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Successful companies embrace digital transformation as an opportunity to deliver superior customer value.

Successful companies embrace digital transformation as an opportunity to deliver superior customer value.

 

Vatsal Mehta founded and leads Facebook’s global Solutions Engineering and Partnerships Team. The team’s mission is to help all businesses thrive using Facebook technology and Partner Solutions. Vatsal shares best practices and lessons learned from his work supporting digital transformation in thousands of organizations.

The socioeconomic and cultural impacts of COVID-19 exponentially accelerated digital transformation (i.e., the implementation of digital technologies by businesses to modify or create new organizational processes and customer experiences) in e-commerce. In 2020, e-commerce penetration underwent 10 years’ worth of growth in a few months. What used to be “online shopping” now encompasses a variety of B2B and B2C consumer activities: touchless payments, travel arrangements, appointment bookings, ridesharing, and curbside pickup are just a few.

Successful companies embrace digital transformation as an opportunity to deliver superior customer value. They adopt agile business strategies and cultivate a customer-centric mindset. They explore new business models to deliver engaging, personalized, frictionless consumer experiences.

Building a Customer-Centric Mindset

Embracing digital transformation means being closely attuned to how customer decision-making journeys evolve. Businesses must understand their customers’ expectations, needs, and behaviours, then use that data to drive digital strategy. Customers have 4 primary expectations:

  • Speed. Patience for long shipping times or complicated checkout processes is dwindling.
  • Validation. Consumers feel more confident when they can see positive reviews that affirm their buying choices.
  • Perceived value. Customers seek value in the purchase itself, but also in a frictionless consumer experience. They value their time and expect businesses to do the same.
  • Privacy and security. Customers understand data privacy. Most will share data with trusted brands so long as it is used to deliver personalized, engaging experiences.

Businesses should not try and win on every single element of the consumer experience. Rather, they should identify specific areas where they can excel and align their strategies accordingly. With these expectations in mind, businesses can help accelerate digital transformation by:

  1. Uncovering insights about consumer behaviour to reduce friction in the customer journey.
  2. Leveraging automation and other technologies to deliver personalized experiences at scale.
  3. Delivering seamless customer support online that builds brand awareness and drives value.

Trends in digital transformation

In e-commerce, there are 3 major trends to watch for over the next 5 years. These trends are not unique to any particular industry, customer segment, or business size.

  • Direct-to-Consumer. Brand interaction used to be limited to retail stores and commercials. Now, people connect with brands directly on social media in engaging ways and formats. 
  • AI. Artificial intelligence can offer true personalization at scale. It is already transforming nearly everything, and there are so many more possibilities.
  • Cross-border commerce. In a connected world, consumers have access to a global marketplace. Innovations in shipping and logistics will continue to support this trend.

What drives successful digital transformation?

Digital transformation involves some level of risk. For less sophisticated businesses, it can be intimidating. These common operating principles for digital transformation help increase the odds of success:

  • Customer-centricity. Customer-centric organizations tap into customer data for insights on why a customer wants something, rather than what they want. They aim for customer mindshare, not market share. Mindshare builds long-term relationships and generates value for customers and the business.
  • Agility. Agile businesses proactively seek new ways to surprise and delight their customers. They engage in continuous improvement, asking new questions, gathering new data, and innovating quickly to keep pace with rapidly evolving customer needs.
  • Long-term thinking. Digital transformation is never finished. A long-term view allows companies to make investments without expecting an immediate return. They can stay the course and measure the benefits of digital transformation over time.

 

Conclusion

Hindsight is 2020, and 2020 is in hindsight. Companies are already moving beyond last year’s changes and looking ahead to see what might be next. As Sheryl Sandberg said, “digital transformation is a long-term trend.” Digital transformation becomes digital evolution.

 

If you enjoyed this article, connect with me on LinkedIn: Vatsal Mehta

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