Your brand is more than the product or service you offer. 

I firmly believe that, even with the best of what the market offers, when customer experiences are clunky, a business will fail, either quickly or eventually. And because bad experiences are more likely to be shared than good ones, great experiences are crucial to brand longevity.  

While word of mouth marketing is not a new concept, in the digital age, the words of one can be significant, reaching the masses. A bad review is no longer relegated to friend groups or family. Now, when people share their experiences online, it can impact the decisions of a great deal of people. 

Over 99.9% of customers read reviews when they shop online, with 96% of customers more likely to look for negative reviews; compared to 85% back in 2018

To strengthen the brand, and build customer trust and brand loyalty, dissecting the experiences across different channels is crucial to meet the evolving expectations and desires of customers. Brick-and-mortar, website, social channels, and mobile apps are just a few examples of where brands can connect with customers and learn how to deliver the experiences they desire and deserve. Do people primarily use social for customer service? Is the majority of conversion coming from the website or the app? Are they spending time with your brand more on desktops or mobile? Answers to all of these questions provide insight into how to best design each experience to exceed the customer expectations. Some consumer trends to consider, based on Contentsquare’s 2023 Benchmark Report data on customer experience expectations: 

• 1 in 3 Website visits are frustrating customers and causing revenue loss
• Two thirds of website traffic stems from a mobile device, as consumers spend more time connecting on-the-go. When brands focus on building better experiences on mobile, they create more opportunities to satisfy consumer curiosity and needs, leading to repeat visits in the future.  
• 55% of all mobile traffic are new visitors, meaning losing customers due to poor CX can have a detrimental effect on revenue. While Checkout pages are still highly important for both desktop and mobile, mobile conversion rates are down year-over-year by -4%

Connecting experiences across channels and devices is a critical part of long term success for a brand, and investing in digital experiences pays dividends well beyond initial conversion or revenue. Happy customers equals loyal customers. Happy customers share their positive experiences and advocate for your brand, becoming important micro-influencers that can make meaningful, long-lasting impact on business.

Here are a few tips to focus on ensuring brand experiences are what they need to be to stand out: 

• Keep it clean. Simple, intuitive design is all the more important on mobile given the screens/devices are typically on a much smaller scale. For example, if someone were to try to book a flight and make seat selection, is the diagram of the seat options difficult to navigate?
• Know where people spend their time (often on product and category pages) and pay particular attention to those areas, ensuring they’re seamless
• Checkout pages are notoriously difficult, especially on mobile. Customers do not have patience for checkout pages that aren’t smooth. Autofill is your friend for apps and ecommerce, regardless of device. 
• Make the most of your data, but be mindful of privacy and the intention of that data. Brands simply do not need all the data available, and there are ways to discover customer trends without needing to know the unique details of a customer. Care less about ‘who’ and more about ‘what’ they are trying to accomplish. 

When a brand puts thoughtful consideration into its experience as much as it does its products and services, everyone wins. Customers know they remain the priority for those brands and brands have opportunities to improve their business without intrusive means.