers at the start of the period, and then multiplying the result by 100 to get a percentage. A high retention rate indicates that more customers continue to use a company’s product or service over time, reflecting customer satisfaction and loyalty. It’s a key indicator of a company’s health and long-term prospects.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer. It’s an important metric as it represents a significant measure of a customer’s economic worth over time. CLV helps businesses make decisions about how much money to invest in acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones. By focusing on increasing CLV, companies can prioritize their resources to optimize for long-term profitability rather than short-term revenue.

Some words on Usability, Value and Alignment with Vision.

Usability

Even after you have tested your product with users, betas, and internal QA, you may still encounter some surprises when you launch it to your whole customer base. To find out if your product is easy to use and where users may face difficulties, you need to map out the steps a user has to follow to interact with a feature of your product. By looking at your funnel, you can see if users drop off at a certain step and focus on improving that part of the product. You should also consider how other aspects of the customer experience affect your conversion rates. For example, if users complete the flow but 40% of them contact support, this means the flow is not clear and needs more work. Or, if users are more likely to succeed if they read the documentation, you may want to add some tooltips to help them navigate a complex flow.

‍Value

“Tracking sustained engagement is a reliable measure of value, and arguably the most crucial metric to monitor. High engagement signifies a job well executed! It indicates that your feature is beneficial to your end users and they are repeatedly integrating it into their workflows. If you observe low levels of repeated engagement, it’s vital to comprehend which users are disengaged and the reasons behind it. Is there a correlation between low Net Promoter Score (NPS) and usage of a specific part of your product? Merging Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and engagement data can reveal if a certain user persona isn’t deriving value from the feature. It could also suggest that the feature is difficult to use, leading to customers avoiding it. Engaging in conversations with these customers can help understand the discrepancy between their expectations and the functionality of the feature.”

‍Alignment with Vision‍

Establishing goals that align with our vision is a challenging and variable task, but it’s crucial for propelling the product forward. Each feature we create should be cohesive and enhance customer satisfaction and engagement throughout the product. When a feature brings us closer to our objectives, we observe increases in retention associated with feature engagement, broader adoption within an organization, or a rise in new users.

We recently applied this framework to evaluate the success of our granular permissions. We set adoption and usability goals around engagement, such as 90% of enterprise customers using permissions within the first quarter of its release. We also established measurable metrics around value and vision by integrating Clearbit, Salesforce, and behavioral data in Heap to track growth in active teammates and users invited to the account, and the expansion of titles on the account. These metrics help quantify internal adoption (value) and the spread of data-driven decisions throughout the organization (vision).

While this may seem overwhelming, it essentially boils down to utilizing the appropriate data to oversee and enhance each step of the process. Once you’ve pinpointed the figures that relate to your problem, making actionable decisions becomes significantly easier.

More on Feedback loop

Consider this scenario, between two ways of developing a mobile app interface, which one will you choose.

1. Build a outline structure and share with client and build more based on feedback

VS

2. Building the whole interface and then surprising the client

it is obvious that the first one will have lesser change to fail, because client will be part of the development process and will continue to give inputs

similarly, Feedback Loop in Customer Experience Strategy , is a process in which the outputs of a system are circled back and used as inputs. This concept is widely used in various fields such as engineering, mathematics, and business, like we discussed in the example above. In the context of customer feedback, for example, a feedback loop refers to the process of collecting customer opinions or complaints, analyzing them, implementing changes based on the feedback, and then communicating these changes back to the customer. This process allows businesses to continuously improve their products or services based on their customers’ needs and preferences. now consider the customer Experience matrices discussed above, in context of this definition.

Summary

“Human Interactions in the Digital World” underscores the importance of feedback loops, product quality, and customer interaction in the digital era. The feedback loop, a process of using customer responses to improve products and services, is pivotal in this digital landscape. It allows businesses to adapt to customer needs, enhancing the quality of their digital products. High-quality products, in turn, foster better human interactions online, creating a more engaging and satisfying digital experience. Furthermore, direct interaction with customers in the digital world provides valuable insights and fosters stronger relationships. This interaction, coupled with the feedback loop, forms a cycle of continuous improvement and customer engagement. The title suggests a comprehensive exploration of these elements, emphasizing their role in shaping our digital interactions.